Brattleboro-resident musician Joel ‘Veena’ Eisenkramer has released his new world music album on digital platforms worldwide and is now on a concert tour in India and the Netherlands. This tour will span from March to May 2017 and cover ten different cities in the respective countries. The album, ‘Unexpected Blessings,’ features Joel’s 21-stringed Indian slide guitar in collaboration with local and international musicians including Gordon Korstange, Todd Roach and Jed Blume of Vermont, Suraj Nirwan of India and Kees van Boxtel from Holland.
Joel Veena, as Eisenkramer is known on stage, has been studying Hindustani classical music on the Indian slide guitar for the past ten years from Dr. Ranjan Kumar in Delhi, India. After hearing the instrument for the first time on a college study trip in 2007, Joel sought a teacher and through a series of chance meetings, was introduced to Dr. Ranjan, a master slide guitarist based in north Delhi. Since that time, Joel, lifelong Vermont resident, has been traveling to Delhi in order to continue his apprenticeship. After a successful tour of India last year that included twelve concerts across the subcontinent, Joel returned to Brattleboro to collate recordings from that tour and create new compositions at Guilford Sound Studio in Guilford, Vermont. The album ‘Unexpected Blessings’ is the fruit of his labors. This six-track original presentation of Indian and world music features a wide variety of instruments along with the Indian slide guitar including tabla, handpan, bamboo flute, frame drum and even electronic elements. Now Joel is touring in support of his release which is currently selling on all major digital platforms.
Joel Veena’s magnanimous approach to incorporating multiple elements of world music while retaining the disciplined teachings of traditional music is captivating audiences worldwide. As doors continue to open for him, let us say in Sanskrit,”Tathastu” – let it be so. ‘Unexpected Blessings’ is currently available on iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay and BandCamp.
For more info on Joel Veena visit JoelVeena.com
