Building a bridge from the blues

Harry Manx has been called the link between the music of the East and the West and his story is as mesmerising as his playing. Harry started out as a sound engineer at blues clubs in Toronto during his formative years and then undertook a rigorous five-year tutelage with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt in India. (Bhatt is the inventor of the 20-stringed Mohan Veena, which has become Harry’s signature instrument, but he also plays slide guitar, banjo, acoustic guitar and stomp box.) Manx learned Eastern scales and eventually ragas, deceptively complex and regimented musical patterns that form the basis of Indian composition. He spent three to four hours each morning practising in Bhatt’s home, then returned in the evening for a jam session with his tutor and various other musicians.

“Sometimes I’d throw in some blues licks in the middle and everyone would fall over laughing and enjoying themselves. And I thought if I can get Indian people to enjoy Western music like that, then maybe I could get Westerners to enjoy Indian music, too.”

Harry decided to explore this thread of connection between the two musical traditions. He said he has always had “one foot in the blues” and from the age of 20 he made his living busking on the streets as a one-man band. Much of his time in India was spent meditating and it has imbued his music with a spiritual quality.

He has released nine albums over eight years and continues to tour the world, building a bridge between heavenly India and earthy American blues.

Harry Manx performs at the Mullumbimby Civic Hall on Sunday, September 12, with keyboard player Clayton Dooley. Tickets are $45. Food will be available from 7.15 and the show starts at 8pm.