There’s nothing like this ensemble anywhere else in the world!

Doors 6 pm, Band at 7.30 pm

Duke of George presents

Slide Summit with Praashekh Borkar and Lucky Oceans

Slide Summit was born out of the highly unlikely migration of two of the world’s top slide players to Perth. Sarod player Praashekh Borkar and pedal steel guitarist Lucky Oceans have won the highest music awards from their respective countries. Their repertoire covers Jazz, Blues, North African grooves, Indian Folk and Irish reels but it’s their boundless musical curiosity and desire to tell emotion filled stories in music that makes this new group truly exceptional.  There’s nothing like this ensemble anywhere else in the world!   

The other two members of ‘Slide Summit’  are Indian-Australian multi-instrumentalist/sound designer Tao Issaro on percussion and drum kit and Cuban-born Arvis Mena on bass. Tao has played over 2000 shows in 33 countries including at the Royal Albert Hall and the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts. Arvis, who leads popular Perth group ‘De Cuba Son,’ adds the subtlety and complexity of the Cuban rhythmic grooves that he grew up with.

At the age of 4 Praashekh Borkar began studying Indian Classical Music on a mini-sarodmade especially for him.  At 7, he began serious training from his father, Pt. Shekhar Borkar, a noted sarod player himself. He was awarded a national scholarship at the age of 10 and was soon a regular on All India Radio and won an All India Gold Medal in Music. Praashekh has recorded 6 of his own albums and has worked with AR Rahman for film projects and with Shankar Mahadevan on an album.  

In Perth he leads his own music school, performs with highest level international Indian musicians and sells out venues with his fusion-oriented Praaz World Music Band. He is the inventor of the E-sarod – an electric version of the classical instrument, which he plays through various guitar pedal effects. He has the rare ability to easily step outside of Indian Classical music to play other genres. Praashekh has over 26,000 followers on Instagram.

Lucky co-founded the group Asleep at the Wheel, with whom he won 2 Grammy Awards and was Nominated for another 6, the most recent in 2023. He has played with Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Hank Marvin, Paul Kelly, Neal Finn and many others. For over two decades, he was the presenter of the Daily Planet, ABC RN’s beloved World Music national radio show. From his background in Western Swing, Lucky has expanded to play many other genres, stretching the pedal steel into new territories. He has also developed new tunings, techniques and alterations for this unique instrument.

The Pedal Steel, unlike the guitar, has no frets. Notes are made by pressing a heavy metal bar down on the strings.  Notes are changed by an array of pedals and levers which loosen or tighten the strings, lowering or raising them in pitch. Born out of Country Music, the Pedal Steel, with its cinematic scope, is experiencing a Renaissance in the hands of a group of players seeking to expand its scope.

The Sarod, like its sister the Sitar, is one of Indian Classical music’s favourite instruments. Both have sympathetic strings and make notes by pressing down on the strings but the Sarod has no frets so one presses down directly on a metal fingerboard. It’s ideal for the expressive sliding ornamentation of Hindustani Classical music.

Praashekh plays both his E Sarod and his Classical Sarod and Lucky plays his pedal steel and an acoustic lap steel resonator guitar in the show. It’s not often that such an unusual musical group comes into being to explore the links between so many different styles of music. And what a boon that these 4 musicians’ light hearted natures always put the ‘Play’ into playing music! I guess it makes sense that this group ‘slid’ into being in Perth/Boorloo, where’s there’s something in the water that gives us so much exceptional musical talent.