THE stage at Volta will soon host a different kind of performance.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
A student of Indian slide pioneer Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, Sarkar said his concert won\u2019t be what Australian audiences are used to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m performing the traditional North Indian classical music or raga,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe concert will be one hour long and at minimum there\u2019ll be two ragas along with the occasional short tune.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve played outside India in the US, Germany, Canada, Singapore, but this is my first visit to Australia. I love to play in different places.\u201d<\/p>\n
He first started playing music at nine years old, said he was inspired by his aunt\u2019s Hawaiian guitar playing.<\/p>\n
Starting with a normal slide guitar, he modified the instrument into an Indian slide guitar in order to play his country\u2019s classical raga.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s 22 strings on the Indian slide guitar,\u201d Sarkar said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes it easier to play classical raga along with the 13 sympathetic strings, three droning strings and four main strings, and two chikari strings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarkar will be accompanied by Melbourne-based tabla player Sam Evans in the traditional drum.<\/p>\n
Evans is the founding director of the Melbourne Tabla School and the first Australian to receive a PhD in the instrument.<\/p>\n
With four performances in Victoria and two in New South Wales, Sarkar\u2019s Australian tour is being sponsored by the Melbourne Hindustani Classical Music Society.<\/p>\n
Sarkar will perform at Volta on Thursday, 18 May. Tickets are $23.75 and can be booked at bit.ly\/41fhYkw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019t be what […]<\/p>\n