Reviewed on Thursday January 15
Debashish Bhattacharya, India’s prominent inventor and champion of slide guitar, showcased his astonishing fusion of Western and Indian music at Sydney Festival, melding traditional raga-style music with elements of rock and blues.
Having fallen in love with the Hawaiian lap steel guitar at the age of three, Bhattacharya has made a lifelong career out of creating hybrid instruments that allow him to capture the essence of Indian and Western music in a single body. Many guests attending the City Recital Hall performance would not have seen or heard the instruments that littered the stage, like the 24-string ‘Hindustani’ lap guitar, or the ukulele-esque four-string anandi, reminiscent of a sitar. The setting and instruments were just as breathtaking as the performance itself.
Accompanied by his teenage daughter Anandi on vocals and renowned tabla player Tanmoy Bose, who has collaborated with the likes of Ravi Shankar, Bhattacharya weaved a 90-minute performance highlighting the past, present and future of Indian music. A triptych of sorts, the show moved from a gentle and rhythmic piece focusing on Anandi’s vocal talent to an energetic and intricate scattering of single notes underpinned by the cascading percussion of Tanmoy’s masterful drumming. The artists’ ability to sync up during segments of extraordinarily fast and complex improvisation was astounding, and the ease with which the musicians transitioned from one movement to the next made it hard to work out who was leading and who was falling in line. At times it looked like there was a friendly dual underway between Tanmoy’s tabla and Bhattacharya’s Hindustani, each challenging the other to go faster and harder. The dexterity of Bhattacharya’s fingers flying over the hybrid instruments was hypnotic in itself, but what was just as captivating was Tanmoy’s percussive style, which resembles fingers playing a piano that hammers out a drum beat. As the show progressed, Anandi’s voice became bolder, plummeting from high to low with impressive control, enhancing the narrative of the instrumental music.
To close the evening and signify the ‘future’ of Indian music, special guest Jeff Lang appeared onstage with a slide guitar in hand and added a Mississippi Delta element to the final chapter. The scene resembled a group of talented friends jamming on a Friday night, comfortable in their surroundings. The result was nothing short of brilliant and earned them a standing ovation and cries for an encore.
