Canada’s Harry Manx - B.B.King meets Vishwa Bhatt

Harry Manx is one of the few musicians who can literally claim to be a "world music" man - born on Britain's Isle of Man and raised in Canada, having lived the life of an itinerant musician in both Europe (ho-hum) and Japan (Whoa!), Manx found his ultimate voice after years of study in India with the legendary slide guitarist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.

Manx' style is bluesy and soulful, but its depth comes from the sounds of the raga music he studied for 4 or 5 hours each day while in India. And he is one of the world's few masters of the Mohan veena, a 20-stringed hybrid instrument designed by Bhatt.

The April 2003 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine profiled Manx and talked shop. Not only did Manx need to learn the idiosyncracies of the veena, but also the intricacies of Indian music. "You might spend six months on one raga, and there are hundreds, maybe thousands of them," he remarked.

Since his 1998 return to Canada, he has been developing his skills at playing an Eastern-inflected blues, and traveling the world to perform it. His several recordings mix traditional Indian music with covers of Hendrix' "Foxy Lady." He says, "My strength is taking the flavor of Indian classical music and mixing it with my own thing… That way I'm always pushing my limits with the music."

Read Acoustic Guitar magazine [April 2003 issue with Manx profile not yet online]

Learn more about Harry Manx, and hear his music

Find out more about Manx's mentor, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, who won a Grammy in 1993 for "A Meeting by the River," his collaboration with American guitarist Ry Cooder.