Gig Review: Svara-Kanti

SVARA-KANTI

BRUNTON THEATRE, MUSSELBURGH

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GIVING their maiden public performance as a quartet, Svara-Kanti comprise Scottish classical guitarist Simon Thacker, Head of Guitar at Napier University, with South Indian violinist Jyotsna Srikanth, North Indian singer Japjit Kaur – both Bollywood veterans as well as classically garlanded – and tabla virtuoso Sarvar Sabri, heir to ten generations of family tradition.

It’s essentially a streamlined (and likely more cost effective) version of Thacker’s nine-piece Nava Rasa Ensemble, also featuring the Edinburgh Quartet and double bassist Mario Caribe, which those interested in Eastern/Western musical collaboration may have heard on a Tune Up tour in 2009.

A central aim of the Nava Rasa project is to perform new cross-cultural works, specifically – thus far – by Uganda-born, Boston-based Indian composer Shirish Korde and Britain’s Nigel Osborne. Svara-Kanti’s intended position between world music and the contemporary classical sphere, however, in terms of material, performance style and prospective audience, was less clear. Their set ranged from a prettily poignant Bollywood number and an evocative Punjabi folk song, sparsely but tellingly arranged, to the aforementioned Korde’s three-movement mini-concerto Nada Ananda, newly reworked for quartet, a piece which, as Thacker’s off-putting introduction made clear, even the musicians regarded as challenging. The close dynamic among the four, allied with their prowess, augurs brightly for the future, but this first show seemed under-rehearsed, scoring low for stagecraft.

SUE WILSON