Meet India's Newest Fingerstyle Guitarist, Manan Gupta

The Mumbai musician’s work is reminiscent of veterans Tommy Emmanuel and Jon Gomm

- David Britto

Manan gupta was about eight years old when he first got fascinated with the building blocks of music—when his grandmother would play the harmonium at home, he would sit next to her and follow her fingers gliding effortlessly on the keys. Later, he would try it out himself. “I started figuring out popular melodies on my own on a toy Casio keyboard,” he says. Gupta would eventually end up mastering the instrument and soon pick up the guitar. “I was inspired after listening to [veteran American fingerstyle guitarist] Andy McKee’s track, ‘Drifting,’” he says.