August 17, 2008	Sunday	Sha'aban 14, 1429

KARACHI: An interesting fusion of South Asian and European music, sponsored by Alliance Francaise, Karachi and Mumbai and Goethe-Institut with Sampurna and the Lahore-based Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop, was staged at the Arts Council on Friday and came to an end with a standing ovation from music enthusiasts. The fusion amply proved the point that music cuts across all geographical boundaries.

The programme started with short individual performances. Pandit Ulhas Bapat from Mumbai set the ball rolling when he created soft rippling sounds from his santoor, a Kashmiri musical instrument that traditionally accompanied the Sufiana Kalam but has in recent years become a much-in-demand instrument for solo recitals. Bapat played the alap (introduction) of a raga, much to the delight of the audience with a taste for classical and semi-classical music.

He was followed by the 28-year old Irfan Hyder, a scion of a family of tabla players of repute. His talents have been honed further by Saffia Beg of Sampurna. The young man was not over-awed by the three senior musicians with whom he played, proving in the process that he may be lesser in age but not in talent. The Pakistani tabla nawaz played a small piece of teen tal with immense confidence.

The inimitable Christopher Lauer picked up his saxophone next and played a plaintive piece with amazing aplomb. The fifty-something German is a brilliant exponent of Jazz.

The Frenchman Patrice Heral is both a vocalist and a percussionist. Not just in his solo recital but all through the hour and a half programme, Heral combined his virtuosity with his innate ability to entertain. “My English is not very good,” he said.

One felt like saying “So what, music has a language of its own, and you excel in that.” One enjoyed watching him play and sing alternatively and sometime simultaneously. At one point he pulled out a rattle and for a minute or two shook it much to everyone’s enjoyment. Heral also entered into a jugalbandi with the tabla nawaz, the idea of which was ‘What you can do, I can do better.’

They played solo, they played in unison. They played eastern melodies and moved to jazz and other Western music forms, without making the change noticeable. For the final slot, when for a brief moment the saxophonist stepped out of the stage, the three instrumentalists played with a flourish. The German returned to help them make the number a grand finale.

The quartet, if one may use the word, had performed three days earlier in Lahore, and after the Friday programme in Karachi left for Mumbai, where they are to participate in the final event of the series.