Michael Messer in Southbourne as West meets East

Slide-guitarist Michael Messer teams up with Manish Pingle, rising star of the Hindustani slide guitar, and one of the greatest British Tabla players of his generation, Gurdain Rayatt for an explosive collaboration at Southbourne’s Tuppenny Barn on Saturday, April 4 at 8pm (01243 378742).
Southbourne gigSouthbourne gig
Southbourne gig

Spokeswoman Polly Eldridge explains: “In 2013 Michael Messer travelled to Mumbai to perform at Asia’s leading blues festival. He had heard rumours of a rising star of Hindustani classical slide guitar and before going arranged, via Facebook, to meet him. Manish Pingle is one of a handful of musicians in India playing Hindustani classical music on a mohan veena (Indian slide guitar). A few days after the festival, Michael and his partner Sue visited Manish Pingle and his wife Swati at their home in Mumbai. Within minutes of their meeting, the two musicians were jamming together on two of Manish’s mohan veenas. For years Michael had wanted to play Mississippi Delta and Chicago blues with a Hindustani classical slide player. And despite never having heard or played this style of blues before, Manish and Michael had an immediate natural understanding, switching from blues to Hindustani music without really noticing where the joins were.”