Electric Tash Sultana flies the flag for Australia in Fender Stratocaster 70th anniversary campaign
Australian musician Tash Sultana is among a rarefied group of distinctive guitarists to be invited to mark the 70th anniversary of one of the most popular electric guitars ever made.
Australian musician Tash Sultana is among a rarefied group of distinctive guitarists to be invited to mark the 70th anniversary of one of the most popular electric guitars ever made, the Fender Stratocaster.
Sultana travelled to Los Angeles in February to record a unique rendition of the searing Jimi Hendrix classic Voodoo Child (Slight Return), which features one of the most famous riffs ever performed on a Stratocaster.
The Fender anniversary campaign, launched globally on Wednesday, includes guitarists such as Nile Rodgers of Chic and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave.
Having issued a signature Tash Sultana Stratocaster in 2020 – which the artist has since played on many stages around the world – the Melbourne-born multi-instrumentalist saw Fender’s invitation as a major mark of respect from one of the world’s revered guitar manufacturers.
While preparing to run through a few takes of Voodoo Child, instrument in hand, the Australian musician flashed back on a memory of skipping school to play the electric guitars hung on the wall at a Billy Hyde music store in the Victorian capital.
“I just always thought ‘F..k, it’d be so amazing to have one of these Fender Stratocasters one day’,” Sultana, 28, told The Australian. “It’s so out of reach when you’re some school kid, you don’t have money, you’re trying to work out who you are in your life, but that one constant had always been the guitar – and then, fast forward 15 years and you’re there, where you wanted to be.”
Having never been the sort of musician who can sit down and learn a song note by note, Sultana responded well to the brief issued to Rodgers, Morello and co: honour Hendrix’s famous song, but please, do it your own way.
“Jimi Hendrix had inspired probably every single one of us in that room,” said Sultana. “He recreated the wheel of the approach to playing guitar, and for back then [in 1968], that was pretty f..king heavy music.
“It’s the history of things that you have to respect because without that lineage, that sound – that’s how people before us have developed their playing and how they’ve learned, and how we’ve been influenced.”
Sultana first came to prominence while busking on the streets of Melbourne, and has since released two albums – Flow State (2018) and Terra Firma (2021) – while amassing a large international following built on a spacious, layered sound that combines elements of rock, blues, roots, reggae, hip-hop and soul.
Appearing in Fender’s new campaign will introduce Sultana’s music to new ears, too, even though the artist is on a break from recording and performing at present.
“I think anyone can play an instrument; anyone can be really good at it, and anyone can be really great at it,” said Sultana. “It’s literally just about dedication, patience, time, pursuit.”
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