The Mustangs were having a practice session in a house on the Madras Christian College campus in 1967. Captain A. Ranganathan, who was living in the house, was welcoming them as a fellow student and campus musician. Photo Courtesy: Captain A. Ranganathan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
In the 1960s, when Madras was under the spell of the Moptops, it was also being taught by The Mustangs, a group of talented players who grew up on the wooded campus of Madras Christian College (MCC).
Captain A. Ranganathan, who was an MCC alumnus from 1965-68, regularly included playing the guitar on his weekly to-do list while studying chemistry on campus and flying overseas.
(After serving as a pilot for several decades, Captain Ranganathan is now a commentator on aviation-related matters; and he still plays his guitar well).
At that time, in the MCC of the 1960s, he was playing strings for the Cellaire Swingsters, an MCC band associated with Cellaire Hall and a contemporary of The Mustangs. The Mustangs were born in 1965 at a time when every inch of the international stage seemed to be filled with unique musical talents. Beatlemania. The sound of The Rolling Stones could be heard loud and clear. In terms of chart-busting releases, the 1960s may not have been as great for Elvis Presley as the previous decade, but he already had a body of work that inspired regular Presley cover concerts far and wide.
When the Mustangs performed at Captain A. Ranganathan’s home in Injambakkam in 2017 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their practice sessions at Tambaram before a major music competition in Madras in 1967. Photo Courtesy: Captain A. Ranganathan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
In Madras, the best “amplifier” of these sounds was The Mustangs. With obvious musical talent, stage presence and a big-star attitude without any ego, they “owned” the cover versions of international acts performed at campus concerts and later in concert halls in Madras and beyond.
Captain Ranganathan would have loved to play on the court, rubbing shoulders with the Mustangs. That coveted position was not a distant dream; he got to experience it on a regular basis. He has had the privilege of attending the Mustangs’ practice sessions as a guitarist; some of the time, without even leaving his home.
“There was a beach show in Madras in 1967 which the Mustangs won. There were intense practice sessions before the victory. During the day, the Mustangs were not allowed to practice in any hall. My father Dr. Ananthakrishnan was a chemistry professor at MCC, so we had a house on campus. He reluctantly allowed the Mustangs to practice at our house.”
Many years ago, while looking through stuff that had long been kept away from the high-speed road, or rather the tarmac, Captain Ranganathan found a photograph of the Mustangs that was taken during a practice session held in his home, or rather his room, in 1967.
“I shared the photograph with them and said, ‘Listen, it’s 50 years in 2017 and we should celebrate the 50th anniversary of the show and we should do a show. To celebrate their first rehearsal (in 1967) at my house, we thought 50 of our college friends would come, but 150 people from across the world turned up for lunch. They came and we did a big show at my house in Injambakkam in 2017.”
Time had not tamed the Mustangs, as proved by the performance — a clip of which Capt Ranganathan shared with The Hindu Downtown.
