Blues duo Fabian Schrama and Servaas Bollen, aka Gumbo & The Monk, have a mission: to make the delta blues resound. Even when Bollen moved from Schiedam to Kerkenveld a few years ago, leaving Schrama behind in the Randstad, their bond, friendship and musical mission remained intact.
“We want to bring the authentic blues, the primal blues as we call it, to the attention again,” says Bollen. “You hear a lot of blues rock at blues festivals and there is nothing wrong with that in itself, but many people just don’t know where it comes from anymore.”
primal blues
“For me it’s just the purity and the urgency that resounds in it,” explains singer Fabian Schrama. “That’s really just a kind of unfiltered language of the heart. It comes straight in, there’s no fuss about it. It can be rough, it can be played sloppily: as long as it’s serious. That’s where the old blues stand or fall. That’s it for me.”
Bollen agrees. “I did take a trip to Mississippi to feel what it’s like there, to get on the… crossroads at night,” he says, referring to the song of the same name by blues legend Robert Johnson. The apparently simple lyrics of early blues songs, the simple instruments and primitive, gritty recording equipment: it’s all part of it. “We love that and that we try to convey that in our live music as well.”
Voodoo
In addition to the many covers and traditionals that the gentlemen play, they also write new early music for their repertoire. During the basement session of Djammen they played Voodoo, a self-written delta plate. “That song came after we’ve played together for a while,” explains Schrama.
The duo was previously part of a conventional blues band and a click already developed there. “When that band died, the two of us moved on. We always had a song that we played together on a cigar box guitar, which he built,” Schrama points out to his partner. In his spare time, Bollen builds guitars from cigar boxes, which enhance the primitive sound that the men strive for.
“Something magical always happened,” Schrama says about the times the two of them were on stage. “That’s what this was born from.” The mission will never be completed, but that doesn’t bother the men. As long as they can, they will focus on spreading the delta blues. “It stays in your blood anyway, so we keep doing it, because it just comes from our heart and from our soul,” concludes Bollen.
Gumbo & The Monk are currently working on a new album. They don’t know when that will be finished, but click here to hear the songs they played during the basement session.