“Whenever you play in a new country, it is a little stressful because you don’t know what to expect. And then you realize something: people all over the world are so different but also the same,” said Polish guitarist Marcin Patrzalek during his performance at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai on August 7. It was the first leg of the 25-year-old musician’s debut tour in India. Dressed in a black shirt paired with black jeans, he demonstrated what he is best known for: stretching the boundaries of what a single acoustic guitar can do. Watching him hold the instrument and pluck the strings was a spectacle in itself. He cradled it like a baby, backslapped it like a friend, caressed it like a lover, and even listened to it attentively like a therapist. The performance embodied the kind of raw physicality that’s evident in his tracks Bite Your Nails and I Killed It where his body and that of the guitar seem to merge into a seamless being. That this was one person doing the work of a whole orchestra definitely inspired awe. It felt like everyone was witnessing something intimate: an artist in the process of creation, allowing the audience to eavesdrop for a fleeting moment.
Then, he interrupted that stillness with a light-hearted remark. “I really want to go to an Indian wedding. If anyone here wants to get married, please invite me.” The audience clapped, laughed and whistled. One wonders if he got any invitations or proposals after the show.
Clearly, Marcin had done his homework well and knew what would strike a chord with the audience. But he also dipped into comic material that is likely to work across contexts. Referring to his track I Don’t Write About Girls, a collaboration with Japanese guitarist Ichika Nito for the album Dragon in Harmony, he seemed to enjoy pointing out that “It is actually about a girl”.
{{/usCountry}}Clearly, Marcin had done his homework well and knew what would strike a chord with the audience. But he also dipped into comic material that is likely to work across contexts. Referring to his track I Don’t Write About Girls, a collaboration with Japanese guitarist Ichika Nito for the album Dragon in Harmony, he seemed to enjoy pointing out that “It is actually about a girl”.
{{/usCountry}}Born in Kielce, a city in southern Poland, known for its mountains and nature reserves, Marcin’s popularity began to soar with Must Be the Music, a singing competition on Polish television. Then, America’s Got Talent became his ticket to global fame. He has also studied jazz improvisation at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
Having performed in several countries across the globe, including South Africa, Japan, Canada, Australia, France, Turkey, Italy, Mexico and the United Kingdom, he seems equally at ease playing original compositions and his interpretations of Beethoven and Led Zeppelin. His musical repertoire integrates European classical music with Spanish flamenco, American hip-hop, metal and electronic music. Backstage before the event, this writer saw him jamming with Ganesh Murali Iyer, a Carnatic percussionist who plays the ghatam.
Marcin relies on YouTube and Instagram to keep in touch with fans, collaborate with other musicians, and expand his audience in various countries. In Mumbai, he had Indian independent musicians Dhruv Viswanath and Gini open for him. In the middle of his show, he invited Harsh and Shreya, a brother-sister guitarist duo to join him on stage. They played an instrumental version of the song Crazy Kiya Re, composed by Pritam for the film Dhoom 2. Harsh S Ranjan was chosen from a nationwide talent scouting initiative to platform young guitarists. His sister, Shreya, accompanied him.
“There are so many amazing guitar players in India. I am in touch with them online,” said Marcin, who later gave listeners a brief demonstration of the “gallop strumming” technique, where guitar chords recreate the sound and feel of a horse running at full speed. It was a mini tutorial for aspiring musicians, and an unexpected treat for everyone else.
After a standing ovation, Marcin returned for one last number. “This is a gift for you,” he said, before setting off for the rest of his tour that took in Bengaluru and Gurugram before winding up in Shillong, the city that made it to the Guinness Book of World Records in 2007 for hosting an ensemble of 1730 guitarists who played an instrumental rendition of Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. Keen to engage with local musicians there, Marcin also participated in the Meghalaya Grassroots Music Programme, a brainchild of Meghalaya’s Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma, to strengthen the state’s music ecosystem and support local and global talent.
Marcin’s large fan following in India has been built online and unsurprisingly, his great energy was warmly reciprocated by enthusiastic multigenerational audiences across the country.
Chintan Girish Modi is a Mumbai-based writer, journalist and critic. His interest in the emotional, spiritual and political dimensions of music comes from his work with the Kabir Project housed at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Bengaluru.