Music of India

Last night I went with the ladies plus James to hear Pedro, one of the Percussionists in the orchestra, play tabla at a concert of “Cuerdas de India,” strings of India. It all took place at the Yoga Center here in Santiago, a beautiful building with a fountain in the back and a rock garden and bamboo and skylights. There were four pieces, though the concert lasted close to 2 and a half hours. Pedro is a great tabla player, as far as I can ascertain, and he played two of the four pieces. In the last one, his hands were moving so quickly that I couldn’t tell which sounds were being made by which hand movements. It was a lot of fun, and they had cheap samosas and other tasty treats for sale, and we all sat on the floor and had to take our shoes off, etc. They had turned the lights off and had candles lit, and you could see the fountain and rock garden through the glass. They also had a couple of meditations written on the walls.

The lull of the third piece put me into a meditative-type sleep (long day) and it was actually really nice to be in the audience for some music, and also to be so connected with all the people there. Sitting on the floor in tight quarters is certainly different then sitting in chairs at a theatre. The room itself was not enormous, so the entire concert was very intimate. When it was over, I felt peaceful. The combination of drone, dancing tabla and repeated ostinato in the string instruments created an interesting outlet for me to kind of delve into the sound. Going to a bar after a concert like that would have been an intrusion on the experience, and I don’t think the juxtaposition would have worked at all. It was one of those rare moments for me when I felt completely satisfied and very content.