Metal Detector

On his fourth trip to India,Eklundh looks at his life as “before India and after India.” “I’ve been all around the world,” he says,“but there’s absolutely nothing like Indian music. Every time I come,I am baffled by the sheer volume of musical theory. You see and experience so much more here,both good and bad,in a couple of days than you would during a lifetime,say,in the north of Sweden. My late dad had the same itch to get back here time after time. It runs in the Eklundh family,I guess”.

Eklundh has over 40 albums to his credit and has also collaborated with several Indian musicians like Selvaganesh and Niladri Kumar,besides producing two film songs for the South Indian film industry. “Ranjit Barot (drummer),Jonas Hellborg and I are wrapping up a new album soon and I sure plan to work as much as I can with as many Indian musicians as I can,” he says.

He also follows the Indian music scene avidly. “There are so many young kids here who want to sound like death metal. But you have so much scope within Indian music here,that you shouldn’t want to sound like that. I am sure the next big thing in music will come from India,” he says. In fact,his new album Smorgasbord will also have Indian influences. “My new,shiny studio is soon finished and I will move into it before Christmas and start to work hard again with the album in 2011. Many Indians are participating,as well as fellow guitarist buddies such as Andy Timmons,Guthrie Govan and Kiko Loureiro,” he says.

There are also plans to build an entire album based on Carnatic ragas,and then turn it into death metal. “I’m still exploring so many instruments,” he says. “The album will probably have some four million songs,” he jokes. “Even if you stand at a random street,you’ll be astonished by the chaos in the sounds here,” he says. Eklundh has plans to spend three months in Chennai to teach guitar at the end of next year.

(With inputs from Pooja Pillai)