On Aki Kumar’s [2014] album, Don’t Hold Back, the track “Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Yeh” begins with some sitar chords before Kumar interrupts: “Hey, you’d better cut that Bollywood shit out! That ain’t the blues…this is the blues!” The music restarts, now bluesy-sounding: a cover of a 1960 tune by Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar.
Pencils and sketch pad in hand, a young Abraham Ortega excitedly headed out to a friend’s birthday party. The son and grandson of artists, he was already a passionate sketcher. Consistent encouragement from his mother led him to assume that drawing was the de facto activity for all kids his age and would thus be […]
Rising from Humbling Beginnings People entrust you to do something that’s going to be permanent on their bodies, so you’ve got to not take…