As Blues Turn Red

He is not as popular as Ray Charles or Chuck Berry,but Australian blues musician Jeff Lang is the face of Australia’s back-to-basics blues movement. Having blended rock,folk,blues and ballad with several international musicians — including the late American blues singer and guitarist Chris Whitley and American guitarist Bob Brozman — the 41-year-old will be making his debut in Delhi with a performance today,as part of the Delhi International Arts Festival. Not surprisingly,a collaboration is in store this time too,as the Aussie will perform with Indian tabla player,Bobby Singh. “I will perform some of my songs that are based on folk music from America and Britain,but the tabla will give a different flavour to the compositions ,” says Lang.

A true blues musician who finds inspiration in traditional and rooted music,Lang is familiar with classical Indian music. “My familiarity with Indian music is due to classical musicians like Debashish Bhattacharya,Brij Bhushan Kabra,Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Zakir Hussain. That’s the stuff I listen to,” says Lang,who is trained to play a range of instruments,from banjo to mandalin and chumbush.

In Delhi,the sarangi lover hopes to enthrall the audience with his guitar and vocals. “I am carrying my regular acoustic guitar and my slide guitar,which is similar to Hawaiian guitar” he says,adding,“I guess all of them must have descended from the veena,the original slide instrument.” Jeff Lang will perform at the India Habitat Centre today,7 pm onwards. Contact: 24682010