Event

Aki Kumar

After more than a decade of playing with top-notch blues musicians and recording a rock-solid first album Don't Hold Back (which garnered widespread accolades, ranging from the Los Angeles Times to Dan Aykroyd), Kumar is taking his love for the blues to unexpected places. It's Mumbai meets Muddy Waters, says Kumar, who reworked Hindi-language hits from big names in Indian pop music Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, and Mukesh and made them his own.

"Aki Kumar is at it again playing music in a genre that he alone inhabits. This Indian born, and San Jose, California based, blues man is doing something that has never been done or likely even considered. In 2016, Kumar released an album called Aki Goes To Bollywood. Here in 2018, with Hindi Man Blues, he continues this wild exploration into the music of his homeland and combining those thematic musical elements with the blues music of his adopted country. While this record may not be for everyone, it is for those with an open mind and adventurous spirit. Either way, Aki Kumar should be applauded for choosing his own path which speaks to the height of creativity and fearlessness."
David Mac. Blues Junction Productions, July 2018

"Really really really hot stuff... Anything you want to call it, it is a barn burner."
Elwood Blues aka Dan Aykroyd