When Aki Kumar moved from Mumbai to the South Bay to work as a Silicon Valley software engineer the blues changed the course of his life, but that doesn’t mean he left his past behind. Smitten with the celebratory African-American idiom, he became a fixture in blues clubs throughout Northern California as a harmonica player and vocalist. While at first he wanted to blend into the scene, over time he developed a singular combination of Chicago-style blues and vintage Bollywood songs. With his 2016 Little Village Foundation debut, Aki Goes to Bollywood, his multi-cultural mash-up earned national attention. His unique East/West blend reached a new creative high with his Little Village follow up, Hindi Man Blues and he brought the sound back home with 2020’s Dilruba on Sony Music India. Backed by some of the Bay Area’s finest musicians, Kumar continues to take his love for the blues to new and fascinating places.