Volta to bring the sounds of India

THE stage at Volta will soon host a different kind of performance.

Next week, Hindustani slide guitarist Rhitom Sarkar will play his music live for the first time in Australia with a performance at Volta on Thursday next week.

A student of Indian slide pioneer Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, Sarkar said his concert won’t be what Australian audiences are used to.

“I’m performing the traditional North Indian classical music or raga,” he said.

“The concert will be one hour long and at minimum there’ll be two ragas along with the occasional short tune.

“I’ve played outside India in the US, Germany, Canada, Singapore, but this is my first visit to Australia. I love to play in different places.”

He first started playing music at nine years old, said he was inspired by his aunt’s Hawaiian guitar playing.

Starting with a normal slide guitar, he modified the instrument into an Indian slide guitar in order to play his country’s classical raga.

“There’s 22 strings on the Indian slide guitar,” Sarkar said.

“It makes it easier to play classical raga along with the 13 sympathetic strings, three droning strings and four main strings, and two chikari strings.”

Sarkar will be accompanied by Melbourne-based tabla player Sam Evans in the traditional drum.

Evans is the founding director of the Melbourne Tabla School and the first Australian to receive a PhD in the instrument.

With four performances in Victoria and two in New South Wales, Sarkar’s Australian tour is being sponsored by the Melbourne Hindustani Classical Music Society.

Sarkar will perform at Volta on Thursday, 18 May. Tickets are $23.75 and can be booked at bit.ly/41fhYkw.