02-18-2024, 01:10 AM
I heard about this show yesterday while listening to KZSC, and tix were only $10 ($8 for Stacy because her birthday on Thursday, plus $5 parking. What a deal. It sold out’ but it was general seating, and we scored seats in the front row.
My mind was totally blown. Every once in a while I experience a musician that bends time and space, that channels the divine. Jerry got me several times, which is why I’m forever loyal. Dylan once at the Warfield. Burning Spear at Ocho Rios, Jamaica. It’s ecstatic and keeps me addicted to live music. Nishat Khan got us both. Absolutely transcendent. He comes from a lineage of Indian musicians that goes back several generations. A master sitar player. Unbelievable skills. He channels his ancestors in his music, with such speed, delicacy and precision. I couldn’t think as fast as he plays. He sat in a semi gomukhasana, a yoga pose I can’t even approach, resting the base of his sitar in the palm of his foot. He spent a long time tuning up, and had to constantly re-tune do to the nature of the instrument and the force he used bending the strings, but the tuning was incorporated into the raga seamlessly. His facial expressions went from eye bulging psycho when he was bending notes to playful exchanges with his tabla player Nitin Mitta and when the two get into it, the jams were absolutely mind blowing. So complex, rich and insanely fast. We were spellbound. There’s simply nothing like a sitar master and a tabla master when they go at it. Those droning top sitar strings set up a rhythm that hypnotizes while the fretboard work is ridiculously sophisticated sending the mind into a psychedelic vortex. The rapid fire tabla beats are like machine guns tearing holes in the tapestry of time. Totally inspirational. I was so moved. Stacy thought this was a student recital. Even knowing the accolades of Khan (after reading up on him on the web and in the program) I was not expecting him to be that astounding. I’m still reeling. What an absolute treat.
We’re keeping a closer eye on ucsc’s musical offerings from now on.
My mind was totally blown. Every once in a while I experience a musician that bends time and space, that channels the divine. Jerry got me several times, which is why I’m forever loyal. Dylan once at the Warfield. Burning Spear at Ocho Rios, Jamaica. It’s ecstatic and keeps me addicted to live music. Nishat Khan got us both. Absolutely transcendent. He comes from a lineage of Indian musicians that goes back several generations. A master sitar player. Unbelievable skills. He channels his ancestors in his music, with such speed, delicacy and precision. I couldn’t think as fast as he plays. He sat in a semi gomukhasana, a yoga pose I can’t even approach, resting the base of his sitar in the palm of his foot. He spent a long time tuning up, and had to constantly re-tune do to the nature of the instrument and the force he used bending the strings, but the tuning was incorporated into the raga seamlessly. His facial expressions went from eye bulging psycho when he was bending notes to playful exchanges with his tabla player Nitin Mitta and when the two get into it, the jams were absolutely mind blowing. So complex, rich and insanely fast. We were spellbound. There’s simply nothing like a sitar master and a tabla master when they go at it. Those droning top sitar strings set up a rhythm that hypnotizes while the fretboard work is ridiculously sophisticated sending the mind into a psychedelic vortex. The rapid fire tabla beats are like machine guns tearing holes in the tapestry of time. Totally inspirational. I was so moved. Stacy thought this was a student recital. Even knowing the accolades of Khan (after reading up on him on the web and in the program) I was not expecting him to be that astounding. I’m still reeling. What an absolute treat.
We’re keeping a closer eye on ucsc’s musical offerings from now on.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
