Durban - Keeran Eshwarlall is set to wow jazz lovers at the 19th Cape Town International Jazz Festival, which will be held on Friday and Saturday.
The festival, at the Cape Town ICC, is well known for its star-studded line-up of local and international artists.
This year the local group Mi Casa and English singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey are set to perform.
An excited Eshwarlall, of Verulam, will showcase his talents alongside The Liberation Project Acoustic Band.
“I am honoured and am looking forward to the event, which attracts thousands of music lovers,” said the 44-year-old.
The Liberation Project Acoustic Band, he said, was formed by Dan Chiorboli and Neill Solomon in 2016.
“I got on board and so did other artists, and we played together for the first time at the Awesome Africa International Music Festival in Mandeni. We were then invited to perform at this upcoming festival,” said Eshwarlall, who added they were an acoustic group.
At the weekend’s gig, he will play the harmonium, shai baja (a string instrument), harmonica and melodica (a wind powered keyboard).
Eshwarlall, who refers to himself as “an accidental musician”, said his passion for music started the day his dad, Eshwarlall Pragalath, now 74, challenged him to play a musical instrument better than him.
“I was not into the art. In fact, no member of my family, from either side, is musically-inclined and I did not have a musical bone in my body,” he said.
“When I was 16, the men in my area formed a social club and played instruments. One day in 1990, while I was studying my dad was practising, or more like battling, with the harmonium.
"After a while, I went up to him and told him to please stop making a noise. He looked at me and said if I could do better, I must go ahead.”
With no knowledge of the instrument, Eshwarlall played the song his dad was struggling with perfectly.
From that day, his passion to learn other instruments grew.
“I taught myself to play the guitar, santoor, tabla, dolak, shai baja and harmonica. I also learnt to sing.”
Eshwarlall, who teaches harmonium lessons, later formed the musical group Kalakar and performed in the United Kingdom and Mauritius.