Slide to Freedom
Stunning, groundbreaking marriage of the Blues and Indian classical music.
Guitar Player Magazine.
Doug Cox – Salil Bhatt – Cassius Khan.
One of Canada’s foremost slide guitarists, Doug Cox has teamed up with one of India’s best slide instrumentalists, Salil Bhatt, to create a breathtaking fusion of blues and Indian music.
“Slide To Freedom” (Northern Blues) is the result of a year’s worth of collaboration between Cox and Bhatt. The time and care put into this effort is obvious from the beginning. Cox’s specialty is the dobro, a fairly conventional instrument present in many blues recordings; Bhatt’s instrument, the satvik veena, has 20 strings, and will be a new sound to many blues fans.
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Salil V. Bhatt represents the tenth generation of the famous Bhatt lineage, where music has been flowing for more than five hundred years. Salil is the son of legendary slide player and Grammy-award winner Padmashree Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Pt. Bhatt is the creator of the mohan veena, a revolutionary instrument in the annals of Indian classical music.
Salil has been mastering the Mohan Veena for more than twenty years. He is the foremost disciple of Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and one of the youngest and most promising exponents of the instrument. His soulful and vibrant music is receiving accolades worldwide from listeners and the press alike.
Doug Cox is widely regarded as one of the world’s most expressive dobro players: while the blues remain at the centre of his musical portrait, his repertoire of world music collaboration includes such diverse genres as Celtic with Strung, Hawaiian with Anela Kahiamoe to Tibetan with Jamyang Yeshi. On stage and in recordings Doug has joined the likes of guitar slinger Amos Garrett, blues legend Long John Baldry and Indian slide master Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.
Cassius Khan is the only known musician in the world who plays the Tabla and sings Ghazals/Thumri simultaneously which is a phenomenal feat according to his peers. Khan composed the “Asia Music” for the 2001 Track and Field Championships in Edmonton, received the “Salute to Excellence Award” in 2005 and has also been the first Ghazal/Tabla artist to be showcased at SXSW (2008) and Canada Music Week (2009). He has an international fan following and has over 17 albums in solo/collaboration.
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‘MAKE A BETTER WORLD’ is even better than its predecessor, thanks in large part to vocals by New Orleans soul singer John Boutté that take things all the way down the Mississippi, to the foot of Canal Street in the French Quarter, without ever losing their back-country flavour. Call them Planetary Po’ Boys. The brand-new-but-instantly-timeless sound they all create together makes the point that all over the world, the rural poor and the urban poor all sing the same blues, all yearn for the same things. Musical communication like this is one of the surest ways to make a better world.
- Spider Robinson
Booking inquiries: Frank Hoorn - Email: Frank Hoorn/Near North Music Phone: (250) 847-5228
