Of course one had to play the electric guitar  but I quickly realised that was going nowhere without proper tuition so I studied classical guitar for a number of years and got to be quite good.  Much later on I travelled to North India  and brought back a sitar. I had not paid much attention to  Indian mysticism and music which was pervasive during the ‘hippy’ era so I was a bit of a late comer. However a friend’s partner, Max Furry, a Swiss-German who had long been into Indian culture suggested I contacted Clem Alford,(www.magiccarpetsrecords.com) a highly acclaimed, professional  sitarist who had studied, and qualified in India.

After  a  year or so with Clem he moved on but  suggested  I took lessons at the Bhavan Institute, South Kensington,London, UK (info@bhavan.net) where I was lucky enough to be taken on by  Vijay Jagtap.  Pressures of jobs and family life meant that after a couple of years I stopped going

I had always loved the sound of the surbahar  and  about 3-4 years ago I had the chance to purchase one. I contacted my old mentor Vijay Jagtap (www.vijayjagtap.com/) it transpired he played the surbahar as well  but he kept his instrument at home in India  as “no-one has the time for this style anymore”  He took me on  and I never looked back. I cannot recommend Vijay enough.

The Recordings:  All  the recordings on the site, so far were recorded via a standard USB  microphone  plugged into  a  MacBook Pro, minimal editing was done using  Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net) effects; Noise Removal, and a hint of reverb. Recording ‘sessions’ were conducted in my lounge. Given that they aren’t too bad.Bharavi & Todi are the best.