Thunderous applause for Newbury festival’s knock-out sitar and tabla maestros

NSF: A Night of Indian Music: Jonathan Mayer, sitar, and Kousic Sen, tabla

at the Corn Exchange, Newbury

on Thursday, May 23

review by JOHN GARVEY

AT turns exhilarating and soul searching, Jonathan Mayer’s breathtaking sitar mastery was unfurled to full effect at the Corn Exchange.

Jonathan Mayer was 16 when he first picked up the instrument that would become his life and has largely dedicated himself to it ever since.

Indeed, one audience member was heard to remark that not even in India had she heard such a stunning performance.

He was accompanied by another world-renowned practitioner of Indian classic music: tabla player Kousic Sen.

Between them they wove a magical, shimmering tapestry of sound, switching seamlessly between traditional and more modern raags.

A particular highlight of the evening was one of the latter, Raag Jiddu, performed in honour of its composer - his father, John Mayer.

Indian classical music differs vastly from the western musical tradition and is notoriously difficult to master, with its interweaving polyrhythms and improvisation around a theme.

The Sanskrit term ‘raag’ means “that which colours the mind” and the sitar, in the hands of a master, can conjure a myriad of moods.

Made from a gourd resonator, moveable frets and up to 21 strings - drone, sympathetic and playing - its unique, ethereal sound comes from the curved bridge which creates the overtones.

A raag performed entirely in one key can transport the listener to a misty morning by the Ganges or a sultry monsoon night.

Jonathan Mayer has a deep historical connection with India; his father John Mayer, also a composer, was born in Kolkata and he is a direct descendant of Christopher Mayer, a Persian to Bengali language translator in the 1780s.

Kousic Sen, meanwhile, is a musician whose intense and energetic performances have become known around the globe.

The tabla provides not only the percussive backdrop but a musical, pulsing bass note.

Together, they shared an almost telepathic rapport, performing in perfect synchronisation despite the flights of wild improvisation within the strict confines of Indian classical music.

The hypnotic, two-part performance prompted thunderous applause as the maestros exchanged grins and handshakes at the reaction they had engendered in us.