Wall to Wall guitar festival
Last Friday and Saturday I attended two concerts at the Wall To Wall guiatar festival. This is the second year Krannert arranged this fabulous event that brought in more than thirty guitarist (and few other string instrumentalist) from every style imaginable. 
Friday, the Global Guitar concert started with Oud player Rahim Al Haj. Al Haj, an Iraqi exile, is one of the finest Oud players in the world. He has a very distinct style, certain time it almost sounded like a guitar, yet somehow he retained the essence of the instrument.
The second act was Visha Mohan Bhatt. He is the inventor of Mohan Veena which can simply be described as a cross between Sarod and Silde guitar:
"The Mohan Veena is a highly modified concord arch top, which Bhatt plays lap-style. It has 19 strings: three melody strings and four three drone strings coming out of the peg heads, and 12 sympathetic strong to tuners mounted to a piece of wood added to the side of the neck. The melody strings are on what we would consider the treble side of the neck, and the drone strings are on the bass side. The drone strings are lower in height than the melody strings to allow for unrestricted playing of the melody strings. The sympathetic strings run underneath the melody and drone strings to yet another level in the bridge. The instrument has a carved spruced top, mahogany back and sides, a mahogany neck, and a flat, fretless, rosewood fingerboard."
He was accompanied by his son Salil Bhatt, like father like son, he also invented a hybrid instrument called Satvik Veena. Both of these artists are strongly rooted in the tradition of Indian classical music, however, probably due to the hybrid nature of the instruments, I noticed certain mannerism in them that I never see with other Indian classical artists. Specially during the intense peak of the improvisation, the way they were shaking their heads was very similar to rock guitarists, yet again, they did not loose the essence of the Ragas.
Last, not least, a great French guitarist that I never heard of -- Pierre Bensusan. He poured out some lovely tunes with funny commentaries here and there. The ending was phenomenal when he dedicated a piece to Munir Bashir, another Oud maestro, teacher of Rahim Al haj. While Al haj's Oud sounded like guitar, Bensusan made his acoustic guitar scream like an Oud. It was quite a sound.
The second day it was John McLaughlin:Zen meditation meets crazy improvised Jazz sounds. His eastern influence was very apparent few times during the concert, especially after hearing sounds from the Bhatts, I was able to pin point some of the strong pauses and ending similar to Indian Classical music in McLaughlin's composition. It was great. He was supported by an amazing band that is worth mentioning.
I wish I have gone to more concerts. I missed Buddy Guy, Bob Brozman, Kaki King, Goran Ivanovic and Fareed Haque
Friday, the Global Guitar concert started with Oud player Rahim Al Haj. Al Haj, an Iraqi exile, is one of the finest Oud players in the world. He has a very distinct style, certain time it almost sounded like a guitar, yet somehow he retained the essence of the instrument.
The second act was Visha Mohan Bhatt. He is the inventor of Mohan Veena which can simply be described as a cross between Sarod and Silde guitar:
"The Mohan Veena is a highly modified concord arch top, which Bhatt plays lap-style. It has 19 strings: three melody strings and four three drone strings coming out of the peg heads, and 12 sympathetic strong to tuners mounted to a piece of wood added to the side of the neck. The melody strings are on what we would consider the treble side of the neck, and the drone strings are on the bass side. The drone strings are lower in height than the melody strings to allow for unrestricted playing of the melody strings. The sympathetic strings run underneath the melody and drone strings to yet another level in the bridge. The instrument has a carved spruced top, mahogany back and sides, a mahogany neck, and a flat, fretless, rosewood fingerboard."
He was accompanied by his son Salil Bhatt, like father like son, he also invented a hybrid instrument called Satvik Veena. Both of these artists are strongly rooted in the tradition of Indian classical music, however, probably due to the hybrid nature of the instruments, I noticed certain mannerism in them that I never see with other Indian classical artists. Specially during the intense peak of the improvisation, the way they were shaking their heads was very similar to rock guitarists, yet again, they did not loose the essence of the Ragas.
Last, not least, a great French guitarist that I never heard of -- Pierre Bensusan. He poured out some lovely tunes with funny commentaries here and there. The ending was phenomenal when he dedicated a piece to Munir Bashir, another Oud maestro, teacher of Rahim Al haj. While Al haj's Oud sounded like guitar, Bensusan made his acoustic guitar scream like an Oud. It was quite a sound.
The second day it was John McLaughlin:Zen meditation meets crazy improvised Jazz sounds. His eastern influence was very apparent few times during the concert, especially after hearing sounds from the Bhatts, I was able to pin point some of the strong pauses and ending similar to Indian Classical music in McLaughlin's composition. It was great. He was supported by an amazing band that is worth mentioning.
I wish I have gone to more concerts. I missed Buddy Guy, Bob Brozman, Kaki King, Goran Ivanovic and Fareed Haque