Big Easy Yogi in Pune

If you read his Bio which follows this article from expressindia.com,
you'll see that the man is a dedicated and sought-after musician, having
played with Robbie Robertson (Dylan and The Band). Puneites are lucky
to have him in town !
Versatile strings
HE COMES from the land of music—New Orleans. With his guitar
in his bag, Jonathan Freilach is in Pune for quite another reason-
to attend a course at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute.
“I had no intention of performing in Pune, since I came here only for
the course. But I bumped into a friend of mine who suggested I play
at Cafe Shisha. I did and am quite thrilled,” says the man who plays
with six bands back home. You think that’s difficult? “Not really,”
he counters, “Even though I play Jewish music, I also play jazz, blues,
older American folk music and Cuban-Afro music with different bands.”
The ease comes because, “music is one—just the styles differ,”
And how does yoga connect with music? “Both are methods of
understanding yourself, both disciplines are enjoyable,” he says.

Being in New Orleans has been a major boost for Freilach. “There’s
no other place in the world where you can jam with a variety of
musicians at any time. The experimentation that happens there is
vast, moreso since musicians as a community, are not competitive,”
he stresses. Thoughts of home are beckoning, with just over a week
left before he heads back.

Jonathan Freilich Biography
Jonathan Freilich was born in Philadelphia, Pensylvania in 1968, and
raised in London, England and in Los Angeles, California. After
spending a couple of years in Santa Cruz, California and a year floating
around, he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he has lived for
the past 14 years.

After a childhood stint with the cello he took up guitar at age 15; after
some key musical-exposure incidents, he became ridiculously addicted to
the instrument. Luckily, New Orleans took him in and offered a few outlets
for a large palette of musical desires to take flight.

Currently, Freilich plays in the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars, Los Vecinos,
Naked On The Floor, The Naked Orchestra, The Poor Man's Speedball, 007,
The Tom Paines, and spot gigs with a few others. Many of the bands are
recurring winners of various New Orleans local 'Best Of' awards.

In the past, he has worked with Kermit Ruffins, Mike Ward and the Reward,
Mas Mamones, Walter Payton, Frederick Sheppard, The World Accordion to
Glenn Hartman, Mark Bingham, Iris May Tango, Gregory Boyd and VOS,
The Square Music Band, All That, The 32-20 blues band, The Wild Magnolias,
Robbie Robertson, Sam Rivers (in conjunction with the Naked Orchestra),
Eric Lindell, and some others.

Freilich also teaches Yoga in New Orleans.