The Chart Online

Indian percussionist gives surprisingly good concert
Josh Ray

Diversions Editor

I went to a concert Tuesday night, and I must say, I was rather apprehensive about what I was about to experience.

The concert was held in Webster Hall Auditorium. It was put on by Indian percussionist Sandip Burman, guitarist Paul Bollenback and saxophonist David Pietro. All three are famous in their line of work, and it showed. I was impressed, to say the least.

I guess I should have expected the show to be really good, though. When I showed up for the 7:30 p.m. event, the room was pretty well packed. Students, teachers and people from the community had almost completely filled the auditorium. This was something big, obviously. I was still apprehensive. Like everyone else, probably, I have been to some of the India Semester events and seen some of the lectures and shows. I figured I was in for another boring round.

Well, let's just say I was wrong. The concert turned out to be a lot of fun. The trio on stage managed to mix the tabla, guitar and saxophone sounds into one melodious composition. They were able to go expertly between fast beats and slow beats. It was obvious they had a lot of practice.

Not only that, but they gave a good show. While he was sitting cross-legged the whole time, Burman stayed in constant motion. It was rather amusing to see this guy pretty much head banging to his own music. What made it more comical was how Bollenback and Pietro stayed pretty calm throughout the whole thing.

What impressed me about the concert was how the group tried to get the audience into it by teaching them the beats of the music. Actually, I guess I should say "tried" to teach them the beats. Unless one was a music student or a math major, I saw no way in comprehending anything they were trying to explain. Which is amusing, because I used to be in band, and I still couldn't figure out a word they were saying about beats. The crowd got into it pretty well. The men on stage had everyone clapping to the beats like pros.

The one complaint I had about the concert was the length of the songs. While they sounded really good, it seemed like they stretched on forever and a day. I was reminded of those movies where the director tries to get just a few more scenes in before the credits, when he actually should have ended the movie 10 minutes earlier. With the repetitive music and ongoing, and still ongoing, music, I felt like I was about to fall asleep right there.

All in all, it was a pretty cool concert. The crowd seemed to enjoy it, too. Only a few individuals left during the concert s two-hour duration. And, a few actually got autographs from the trio before hurrying on.