Harry Manx has spent decades fusing eastern musical traditions with the blues, switching between conventional acoustic and electric guitars, the banjo and his Mohan veena, created by Harry’s Indian mentor Vishw Mohan Bhatt.
When his Mohan veena went missing from a Chicago airport baggage carousel earlier this year, Harry was distraught.
‘I waited until everyone was gone,’ said Harry, ‘and when the baggage guys told me they had put it there I came apart a bit! I was thinking, oh man, this is the worst moment of my life! I cried like a baby. I felt like I had lost a friend. I’d had that instrument for 20 years. I went to a gig that night and put a note on Facebook and I saw 60,000 people had read it and then 150,000 and three days later five-and-a-half million had read it.
‘I began to think I don’t care about it now, look at the friends I have! It went viral and made it to the front page of all the newspapers. It became an issue of theft at the airport and the lack of proaction. The police contacted me; they were feeling the heat, because they got pressure; they set up a sting and caught the guy. As it turned out he was completely homeless; he called someone and they bought my instrument back.’
The power of social media had uncovered his musical friend in days. ‘I swear it sounds better,’ says Harry. ‘I am listening to it now, and I think just having it is a gift.
‘I have already written a few songs,’ says Harry, ‘like nothing fails like success. All these experiences inform me as a person and I may end up writing a song, but I never set about to purposely write something because I fall on myself. I admire people who set out to write a specific song because I can’t write like that.
‘As for what inspires me, it might be a line in the song or something that moves me.
‘The story of my Mohan veena moves me a lot, and what comes out and what I was amazed by was how many good people there are – I experienced the generosity of strangers.’
Harry is joined by his musical comrade Clayton Doley on keyboards. ‘He has been all over the world with me,’ says Harry. ‘Clayton is the only guy I play with. If I’m not with him I’ll play solo.
‘When musicians are getting fluent on their instrument they can just converse with each other in a relaxed manner; it takes a few years to get to that and it’s great to have that with Clayton. He is the master of reading my body language; I just have to think about something and he’s onto it.
‘I play a lot on this tour – when we’re not gigging I am pretty lazy – I will go to cafes and wait for the next wave. I am 60 now and I started in this industry at 15. It’s been a long time; it’s one of those things. Existence will provide a break for me. I am gigging as much as they will have me! I started out as a roadie with bands in my teenage years, then I became a musician. I had a long period of 20 years when I worked on the street in Europe or Japan. It’s not always easy but I chose it so I guess that made it easier. That led to my playing on the stage; it was what took me there.’
Harry promises something for everyone at his upcoming shows.
‘I am playing songs from my last CD Om Sweet Om – I play old songs as well. I mix it up. You don’t want to see your artists playing all new songs! I have been getting sitting ovations wherever I go,’ laughs Harry, who admits to possibly slowing down next year after the release of his 14th CD… ‘but I don’t know’.
Harry Manx plays the Mullumbimby Civic Hall on Thursday and the Currumbin Soundlounge on Friday.