Hues of Imagination

This is a remarkable duo of Anatolian fiddle with Indian tabla percussion. Melisa Yıldırım plays an Azeri-style bowed kamancha with an open back while Swarupa Ananth is a young tabla player from Mumbai who's appeared at Glastonbury and other festivals around the world. The two women, who didn't know each other previously, met on a musical residency in Florida where this remarkable improvised encounter was recorded last year.

Yıldırım's kamancha has a lovely scratchy, folksy quality which opens the album with a gently enquiring phrase. The instrument is rich in ringing overtones and Yıldırım throws in drone notes to root the delicately ornamented melodies. Ananth's tabla joins in pretty quickly to create a musical dialogue which develops spontaneously.

There are four pieces given titles relating to the elements. The opening ‘Sepia Earth’ starts low and slow, but ends up with soaring kamancha melodies. ‘Tinted Water’ begins with a faster tabla groove and high squeals on the fiddle but develops into what become call-and-response phrases with Yıldırım dialoguing with herself. The third track, ‘Vivid Fire’, is aptly named, with wild filigree flames in the higher regions of the kamancha, and the final ‘Two Tone Air’ is a voyage through Anatolian melodic styles with some striking glissandi and firework strokes of the bow striking the strings. Hues of Imagination is quite a testament to the power of improvised music in the hands of two masterful players.