| Durba’s voice, whose timbre varied between a warm, easy flow and a brassy, nasal ribbon, maneuvered expertly among the Indian sol-fej syllables, naming endless lightning-quick runs of pitches on a single breath. Shantanu, when he sang the second and third rags, favoured glottal punctuation, with the result that, open-mouthed cascades of distinct and precise pitches separated themselves off from each other through no visible means and hung, ringing in the air before us. The three-hour performance was a display of virtuosity that no language barrier could obscure.
After a short pause, the less traditional group of the evening, Tasa, assumed the stage, and proceeded to tear down the house. They were led by Ravi Naimpally, who, as he’d just played for the Bhattacharyyas, had already had quite a night. From the first funky odd-time bassline, the original repertoire pulsed with the kind of vibrancy that provokes a groove-keeping bounce in any living audience-member’s neck. The addition of electric bass effects that resembled nothing so much as loon-calls, or perhaps violins in a distant tunnel, to compositions of distinctly Indian tonality and time signature, produced startlingly magnetic sounds. It would be remiss to neglect the melodic contributions of Ernie Tollar, who, on sax and various flutes, gave voice to some poignant and impressive melodic writhings; or those of Samidha Joglekar, whose smooth, sweet vocals were both a balm and a spice amongst the percussivity of multiple drums and electric instruments.
At the evening’s close, the atmosphere, previously charged with anticipation, had shifted to something nearer a celebration. Festival co-founders Justin Gray and Jonathan Kay announced that the festival had succeeded in raising two scholarships for underprivileged music students in India, an achievement that we all had new cause to appreciate. The feeling of momentous beginnings lingered in the room long after the last futile call for encore had died away. It is to be hoped that this night has kicked off a new fixture in the Toronto music scene.
At the evening’s close, the atmosphere, previously charged with anticipation, had shifted to something nearer a celebration. Festival co-founders Justin Gray and Jonathan Kay announced that the festival had succeeded in raising two scholarships for underprivileged music students in India, an achievement that we all had new cause to appreciate. The feeling of momentous beginnings lingered in the room long after the last futile call for encore had died away. It is to be hoped that this night has kicked off a new fixture in the Toronto music scene.
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Ravi Naimpally |
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Samidha Joglekar |
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