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‘Different’ was the word on many lips after the final concert of the Music Club season in Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor on Friday 3rd April - a cautious reaction implying neither approbation nor dislike. This was understandable perhaps, given that as Simon Kohli himself put it the combination in one programme of Irish and Indian music was ‘an exploration’. The audience as a whole seemed happy to join Simon and his three fellow musicians on this journey, and applauded them warmly for their expertise and inventiveness.

The programme began with Ben Walker introducing, and inflating the bellows of, his Uilleann (‘elbow’) pipes, on which he proceeded to play a beguiling three-part sequence of slow air, slip jig and reel - The Bright Lady, O’Farrell’s Welcome and The Holly Bush. In the home of Sesiwn Fawr this was familiar and accessible territory. Less so was that of the next item - a spring raga ‘Bahar’ played in Alap style by Simon Kohli on the sarod. A member of the sitar family, this beautiful 26-stringed fretless instrument has a teak body, goatskin belly and at the peg end a brass bell for amplification. (This function is now mainly fulfilled by discreet use of a sound system; the requisite drone sounds are also augmented electronically.) A wide range of beautiful sounds can be produced, and Simon exploited these to the full. As in the Irish sequence a progression took place from slow to quick, which gave an overall shape for listeners. The challenge lies in the lack (from a Western point of view) of clear points of focus, so that it can be hard to pace one’s listening, as it were; if you can tune in to this more diffuse, mantra-like way of experiencing music, the rewards are great.

Chris Knowles’s Celtic harp now juxtaposed a haunting Gaelic air, Taimse Im Chodladh, followed by Miss Hamilton, the only surviving piece of Cornelius Lyons, a contemporary of the better-known Carolan. Tapan Roy on tabla joined Simon Kohli on sarod to bring the first half to a close with a faster version (in ‘Drub Teental’ style) of the Bahar raga, again following a 16-beat cycle.

A high spot of the evening followed the interval as Tapan Roy expounded the unique language of his tabla (a very special pair of drums), amazing (and amusing) the audience with his virtuoso display of spoken and drummed syllables. The climax was ‘Rela’ (‘railway’), a superb evocation in rhythm of the ever-changing motion of wheels on track (with a final cry of ‘Station’!) Ben and Chris then combined for another Irish sequence. The ‘exploration’ proper involved all four musicians at once, first in ‘The Broken Pledge’ and ‘My Love is in America’, and then (with sarod, tabla, flute and Irish bouzouki) in ‘Bhairav’, one of the best-known ragas. Ben Walker on flute here took wing, adding in his improvisations a real sense of new music being born.

Many thanks to Dolgellau Rotary for sponsorship of this event, and to all who have helped make this yet another successful season. Challenges lie ahead, but the 2009-10 season (the Club’s 25th) is secure and will begin on Friday 9th October with an ensemble from Chetham’s.

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