Indra Sinha in his garden in France, March 2007

Indra Sinha (born in 1950 in Colaba,^[1] Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is a British writer of English and Indian descent.^[2] Formerly a copywriter for Ogilvy & Mather, London,^[3] and, from 1984, Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners,^[4] Sinha has the distinction of having been voted one of the top ten British copywriters of all time.^[1] He became known for hard-hitting, campaigning advertising for charities such as Amnesty International and the Bhopal Medical Appeal,^[1] but became increasingly disenchanted with commercial advertising.^[1] He resigned from the agency in 1995 to concentrate on writing novels and non-fiction.^[5]

Indra Sinha's books, in addition to his translations of ancient Sanskrit texts into English,^[6] include a non-fiction memoir of the pre-internet generation (The Cybergypsies),^[7] and novels based on the case of K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra (The Death of Mr. Love),^[8] and the Bhopal disaster (Animal's People).^[9][10] Animal's People, his most recent book, was shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize^[11][12] and a regional winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Sinha is the son of an Indian naval officer and an English writer.^[13] He was educated at Mayo College, Ajmer, Rajasthan in India; Oakham School, Rutland, England and Pembroke College, Cambridge in England, where he studied English literature. He and his wife live in Sussex. They have three grown-up children.

“I was invited by a publisher to write the text for Tantra.^[1] Having done some research, what fascinated me was the evidence that many 'tantric' ideas actually came to India from the Mediterranean. It is rather a dry read and debunks reports of orgies and sexual mischief – sorry to disappoint.”

— Indra Sinha, Interview.        

Books[link]

• 1980. The Love Teachings of Kama Sutra:^[14] With extracts from Koka Shastra, Ananga Ranga and other famous Indian works on love. Translations from Sanskrit and commentary. London: Hamlyn. Hardcover first edition: ISBN 0-600-34158-5. First North American edition 1997, New York: Marlowe & Co. Paperback: ISBN 1-56924-779-X.
• 1993. Tantra: The Search for Ecstasy^[15] (also known with the subtitle "The Cult of Ecstasy").^[1] London: Hamlyn. ISBN 0-600-57699-X.
• 1993. The Great Book of Tantra: Translations and Images from the Classic Indian Text. Rochester: Inner Traditions - Bear & Company. ISBN 0-89281-487-X. London: Hamlyn paperback edition: ISBN 0-600-59998-1.
• 1999. The Cybergypsies: a True Tale of Lust, War, and Betrayal on the Electronic Frontier.^[7] New York: Viking Press, hardcover first edition. ISBN 0-670-88630-0. New York: Simon & Schuster paperback edition: ISBN 0-684-81929-5.
• 2002. The Death of Mr Love.^[8] New York: Scribner (Simon & Schuster). ISBN 0-7432-0698-3. (See also: K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra.)
• 2007. Animal's People.^[9] New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-5920-3. (See also: Bhopal disaster.)

Bhopal[link]

Sinha has been a passionate campaigner for justice for the victims of the Bhopal disaster since 1993,^[5] when he created the first advertisement for the Bhopal Medical Appeal (using the now-famous photograph by Raghu Rai of a dead child being buried)^[1] that raised money to build a clinic to provide free treatment for the survivors.^[5] He is an outspoken critic of Dow Chemical Company, the multinational owner of Union Carbide, whose neglected, dilapidated and undermanned chemical plant in the city of Bhopal leaked 27 tonnes of poisonous gas on the night of 3 December 1984, killing up to 8,000 people and injuring upwards of half a million. Around 22,000 people have died as a result of injuries sustained on "that night", and more than 100,000 remain chronically ill; the abandoned, derelict factory continues to leach toxic chemicals into the groundwater, poisoning wells.^[16]

Apart from his novel, Animal's People (a fictionalised account of the aftermath of the disaster), Sinha has given many interviews and written several articles on the subject,^[17] including one in The Guardian marking the 25th anniversary of the disaster, in which he roundly condemns local politicians (particularly Babulal Gaur of the BJP) for their failure to comply with a 2004 Supreme Court ruling ordering them to supply clean water to the poison victims.^[18] Nor does he absolve the Indian Government of blame.

