Review: Soumik Datta and Circle of Sound at Alchemy

May 21 2014

A fiery musical fusion of East and West brought the house down at Alchemy as Chitra Mogul witnessed and more importantly heard…

“EVERYTHING is a circle which has no beginning, no middle and no end. From destruction comes creation and regeneration.”

If the evening of ragas and rock by sarod star Soumik Datta and his band Circle of Sound at the Alchemy Festival could have gone on endlessly as the audience wanted, it would have been the perfect ending – but we know that’s not possible.

The band was launching its second album “Anti hero”, a scintillating synthesis of Indian and contemporary music at a sold-out show in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank Centre last night (May 20).

The dominant strand in the fantastic tapestry of sound was the lyrical brilliance of Datta’s sarod, a 19-stringed fretless instrument, which was the perfect counterpoint to percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger. Since their debut at Alchemy 2011, the pair have been wowing audiences from Madrid to Sydney, and yesterday was no different.

It was a musical tour de force which had the audience on its feet more than once. The two other high-voltage and much-anticipated attractions of the evening, of course, were producer and composer Nitin Sawhney and sitar supremo Anoushka Shankar who lit up the stage in a glittering blue outfit.

They were backed up by an ensemble of musicians that included singer-songwriter Fiona Bevan (she wrote, with Ed Sheeran, the song “Little Things” which was a number one single for boy band One Direction), whose association with Datta goes back 10 years to his university days, and Rosabella Gregory on keyboards.

A couple of compositions included orchestral strings like the violin and cello. The arrangement for strings was put together by a famous Viennese composer. As Datta said it was among other things a “technical show”.

Describing the process of creating their second album in two years, Schimpelsberger said: “As they say, an album is never finished, only released.”

The musical rapport between the two musicians was evident from very beginning. The ‘jugalbandi’ (meaning a duet of two solo musicians which is like a playful competition) between them and with the guest stars was a treat to watch. As for showmanship, if Datta was the smooth performer, Schimpelsberger was the court jester, hamming his way through the evening.

From vocals to instrumental numbers – standing out among them was the mesmerising melody of “Sunrise” – which Schimpelsberger described as an attempt to cheer themselves up after a cold and miserable English winter, to ‘Skeletal Leaves‘ with Nitin Sawhney on guitar, another haunting and captivating composition that was, amazingly, put together in two days.

“Don’t you have a train to catch?” joked Datta as the crowd demanded an encore. After the encore, they were joined by Shankar and Sawhney for one last improvised performance. Datta’s electrically enhanced sarod (which he has had customised for himself) had a minor hiccup. “That’s rehearsed too,” said Schimpelsberger straight-faced.

The consoling thought as the brilliant musical pyrotechnics came to an end was that there is always the album to listen to which can be downloaded for FREE if you register and share it on Facebook and/or Twitter.