Nakshatra

Bringing new elements into a musical tradition that has a long history and strict sense of training and performance is very tricky to pull off. You either annoy the keepers of tradition or your innovations fall flat with people familiar with the other music you look to for new inspiration.

However, this disc is very much the wonderful exception that proves the rule. US-based violinists Trina Basu and Arun Ramamurthy have come up with one of the best albums I have heard in a long time, and what is amazing is that, for the most part, it is just the sound of two solo violins. It opens with a meditative track, ‘Offering’, which gives an excellent insight into the thoughtful nature of the playing on offer here, but it was the next, ‘Tempest’, that really grabbed my attention. The interplay between the musicians and the use of drones, arpeggiated figures and almost Reich-like repetitions is compelling, and all done with a nod to their Karnatic roots. These techniques continue to be used and reinvented, combined with a strong sense of counterpoint, throughout the disc, enabling them to present very traditional pieces such as ‘Sri Kamalambike’ in a completely new way. It also helps that the recording quality is exceptionally good. You can listen in to all the scrapes and vibrations of the violins, helping to make this as sensorial as it is cerebral.