Sitar player Anwar Khurshid is feeling the blues.
The musician from Pakistan moved to Canada almost 20 years ago and wanted to break out of the typical Indian music. He reached out to his friend and blues guitarist Paul Deslauriers who was interested in learning more about Indian music.
Together the pair mixed the two forms together.
“We’re showing how two different cultures and two different forms of art can actually sound coherent together,” Khurshid said. “We put together an album and we just threw ideas together and recorded them. Seven or eight years went by and we never looked at that stuff. Then one day we were talking and we heard it. We said ‘wow this is great stuff. We should just do it.’ It’s universal and unifying.”
Khurshid, who teaches sitar lessons in Toronto, played with Deslauriers at the third annual Festival of India at Prince Arthur’s Landing Tuesday. It’s the first time the duo has played at the festival.
He said he liked the festival because it gives everyone a chance to see different cultures.
“It’s great to know different communities can come out and be together,” he said.
Hundreds of people lined up to try to sample some of the vegetarian foods offered at the festival. Booths were set up all around Marina Park that illustrated some of the history, culture and philosophy of India.
Story continues after the video...
Festival organizer Prashant Jani said around 2,000 people attended last year’s event and he hoped to see more people come out this year. The one-day event only lasts for four hours but Jani said if the festival becomes more popular, he will think about spreading it out over a weekend.
“The people of Thunder Bay are very kind and are open minded and they want to learn more about other cultures,” Jani said. “Without their support this event wouldn’t be possible.”
The festival is scheduled to wrap up around 9 p.m.
