Stepping outside the shadows of his famous musical predecessors, Lulo Reinhardt is dancing to the tune of his own music.
The grandson of world-renown gypsy swing guitarist Django Reinhardt and son of musician Bawa Reinhardt, Lulo’s pulse beats to the twang of a guitar string.
‘I am a real Reinhardt, I have the blood inside,’ Lulo said.
‘I have this power, the gypsy power in my right hand and it doesn’t matter what I play it always sounds like gypsy swing.’
Lulo harnesses the power of his gypsy roots and combines them with his love of Latin music, including flamenco, samba and bosa nova, to create his own novel sounds.
‘I live for my music, I have fun on stage that’s what I am there for,’ he said.
But it has not always been easy to escape the associations that the name Reinhardt carries.
‘In the beginning, for me, it was not so easy because I was playing with my father, with my cousin and when I started playing flamenco stuff in the middle of the ’80s he was looking at me like what are you doing?’
Lulo said it took a lot of courage to play something different but it has taken him on a journey, performing all over the world.
‘It was not easy for me to step out from my family but I want to go my own way,’ he said.
‘I play Latin stuff but most of my family just plays gypsy swing. Now everyone respects my music. I just want to be myself it is really important.’
Lulo changes his style every year, with influences from Israel and his travels – including didgeridoo.
‘I take from everywhere ideas – a sitar from India or Brazil, flamenco. I can’t play the same things my whole life,’ he said.
‘I am really excited to go everywhere. I really like Australia. Australia is one of the best audiences, every little town or every city, it’s a big surprise for me because I always have fun in Australia.
‘For me it looks like Germany or East Germany in the ’70s. People sit there with really big eyes when they listen to musicians from the US because we didn’t have this so much in ’60s, ’70s in Germany. In Australia it is the same feeling when you have musicians come from overseas or the US.
‘In Australia it is a long trip, you know, and that’s why I think the Australian audience appreciates it. I can see it in the eyes, they always have big eyes.’
Lulo Reinhardt will be performing at Perth’s Friends restaurant on March 11, Fly by Night club on March 12, in Geraldton on March 13, Mundaring Weir on March 14 and Friend’s Restaurant again on March 15.
Aja Styles
