Gabriel Akhmad Marin

MEET A FUSION WIZARD WHO'S CHANNELING THE SOUNDS OF EASTERN EUROPE AND WESTERN ASIA THROUGH HIS FRETLESS AND MIDI BOARD

- Amit Sharma

WHEN YOU SPEAK to Consider the Source guitarist Gabriel Akhmad Marin, it doesn't take long to get the impression that music has taken him far and wide. For example, to help further his appreciation and understanding of Hindustani music, he left the U.S. to go and live with lap steel virtuoso Debashish Bhattacharya in India. And whenever said mentor came to visit the U.S., Marin would stay with him for a month at a time - hoping to absorb as much of his musicality as humanly possible. It's this kind of dedication to his craft that's made him one of the most musically rounded guitar players around today, mixing up Western influences as varied as Guthrie Govan, John McLaughlin and Alain Johannes with the lesser-known sounds of the Middle and Far East. Below, he tells GW about the secrets to his phrasing and tone.

When did your fascination with world music begin?