Traveller - Anoushka Shankar

The second piece, which introduced the flamenco vocalist Sandra Carrasco, showed great countermelody between the vocal line and Sanjeev Shankar’s shahnai.  This was followed by a haunting three-note riff that formed the basis of the next piece, immediately setting the mood with intensity and passion.  The shahnai sounded refreshing for the way it was treated in an atypical manner, which gave it a very groovy vibe.  It is clear that Anoushka not only gave great attention to how she could use her own instrument but gave an almost jazz treatment to the shahnai as well.  The mood then progressed to a very intense and powerful vocal piece featuring lyrics by Amir Khusrao.  As a group, they were able to create the feeling of the desert and a transcendental ambience.  This was then followed by two of Anoushka’s compositions.  What was interesting in these pieces was the role reversal of the main string (which provided the drone) and second string (which she used to play the melody).  There were also some beautiful counter melodies between the sitar and shahnai in the second piece which then smoothly transitioned into a fast-paced section.  However, just as the jhalla started to take off and create momentum – the piece abruptly ended.  

 

After a superb first half the stakes were set high for the second, which commenced with a rendition of Boy Meets Girl. Shahnai followed the sitar’s sweet and simple melody as a call and response, almost as though the two instruments were meeting.  The next piece finally gave Melon Jimenez a solo slot on guitar which up until then had been fairly shadowed.  Anoushka used this piece to introduce the other artists on stage.  That was very well placed in the programme, as the audience would have familiarised themselves with the artists by this time.  “Traveller” really showed El Piraña’s skill on the cajon.  He produced such a variety of sounds and churned out rhythmic patterns with the intricacy that would challenge any Indian percussionist.  We were given another chance to hear El Piraña’s virtuoso in the concluding piece raag Jog.  In comparison, the mridangam solo that followed did not take any risks and could have been more exploratory.  At one point it felt as though the sitar was about to play with the laya and jaatis but that never happened. Following the audiences very warm and enthusiastic applause, Anoushka finished the evening with an encore: alap in raag Charukeshi. It certainly was an unconventional ending by classical standards but an interesting one that seemed to work. 

 

On the whole, this was one fusion concert that was well-structured and very well rehearsed, even to the smallest of details but there was such a high level of perfection that it almost felt like it was missing an element of fun and spontaneity.  A more informal approach to the presentation and audience interaction would have balanced out the intellectual nature of the pieces.  I was impressed by the sound production which was flawless and resulted in zero technical faults.  The artists were also all brilliant in their own right, and it was this high level of musicianship that gave the concert a very smart finish.