"…Dow has been trying to twist the arm of Manmohan Singh's Congress government into letting it off the Bhopal hook in return for a billion-dollar investment in India.
"When people ask, 'Why is the disaster continuing? Why has the factory not been cleaned? Why have Union Carbide and Dow not faced justice?', the answer is this: Union Carbide's victims are still dying in Bhopal because India itself is dying under the corrupt and self-serving rule of rotten leaders."^[18]

— Indra Sinha, Bhopal: 25 years of poison, The Guardian, 3 December 2009

As a former advertising copywriter, Sinha is particularly scathing about Dow Chemical Company's attempts to improve its image through its sponsorship of events such as the Blue Planet Run and Live Earth Run For Water. He has called Dow's "Human Element" advertising campaign "glossy falsehoods", and quotes artist Paul Phare (who created a set of e-cards in response to Dow) “Telling a lie beautifully does not make it true.”^[19][20]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Indra Sinha website
• Interview on Radio France Internationale (2 December 2009) to mark 25th anniversary of Bhopal disaster

Tommy Emmanuel
Emmanuel performing at the Soave Guitar Festival, Italy, May 2010
Background information
Born	(1955-05-31) 31 May 1955 (age 57) Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	Folk, Rock, Pop, Blues, Country
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, lap steel guitar
Years active	1962–present
Associated acts	Dragon
Website	Official website
Notable instruments
Maton TE Signature model, Williamson Guitars

William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist and occasional singer, best known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their readers' poll.^[1] In June 2010 Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).^[2]

Biography[link]

Emmanuel was born in Australia in 1955. He received his first guitar in 1959 at age four, being taught by his mother to accompany her playing lap steel guitar. At the age of 7 he heard Chet Atkins on the radio. He vividly remembers this moment and says it greatly inspired him.^[3]

By the age of 6, in 1961, he was a working professional musician. Recognizing the musical talents of Tommy and his brother Phil, their father created a family band, sold the family home and took his family on the road. With the family living in two station wagons, much of Emmanuel’s childhood was spent touring Australia with his family, playing rhythm guitar, and rarely going to school. The family found it difficult living on the road; they were poor but never hungry, never settling in one place. His father would often drive ahead, organize interviews, advertising and finding the local music shop where they'd have an impromptu concert the next day. Eventually the New South Wales Department of Education insisted that the Emmanuel children needed to go to school regularly.^[3][4]

After his father died in 1966, the family settled in Parkes. Tommy eventually moved to Sydney where he came to be noticed nationally when he won a string of talent contests in his teen years.^[3][5] By the late 1970s, he was playing drums with his brother Phil in the group Goldrush as well doing session work on numerous albums and jingles. He gained further prominence in the late 1970s as the lead guitarist in The Southern Star Band, the backing group for vocalist Doug Parkinson. During the early 1980s, he joined the reformed lineup of leading 1970s rock group Dragon, touring widely with them, including a 1987 tour with Tina Turner. He left the group to embark on a solo career.

Throughout his career he has played with many notable artists including Chet Atkins, Eric Clapton, Sir George Martin, Air Supply, John Denver, Les Paul and Doc Watson.

In 1994 Australian music veteran John Farnham invited him to play guitar next to Stuart Fraser from Noiseworks for the Concert For Rwanda. Emmanuel became a member of Farnham's band.

Emmanuel and his brother Phil performed live in Sydney at the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics in 2000. The event was televised worldwide with an estimated 2.85 billion viewers.^[5] When performing together the pair will sometimes share and play just one guitar with each having one hand free.

In October 2002 he was invited to perform the Australian folk song Waltzing Matilda at a service at the Washington National Cathedral held for the victims of the Bali bombings.

In December 2007 he was diagnosed with heart issues^[6] and was forced to take a break from his hectic touring schedule due to exhaustion, but returned to full-time touring in early 2008.

In late January 2010, having been deeply touched by the tragic 2010 Haiti earthquake earlier in the same month, Emmanuel announced^[7] that he would be auctioning off three guitars, that he personally played and owned, on eBay, in order to raise money to donate to UNICEF in Haiti.

In June 2010 Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).^[2]

Musical style[link]

Emmanuel's fingerstyle technique shown at a June 2006 performance at the City Stages venue in Birmingham, Alabama

Emmanuel has said that even at a young age he was fascinated by Atkins’ musical style – sometimes referred to as Travis picking – of playing bass with the thumb and melody parts with the first two or three fingers at the same time. This technique became the basis of Tommy's guitar style.

