At first glance, Aki Kumar must have stood out like a sore thumb among the California Bay Area blues blasters.
He often wears his native India sherwani β a long-sleeved coat that falls below the knees β or more casual kurta β a classic Indian-style shirt β and a turban.
But when he blows into his harmonica with the learned passion and soul of an old-school bluesman circa Sonny Boy Williamson II or Charlie Musselwhite and sings with a blues-tinged baritone, blues fans take notice.
Even when he started mixing in blues versions of the Bollywood songs of his youth, sung in his native Hindi, audiences ate it up.
βThey love it. They donβt care what Iβm singing, they sing along,β Kumar said during a phone call from his California home last week. βI think it just proves that people relate to the music and the energy youβre putting out. They donβt care about the lyrics.β
Tucson will get its first experience of Kumarβs so-called Bollywood Blues when he headlines the ninth annual House Rockinβ Blues Review at El Casino Ballroom on Friday, Aug. 5. Tucson blues artists Heather Hardy & The Dusty City Blues Band open the show, which raises money for KXCI community radio.
Kumar had never heard blues music before he moved to Northern California in the late 1990s to study software engineering at San Jose State University.
Aki Kumar has set himself apart in the blues world with his traditional Indian garb and his mixing of blues and Bollywood music.
βOne of the first things I did when I moved to the United States, like most everybody else, I found an oldies radio station and started listening to Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly and the Beatles. Sixties and β70s rock βnβ roll,β he recalled. βI really loved doo-wop and soul and R&B and kind of went down that path in my music interest.β
His foray into the blues came after he landed a job after college. He started going to San Jose blues clubs and became enamored by the music.
βI would go watch them and thatβs when I went down that rabbit hole. βWow this music is still alive and thereβs people playing it,ββ he remembers thinking. βOnce I went down that path and finally came across Muddy Waters and Howlinβ Wolf, the good stuff, that was a game-changer for me.β
Kumar was in his mid-20s when he bought a harmonica and took lessons. When he mustered the courage to play outside of his living room, he joined bands and played open mics. Then he struck out on his own as a solo artist, doing music part time at local clubs and then full time when he was laid off of his job in 2013.
Audiences at first didnβt know what to make of him. The Bay Area music community embraced him while some hardcore blues traditionalists werenβt so sure.
βPeople would be surprised, in a good way, that here was this guy from India. But then there were people who were not accepting and rejecting,β he said. βBut generally, Iβd say that the response has been very positive and so Iβm grateful for that.β
Kumar has earned praise from some of his blues heroes including Musselwhite, who told Downbeat magazine that Kumarβs Hindi Bollywood blues can coexist with the conventions of Chicago blues. Musselwhite was so impressed with Kumar that the pair in 2017 performed for Tony Holidayβs Porch Sessions, recorded on Musselwhiteβs Tennessee porch.
Kumar has recorded five albums including 2020βs Sony release βDilruba,β and has released several singles. His live shows play out like rocking dance parties with audience members crowding dance floors or jamming from their seats, which is why organizers of the House Rockinβ Blues Review said they tapped Kumar for Fridayβs concert.
βComing into the United States and coming from a country like India, you almost know in the back of your head that youβre an outsider,β said the 42-year-old Kumar. βI am always trying to represent it as best and as authentically as I can knowing that I am not from that culture. Iβm trying to be a good guest here.β
The show is at 7:30 p.m. at El Casino Ballroom, 437 E. 26th St. Tickets are $18 in advance for KXCI & SABHF members; $20 for advance general; and $25 at the door.
Get more information at tucne.ws/1l0n.
