Thanks Pax, for this introduction to a fine musician I had not heard of. What really sparked my further interest were these lines from your post:
"Harry Manx has been called an "essential link" between the music of the East and of the West. He combines the tradition of blues music with classical Indian ragas. In the '80s, Manx began a five-year tutelage with Rajasthani musician and Grammy winner, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Bhatt is the inventor of the 20-stringed Mohan Veena, which has become Manx's signature instrument and the catalyst for Manx to embark on his style of music."
Coming of age in the 60s I had acquired a love of Eastern music and the kind of ragas made famous by artists such as Ravi Shankar (sitar) and Ali Akbar Khan (sarod). I was not alone in this; the psychedelic era saw a huge burst of interest in Eastern music by the thousands who had experimented with altered states. The influx of Eastern music to the West left its mark on many western musicians of that era and Manx appears to be one of them. I am surprised I had not heard of him before.
I wanted to hear some more samples of Manx's music which Wiki describes as having his 'unique “mysticssippi” flavour"'. Reading his Wiki entry I was not surprised to learn he had lived in Japan for 10 years and then (like myself), had gone to India. It was there, studying with Indian slide guitarist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt for 5 years, that the fusion of Eastern and Western styles must have occurred in him.
I stumbled onto a playlist that had other Manx songs so I could get to know him better. Here is the link to that playlist; the first song is from an album called, wonderfully, "Road Ragas".
Harry Manx: Don't Forget To Miss Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWSRSzNv0yc&list=RDcWSRSzNv0yc&index=1
Scrolling through the list suddenly one of my all-time favorite guitarists jumped out at me: John Fahey. Fahey was another artist who created a style which had raga-like characteristics. The various open tunings he would employ, along with his unique finger picking, created a kind of drone-like background for the tunes. I loved his music the first time I heard it.
Here is a sample of John Fahey's playing slide guitar, apparently in 1978:
John Fahey - How Green Was My Valley?
http://youtu.be/O3V6XoadThk
The playlist mentioned above contains many more examples of John Fahey songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgL_GiNBczE&list=RDcWSRSzNv0yc&index=31
As soon as the music of John Fahey flooded back into my mind the music of another favorite artist of that time came with it, that of Sandy Bull. Of the artists mentioned so far Sandy Bull created music that was closest to actual Indian style ragas. In is pure East-West fusion.
I went crazy when I first heard Sandy Bull in the mid 60s and immediately went out and bought an album which I played again and again. I couldn't believe that a western artist was playing his own kind of invented eastern ragas.
Here is a good example of a Sandy Bull raga, called, appropriately, "Blend". It is on the playlist of the full album Sandy Bull - Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo (Full Album)
Like a typical raga it is a full 21 minutes long.
Sandy Bull - Blend
http://youtu.be/QUgj94xGS3g?list=PLW79q83govkUTkkanQ4Oq9UDXDM_VEOfF
There is also a version of "Blend" played on electric guitar, a further "blending" of East and West.
02 - Electric Blend (Side B of 1969: Sandy Bull - E Pluribus Unum)
http://youtu.be/uRqJ8c7QkRI?list=PLXNqIphI_RcmyQsZXiFxRxRKV13Cu4DjY
Here is an article on Sandy:
Sandy Bull: the Sixties folk pioneer who burnt out too soon
Sandy Bull’s unique talent and revolutionary approach to music influenced everyone from Patti Smith to the Beatles , says John Robinson
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/9171822/Sandy-Bull-the-Sixties-folk-pioneer-who-burnt-out-too-soon.html
And lastly, here is a little 6 minute of Harry Manx talking about his life and playing.
Harry Manx @ Home 2006
http://youtu.be/uf7Qc9dHVFk
