Sebastian Immaraj is a blues and rock pianist, guitarist and vocalist. His CDs and live performances weave blues elements with other musical styles and cultural influences.

Immaraj was born in Southern India and moved to Australia with his family when he was eight years old. At high school he tried piano lessons but continually frustrated his classically trained teacher - ‘I wanted to learn to play rock music – eventually my teacher and I sort of fired each other I think’. While studying at university he taught himself to play piano and guitar. His musical interests and influences were always diverse, varying from classical to rock - ‘Bach to BB King’.

His interest in classical music (and in vocal development) led him to sing as a chorister with several university choirs. ‘We did some difficult but fantastic gigs with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra such as Beethoven’s 9th symphony, Bach’s mass in B minor and Verdi Requiem - with well known soloists such as Thomas Edmonds and Elizabeth Campbell’. He joined the world festival choir in 1994 and toured Australia. ‘It was a fascinating experience - Luciano Pavarotti and Kallen Esperian were soloists and we were singing to audiences of up to 10,000.’

While pursuing a career in engineering, Immaraj has performed both as a solo musician and in ensembles playing rock to occasional forays of jazz. He has always maintained though that his roots are in blues. ‘I think it’s in the profound simplicity of the blues that I feel most able to express myself. Amongst my inspirations have been The Beatles, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan'. Immaraj also became interested in acting and performed in several rock musicals including Godspell and Hair. ‘Musicians have to make a choice sometimes whether to stay in a specific genre or become broad. Although it is seems more difficult to have an identity I tended to go with the latter’.

1999 saw the release of the first Immaraj CD Perceptions which was mostly instrumental music and a culmination of various styles and ideas. ‘It was a difficult CD to make as it had no underlying formula but needed to be listenable and have continuity’. His second CD Fourth Dimension was produced in 2004 and is clearly blues and rock influenced.
'I was trying to bring blues music to a general audience rather than writing conventional blues for those only interested in that type of music. I worked with musicians in Australia and in Brazil and came up with some nice arrangements’. Immaraj currently works as a project manager in engineering, sustainability, humanities and infrastructure projects. He is performing as a solo acoustic blues and rock musician in Melbourne, Australia.