MUMBAI: The world right now is seeing a major political changeover and there is a state of unrest all throughout. Hate, racism, competition, global warming, terrorism, gender war and I can go on and on. Are we so detached from our primal selves that we vent out our frustration on each other? Do we forget that everytime we point a finger at a race we actually point a finger at ourselves? Everybody is ready to punish but nobody is ready to rectify. Everybody wants to be heard but nobody wants to listen. Everybody wants to be at the top even if that requires them to push off someone already there or kick the ones on the face who are behind them. I just want to know what do we want to prove?

These are issues that have become a reality in our time and people like Quino (read Kino) have at least made the honest effort of using their art as a medium of expressing concern which is an absolute necessity. The humans in us need to be woken up before things get way out of hand.

Reggae is a genre that revolves around the idea of spreading love, happiness. It is a genre that reminds you that people want people and Joaquin ‘Quino’ McWhinney along with his band Big Mountain has only had one motto and that is to spread messages of love through their music. To bring out the true essence of Reggae in these times of electro pop.

Quino started off with his career as a part of the band called ‘Rainbow Warriors’ which later went on to become Big Mountain. Quino who is of Mexican/Irish origin has varied musical influences. He comes from a family that has quite a few mariachi musicians but his heart was always fixed on Bob Marley and The Wailers. “I always just wanted to spread the idea of unity, love and anti-racism through my music. The USA is such a racially conscious country and I thought the message of Rastafari was a way of doing some healing,” said the Reggae artist who is currently in Mumbai all set to showcase some classic reggae at the NCPA.

Interestingly Quino isn’t the average famous musician. He believes in giving purpose to his art instead of selling himself for all the success the industry has to offer in return for it. Perhaps this is why he went off the grid for a good ten years before Big Mountain came up with their reunion album. “I love music and the music business but for some reason I just stopped having fun back then. I was not happy with the music industry and apart from that we were always on the road and I kind of felt the need to live a life that did not demand constant movement. I went back to pursue higher education because that is probably the best thing to invest in and after a bit I ended up becoming a teacher. I really enjoyed that phase but soon I went back to making music and now Big Mountain is what I completely want to put my heart and soul into.”

Catch Big Mountain belt out some classic Bob Marley numbers, originals and a wide range of covers at the NCPA on 30 March 2017.  Big Mountain will be joined by Shibani Kashyap and DJ Nasha.

“I think Shibani and I are in the same head space right now. We are at a point in our careers where we have seen the industry change and shape itself to adapt to the digitalization that has pretty much changed the face of music. We have witnessed that change and it’s just great to share such thoughts and ideas with another fellow musician. She is like a sister,” smiled the Rasta man. Expect Quino to belt out some Hindi numbers too for he is totally loving his stay here in India. “I love being in India and I really honour the culture and I want to tell people that they should be proud of their country.”

Finally, on asking Quino his plans for the year, he said, “I just want to work with Big Mountain and make more music. It’s really rewarding when people come down and tell me that our music has broken a lot of their mental roadblocks and that’s all I want to do. I want to heal people with my music and spread love.” A little ray of hope we say.