While Emmanuel has never had formal music training, his playing ability has won him fans from all over the world. He is known to play percussion parts on the body of his guitar. As a solo performer he never plays to a set list and uses a minimum of effects.^[5] He usually completes recordings in one take.

Emmanuel frequently uses his left thumb to fret bass notes on the 5th and 6th strings as well as playing chords such as Am and E with just two fingers. He uses a thumb pick mostly, a flat pick or just fingers. He also integrates amongst his trademark blazing runs and kaleidoscopic chord progressions a quick note / chord "dive," imitating a tremolo system effect on his fixed-bridge acoustic guitars, by pressing the palm of his right hand against the body of the guitar directly above the fret board close to the neck joint while maintaining forward pressure with his left (fretting) hand.

His main guitar is a small-bodied custom Maton EBG808 made in 2003, that is fitted with a pickup and an internal condenser microphone, to which he has given the nickname "Mouse" due to its quieter volume unplugged but massive sound when plugged into an amp. Two of his main stage guitars, notably his signature TE1 Maton dreadnought, are battered and worn due to his excessive playing and percussive techniques.

Association with Chet Atkins[link]

As a young man in Australia, Emmanuel wrote to his hero Chet Atkins in Nashville. Eventually Atkins replied with words of encouragement and a longstanding invitation to drop by to visit.^[8]

In 1997, Emmanuel and Atkins recorded as a duo and released the album The Day Finger Pickers Took Over The World, which was also to be Atkins' last recorded album before he died. Emmanuel and Atkins appeared together on The Nashville Network's 'County Christmas' in late 1997 and on that occasion Atkins stated about him: "He is one of the greatest guitar players I've ever seen."

In July 1999, at the 15th Annual Chet Atkins Appreciation Society Convention, Chet presented Tommy with a Certified Guitar Player award, an honor Atkins has bestowed on other guitarists.^[3] This award gains its fame from being bestowed by Atkins himself, a widely recognized leader in guitar music. The award states: "In Recognition Of His Contributions to the Art Of Fingerpicking." Tommy performs at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society (CAAS) in July each year in Nashville.^[9]

Discography[link]

• 1979 From Out Of Nowhere
• 1987 Up From Down Under
• 1990 Dare to Be Different
• 1992 Determination
• 1993 The Journey
• 1993 The Journey Continues
• 1995 Initiation
• 1995 Terra Firma (with Phil Emmanuel)
• 1995 Classical Gas
• 1996 Can't Get Enough
• 1997 Midnight Drive (US release of Can't Get Enough)
• 1997 The Day Finger Pickers Took Over The World (With Chet Atkins)
• 1998 Collaboration
• 2000 Only
• 2001 The Very Best of Tommy Emmanuel
• 2004 Endless Road
• 2005 Live One
• 2006 Happy Hour (with Jim Nichols)
• 2006 The Mystery
• 2008 Center Stage
• 2009 Just Between Frets (with Frank Vignola)
• 2010 Little by Little
• 2010 Tommy Emmanuel Essential 3.0
• 2011 All I Want For Christmas (Holy day Album)^[10]

Emmanuel released the DVD "Live At Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat, Australia" on 11 July 2006 and also the "Center Stage" accompanying DVD in late 2008.

Emmanuel has produced 3 instructional videos: Guitar Talk (1993), Up Close (1996), Emmanuel Labor (2008)

Awards[link]

"Smokey Mountain Lullaby", a duet with Chet Atkins, was nominated for the 1998 Grammy award for Country Instrumental Performance but did not win. His song "Gameshow Rag/Cannonball Rag" won "Instrumental of the Year" at the 35th Tamworth Country Music Festival on Saturday, 27 January 2007,^[11] and also was nominated that year for a Grammy for "Best Country Instrumental Performance".^[12]

References[link]

External links[link]

• TommyEmmanuel.com
• Tommy Emmanuel page on The Party Of The Century project
• 2011 Tommy Emmanuel Interview on FingerstyleGuitarists.com
• Emmanuel playing "Over the Rainbow" on WGN