Karmana at Whiting Bay Hall

This brilliantly talented duo, performing on guitar and cello, entranced their audience with music from India’s classical raga tradition. Its very non-European rhythmic basis that goes something like ta takka ta, takka-takka-takka ta is a subtle support for all kinds of musical expression from the gentle to the passionate, the voluptuous to the enraged, and listening was something akin to a magic carpet ride – a roller-coaster of emotional expression. Simon Thacker, who runs the guitar department at Edinburghs’ Napier University, is a dazzling left-handed player who displays quite extraordinary technique, and he is well matched by Justyna Jablovska, a cellist of no ordinary quality.

It would have been interesting to hear other aspects of the repertoire available to the cello/guitar combination, exploring the European, Gypsy and Latin American traditions, but everyone present was fascinated by the depth of expression revealed by the two formidably talented players. We have to apologise to them for the rather low temperate in the hall, which caused them constant difficulty in keeping instruments in tune.