Dhruv Visvanath(India)
Some of us get ushered into journeys with the most prolific of words- for Confucius it was the “single step”, for Frost it happened through the “road less travelled”. Multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer- songwriter and the only Indian to be mentioned in Acoustic Guitar Magazine USA ‘s “30 Great Guitarists under 30” (2014) Dhruv Visvanath’s phrase just happened to be “women fawn over pianists”.
His mother’s advice, though, clearly resonated with the seven year old, whose piano classes eventually translated into a love for the guitar. Over the years, and with constant practice, he was able to hone his skills and bring to the sub-continent a unique style of percussive acoustic guitar playing, earning him the nickname ‘Guitar Spanker’. Though always having been musically inquisitive and influenced by the stories surrounding him in the various places he grew up in, it was the death of his father that really pushed Dhruv’s passion within the field, enabling him to find strength in this medium of expression. The result of this was the launch of his first EPChronicles in 2011, a collection of soulful finger-style/ percussive tracks he dedicated to his father. The following years saw him grow as a musician- both in terms of technique and his fan-base. He was nominated for a TOTO award (2012), in addition to playing for reputed sound fests like Pune’s BaajaGaaja, and Delhi’s NH7 Weekender.
Having been recognised as a passionate and innovative leader and a force to be reckoned with in the music scene, not only has Dhruv been chosen as the youth ambassador of a number of international brands such as Microsoft Lumia and Audi but he has been called upon to give inspirational talks at prestigious events like TED, Josh Talks and AISEC as well. Adding to this list of accomplishments, one can say he has also successfully seductively posed for magazines such as Fusion Life and GQ as their ‘Artist of the Month’ (September 2014).
His latest project, the release of his new album, Orion, launched on the 19th of September, is an eclectic mix of percussive, electro-acoustic, and hard rock with jumpy riffs, best defined as a labour of love, representing his many avatars as an artist.