I recall seeing Shakti in the 70's. But this is better.

Drew

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Drew Howard - website - Red guitars sound better!

The amazing world of Indian classical music has accepted quite a few instruments which have their origin out of the country. One of them the Hawaiian guitar. Though its sound is no more a stranger to the listeners of Hindustani music yet in its early days, acceptance was a major problem. But today classical ‘stars’ have brought glory to the modified instrument and celebrity-hood for themselves throughout the world.

Not branding it as any veena of a sort, guitarist Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya is on a mission to conquer the world with three new modified versions of the Hawaiian slide guitar. For the newer soundscapes, Debashish calls his new creations as- ‘Chaturangui,’ ‘Gandharvi,’ and ‘Anandi’.
Born and brought up in Kolkata, Debashish had his schooling in music from right at home. Born to musician parents, Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya was initiated into Indian classical vocal, but he picked up the guitar and got hooked by its musical appeal akin to vocal due to its ability to glide. “I have never come across any single negative aspect to ponder why a slide guitar cannot be the leading instrument of Indian raga music. “But unfortunately there was not much example or goal set before me on this planet to perform on slide guitar,” says the young maestro, who started exploring the capabilities on the Hawaiian guitar at the age of four.
[u]The slide guitar was introduced to this country through Kolkata in 1929, by Tau Moe from Hawaii.[/u] A deft musician in Madame Riviere’s Hawaiians, a Polynesian music and dance troupe, he arrived in Kolkata and shared his culture with many curious musicians of all styles.

This was just the beginning of a cross cultural exchange that eventually gave birth to a new sound in Hindustani classical instrumental music. The foremost exponent being Pandit Brij Bhusan Kabra of Ahmedabad under whose tutelage Debashish has shaped his ideas in experimenting with the new genre of playing Hindustani music on the Hawaiian guitar. Since 1975 Debashish has been playing the guitar with resonating strings attached to it. That was indeed a beginning of accepting an idea that eventually gave birth to three new slide instruments.

In instrumental Hindustani classical music, though every instrument has its own nuances and limitations yet playing the “gayaki” or vocal style remains the ultimate goal. With his trinity of guitars album-3: Calcutta Slide-Guitar- going for a world premiere in London this May, Debashish was the perfect creator to talk about this. He says, “ I am trying to get to the root. The sitars and sarods have taken the music from the vocal and then associated it with their own abilities and disabilities.” A designer artist, Debashish has designed 19 slide guitars since he began experimenting in his 20s, and the three guitars heard on his latest album -3: Calcutta Slide-Guitar are all his individual designs. Amongst the three, says Debashish, ‘Anandi’ is a baby which has all the potential to adapt styles from Indian to Oceanic blues to Hawaii, Flamenco, Jazz, Afro-Cuban and a host of other genres.

Isn’t it true that new instruments bring newer scepticism? Debashish negates confidently saying that the trinity of guitars is the ultimate form of the Hindustani slide guitar adopted over the years in India. He already has quite a few students in the country and abroad who are learning on the new instruments.

Samedi 18 novembre