pumpkinstrokemarrow

Wigmore Hall decently full if not packed. Not quite your usual Wiggers crew. More young people and more people from the sub-continent. Some in very flashy evening attire. Audience made up in enthusiasm for the gaps in the stalls. I was enthusiastic too. Without the sturm und drang of our chamber music; more calm and peaceful, albeit with plenty of drama of its own.

Plenty of points of similarity with our chamber music. Long tradition. You had to devote your life to the sarod and to the ragas to be any good at it. Aristocratic patrons and jobs on the court payroll. The sarod came into its present form about the same time as our grand piano. You got 4 ragas in two hours; so length of raga the same order of length as our stuff. Leaving aside the tabla, you could have solos, duets and trios. It was complicated, so there was something to hold you. Unlike say, some of our folk music, which while both affective and effective, is too simple to hold one for any length of time.

But then there were the points of difference. A father and two sons on the sarods, with the father being given public respect; very much in charge. The ragas, while composed and persistent, were played without rehearsal and without score. Variation and innovation was allowed. To that extent more like our jazz (about which I should say that I know next to nothing). More playful, with more visible interaction between the players. The guru even gave orders from time to time. The audience clapped a couple of times during rather than after a raga. Something I find irritating, but maybe OK in this context.

Surprised on arrival to see the stage dressed with lots of microphones and two small loudspeakers. As it turned, out the instruments themselves were not wired up like electric guitars, but I came away unsure whether we were being given anything from the loudspeakers - other than introductory remarks. The volume and timing of the drone was a bit puzzling if it was not assisted. However, the performance was being recorded, which might have sufficiently accounted for electrification.

I shall go again should opportunity arise. And will try and take a closer look at a sarod if I pass a shop which sells one.