Salt Spring Island’s Harry Manx is returning to Evergreen Theatre for an evening of uniquely bewitching and deliciously addictive blues wed with the depth of Indian classical music.
Manx’s last show here in 2012 was disrupted by Powell River’s autumn fog. He was to share the stage with the Canadian Broadcast Corporation’s (CBC) Stuart McLean, but the weather stopped the Vinyl Cafe storyteller from coming and Manx ended up playing the show solo.
“He didn’t show up, so I ended up doing the show by myself,” said Manx. “I told those folks I’d come back and do another show. This is going to be it.”
Manx is a six-time Juno Award nominee and one of Canada’s most recognized blues musicians. The performer will be playing arrangements from his past 13 albums. He has just returned from a tour across Canada and to Europe in support of his most recent release Om Suite Ohm.
Manx made headlines in February when his Mohan Veena, a 20-string guitar-sitar hybrid, was stolen from the baggage claim area of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
“It’s funny because at this point I’m actually more famous for having lost it than having played it,” said the blues performer. “It’s kind of bizarre.”
He explained that the instrument derives its name from Grammy Award-winning Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.
Manx studied under Bhatt in India and witnessed his own instrument being constructed.
“You get to know an instrument really well if you stay with it a long time—how it works and when it works and what you need to do to make it sound perfect,” he said. “It’s got a lot of history.”
After he realized the instrument had been stolen he posted on social media what had happened and news of the theft went viral. Within a few days several hundred thousand people knew and newspapers and television stations across the US and Canada picked up the story. He was stopped by strangers on several occasions and asked if he had received it back. Manx thinks this all helped to ramp up pressure on police to locate the instrument.
The thief was arrested after a sting operation and the guitar was returned in one piece.
Manx received letters of support and stories from Canadians and Americans who were touched by his story, some of which he passed on to CBC friend, McLean.
“It wasn’t just about me,” he added. “It was about something sensitive on a collision course with theft and violence—a story of loss that a lot of people related to.”
Ironically enough, Manx explained that when he first lost the instrument, it felt like the world had ended but, soon after, the “good vibes” he felt from people started to “outweigh the disaster.” Just as he had started to come to terms with the loss, the instrument was returned.
“That was my moment of fame,” he said, laughing. “The rest will be hard work.”
This summer the modest blues musician will be artist-in-residence for the Montreal Jazz Festival which will deliver the opportunity for him to collaborate with some of the world’s finest jazz musicians.
Manx plays the Evergreen Theatre at 8 pm on Friday, April 25. Tickets can be purchased at Powell River Recreation Complex box office. Reserve seating for the concert is $35 in advance and $40 at the door.
