At The Queens Hall tonight Jasdeep Singh Degun sits cross-legged smiling and calm, cradling his sitar, on a raised Dias in the middle of the stage, and at his shoulder equally laid-back, Harkiret Singh Bahra, his regular accompanist on the Tabla, a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. In a semi-circle around the pair the Scottish Ensemble quintet are assembled, the violins of Jonathan Morton and Donald Grant, the viola of Jane Atkins, Naomi Pavri on Cello and Diane Clark on Double Bass.
The striking difference is that Degun and Bahra do not have iPads in front of them streaming the music. As Degan explains in the excellent programme notes, ‘In Indian Classical music, we don’t get caught up in notation,… instead you should learn and embody the music in its entirity’.
In an event that could easily have been advertised as East meets West, Leeds born and bred Degan, musician and composer launches into a really eye-opening and surprisingly contemporary sounding exposition of sitar playing. The sitar, a plucked multi-stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, the body made from a pumpkin ensures that no two sitars are exactly identical. With the look of a long-necked oversized banjo, with curved expanded frets which allow notes either to be played ‘straight’ or to be bent, elongated or distorted.
A beautifully balanced programme of music featuring at its centre the outstanding often ‘’showy’ sitar playing of Degun, driven forward by the Tabla and interwoven with the immaculate manicured playing of the string quintet. Featuring a good number of startling compositions from Degun’s first album, ‘Anomaly’, but also ranging from pieces by the American minimalist Terry Riley, Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector to a reimagining of the medieval music of mystic, Hildegard Von Bingen in Laus Trinitati.
Perhaps the highlight of the show is Arya: a concerto for sitar and Orchestra, which Degun wrote for Opera North and was the first piece written for sitar and orchestra by a British-Asian composer. We are treated to just the second movement, and left wanting much more! The brooding bass line plucked out on the Double Bass against the swirling symphonic strings of the quintet and the distorted whine of the sitar could easily be the backing track to a Netflix psychological drama.
In his highland expedition perhaps Jasdeep will find inspiration for his own Scotland inspired composition. I would not be at all surprised, this is a man on an upward trajectory with a visionary talent and an extraordinary instrument in his hands.
Reviewer: Greg Holstead
Reviewed: 5th October 2023
North West End UK Rating: