KARACHI, Feb 18: A decent blend of eastern ragas and western compositions entertained music lovers at a concert titled Harmony organised by the Society for Music and Repertory Theatre (Smart) and Cultures in Harmony at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs auditorium on Friday.

Noted American violinist William Harvey was the guest musician of the event who played alongside students, alumni and faculty of the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) and enthralled the rather small number of audience.

William Harvey appeared on stage first. He talked about his stint in Kabul and the things he had learnt as a musician in this part of the world. He began with Bach's sonata in C-major and informed the audience it was a four-part piece starting with adagio, moving on to fugue, followed by another slow progression and in the last part Ustad Bashir Khan (tabla) would join him. He played with exquisite poise and feeling. When the ustad joined him in the last bit, it imparted a unique touch to the composition and vindicated Harvey's earlier claim that Bach would have approved of the tabla.

The next item performed by the two musicians was a surprise in many ways. It made the audience realise how informed Harvey was about Bollywood's music, films and actors including Katrina Kaif; it proved music had no boundaries; and it made clear that even not-so-classy songs like Chikni Chameli (from the film Agnipath) could be good-to-listen-to when played on the violin.

Sindhi folk song Mor Tot Tillay Rana was next. As expected, it had the right kind of effect on the audience as they enjoyed the melody of the number and clapped all along.

Then students and alumni of Napa came and performed two songs, a Chitrali number and a mahiya . They did reasonably well.

After that William Harvey and Ustad Bashir Khan returned, but this time with the noted flutist Ustad Salamat Hussain. They played the penultimate piece which was a Sindhi composition. The violin-flute combination conjured up the right kind of magic, doing justice to the innate mellifluousness of the tune.

Finally, sitar player Nafees Khan made an appearance. He with William Harvey presented raga Bhopali. It was a moderate attempt at fusion music. One felt the item was a little under-rehearsed. However, since both musicians are of top-notch quality, they still managed to make the raga sound special.