Josh Bennett - Sitar player

Josh Bennett has been performing on stage since he was fifteen, cutting his musical teeth in the Adelaide Blues scene. He met local guitar legend Chris Finnen in 1993, who became a mentor and great friend. Josh formed the band Epsilon in 1995 with his brother Tim on bass and long-time friend Matthew Colyer on Drums.

Josh's interest in music from all over the world started to creep into his guitar playing, with African marabi rhythms and Celtic melodies. Josh was introduced to Indian music by Professor Michael Junius, a Sitar and Surbahar player who studied in India for 18 years at the feet of great masters such as Prof. Shushill Branja, Prof. Banwarilal, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Asad Ali Khan and Pandit Gopal Das. Josh was hooked, and began learning everything he could about Indian music, finally getting a left-handed sitar made for him as a 21st present. He studied Sitar for six years under Alan Posselt, who himself learned from Ustad Allaudin Khan and Sri Mohan Maitre. Since then he's also taken up Tabla, and Dilruba - a bowed instrument similar to Sarangi. He now regularly travels to Ahmedabad, India to learn Sitar from Smt. Manju Mehta, a disciple of Pt. Ravi Shankar.

Josh performs world-wide on a myriad of strings, skins and hollow things, Whether picking up a storm with The Lawnmowers (at the cutting "hedge" of Bluegrass), exploring Indian raga with Jay Dabgar on tabla and The Silk Road Project, or taking music to the edge with Guitar Safari, Jaib Mai and with fellow musical chameleon Andrew Clermont, Josh always has a unique musical story to tell. Key ingredients in this melting pot are Blues, Jazz, Celtic, Bluegrass, African, and of course a strong Indian influence.