As soon as he began singing, Jonas Desai captured the attention of the crowd and by the time he had finished, he left many in the crowd wondering who the talented musician was.
The 22-year-old half-Swedish half-Indian artist sat down with tabloid! after he finished performing at the Abu Dhabi Jazz Festival's first night.
"I'm very excited to be here. It's the first time I play in Abu Dhabi and this venue is amazing for artists such as myself who want to get a start in the music business," he said.
It's hard to believe that he only picked up the guitar in 2002. With songs such as 'Get Me Out' that form a part of his debut album, listeners are taken on a journey of discovery with each track.
"I was lucky enough to work with an amazing sound engineer called Josh Graves as well as being signed to Creative Kingdom in Dubai," Jonas said. "Because of Josh, we have everything we need to make our music sound the way we want it to," he added.
While a self-proclaimed John Mayer fan, he quickly dispels any notion that his work is influenced by the multi-award winning singer.
"John Mayer is a great inspiration for me but he doesn't influence my work. Our styles may seem similar in terms of music, but he writes music in a way that digs deeper while I stay a little bit more on the surface," he said.
As for touring plans …
"I would love to be able to tour the US with five or six guys and play in different places to see what the response would be – I think that would be awesome!" he said, laughingly.
