Artist Portfolio

Past and present pursuits

In 2017 I formed a trio with Manish Pingle (Indian Slide Guitar) and Gurdain Rayatt (Tabla). During 2019 we played a series of concerts up and down the UK and have more planned for 2022. 

In 2018 I became a student of Roopa Panesar, who is the leading Sitarist of the UK and Europe. We have been undergoing intensive training sessions to help me to further adapt Sitar techniques and concepts onto the electric guitar. In 2019 Roopa arranged for me to have lessons with Shakir Pavez Khan, son of legendary sitarist Shahid Parvez. I have continued to have online lessons with both of these amazing gurus throughout 2020/2021.  

In January 2019 I ran a successful crowdfunding campaign to develop a new electric guitar for playing Indian Classical Music. The guitar incorporates elements of the sitar and makes creative use of the 'electric' elements of the guitar by designing customized pick-ups and new ideas for circuitry and controls. We are creating an instrument that makes it more possible to adapt the techniques of the sitar as well as blending into the soundscape of Indian Music, while keeping the integrity and essence of the guitar intact. See details in the videos to the right.  

In 2015, I produced a solo album entitled ‘Lusitana’.
This project was inspired by the landscape of North Portugal and is comprised of my own compositions played on classical guitar. 

Between 2010 and 2013, I worked with a classically trained Carnatic singer from Chennai, India. We spent a lot of time working with traditional pieces and breaking down each line to adapt them to the guitar. Performances include the ‘Migrations Day Festival’ and a shared bill with Larry Coryell, both held at ‘St Georges’ in Bristol.  We presented a 5-day workshop programme and various performances at the ‘Tribe of Doris’ music summer school in 2010 and 2011. 

Sri Ramana Bihari Dasa Babaji (Dadaji) comes to the UK from India to hold an annual Kirtan Festival at the Shekinashram in Glastonbury. I have been fortunate to provide sitar and guitar accompaniment to his performances/musical prayers from 2010-2013.  

In 2011, I helped produce an E.P. of Zimbabwean Mbira music with a group called 'Ombiviolum'. The traditional mbira arrangements were complemented by guitar, sitar, cello and oboe in a unique fusion. 
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I was a founder member of ‘Ashowka’ (2006-2008). We were signed to ‘Invada Records’ (independent label of Geoff Barrow - ‘Portishead’). Ashowka have supported ‘Polar Bear’, ‘10cc’ at Colston Hall and ‘Konono No.1’. The material was based on a fusion of Rock, Jazz, altered scales and Latin/African rhythms. 

I play North Indian Classical Music on the sitar. In 2007, I began to study with Doungh Sanfay, who was a disciple of the late Amanath Misra - Professor of Sitar at Varanasi University. I have also studied with Mahesh Chandra Pandey who is a Vocalist and Professor of Music in Haldwani, India. He taught me during a visit to India in 2009, using the traditional oral method in which I was required to recreate what he sang on my sitar.

In 2009, I did some session work and co-writing with Jahmelia Lee for the Bristol Harbourside Festival on the Queen's Square stage. We also did a recording session at Nelly Hooper’s studio in London. This project won Bristol’s unsigned competition and received a grant from the Joe Strummer foundation – ‘Strummerville’.

When I was a student at Access to Music in Bristol and London (2003-06), I was in a group called ‘Perhaps Contraption’. During our time on the course, we were selected to represent the college on a national level submitting a track for the ‘College Circuit CD’ and playing showcase gigs at venues such as BAFTA on Piccadilly Circus and the De Montfort Hall in Leicester.  

As a teenager I was a lead soloist of a Blues Orchestra in Bristol and twice performed live on BBC radio Bristol. ​

Past projects and collaborations