Bhi Bhiman (courtesy of artist)

APEX Contributor R.J. Lozada brings Bay area musician to the KPFA studios to share some of his music, and his background.

From R.J.:

I like Bhi Bhiman.

If you don’t know who he is, Bhi Bhiman is a bay area musician who sings folk and blues, not in a kind of new form either, he relies on traditional elements of the form: fingerpicking, and familiar melodic lines that can be traced back to Mississippi John Hurt… true to the roots…. but there’s that twist: he’s Sri Lankan, Tamil, to be exact.

It’s his lyrical sensibility and a very assured musicality that I am drawn to, and I also think it gets him into audiences, especially white audiences, somewhat unsure if he’s real….I can somewhat imagine folks in the audience saying, “did he just sing what I thought he sung…?”

But that’s not entirely what Bhi is about. While my experience with him has been from this perspective, Bhi often aims to be wholly inclusive, he’ll rib you, but you’re still part of the family.

With Host RJ.

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