On a mission to connect with his Indian roots, musically

When you think of ‘the guitar’, you first think of Rock ‘n’ Roll, followed by country music, or jazz, or folk. What you certainly don’t think of is the compositions of Bach. And yet, on Saturday at

Lamakaan

, 20-year-old ‘classical guitarist’ Mohit Dubey wowed the audience in Hyderabad by strumming the compositions of

Heitor Villa-Lobos

,

Antonio Lauro

and

Johann Sebastian Bach

.
Mohit, who uses the unique classical guitar technique of finger picking the melodic lines and chords, is ‘half-Indian’, and currently resides in Los Almos, California. His concert in the city was part of an India tour that will have him also play in Bangalore and Chennai.
Considering his desi roots, Mohit’s classical expertise is certainly not limited to Western music. The guitarist played at his father Manvendra Dubey’s hometown Lucknow, a few days back. “Although I’m half Indian, I’ve never really gotten to see and interact with my Indian roots, and it was nice to meet extended relatives in Lucknow. But the real reason I’m here is to learn some Carnatic music from renowned sitar player KA Subramaniam in Chennai,” says Mohit who started learning the guitar when he was 10 years old and has one album titled Mohit Dubey 2014 to his credit. However, Mohit’s love affair with Indian classical music began much before that. “I was born in the States and for most of my life, we’ve had Rock N’ Roll music playing at home. I first came to India when I was 16, and I fell in love with the sitar music. Since then, I listened to a lot of Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar and the

Mysore Brothers

, and I thought to myself, ‘I’ve got to learn how to play that too’,” says Mohit, adding, “I especially like the emotion between the notes in Carnatic music, and I think I would love to incorporate that into my own music.
Ask him what his major influences are, and he replies, “Bach! His music is so easy to recreate on the guitar. I also like classical guitarist Roland Dyens.” Despite the fact that he will be spending most of his time in Chennai, Mohit admits that Hyderabad has pleasantly surprised him. He says, “I love the chilled out vibe this place has, and the people are super warm. And I don’t think I have to mention the food; it’s a given!” given!”