Sangha Music

There are some quiet evenings when I convince myself that all I want to do is stay in and, I dunno, play on the computer, or watch a movie, or stare at the wall or something.

I'm awfully glad I have friends who call me up and talk me into doing something fun.

The other night Sherry phoned me when I was in one of these marshmallow-like, almost-asleep states and said, "Hey, I'm going to The Abbey to listen to some group called Sangha. Want to come?" It was seven o'clock then and they started at eight.

She wasn't really sure what sort of music they played, other than it was world music, but she bought a ticket anyway.

Halfway through the conversation, after initially telling her "no thanks", I decided I'd regret being Boring-Stay-at-Home-Spider-Girl in the morning, so I threw some earrings and a funky cardigan on and went to see what was playing under the watchful gaze of the Abbey's Holy Chicken.

Sangha, an Indo-Persian quartet, hails from Vancouver and I loved them. I'm a girl who can appreciate oud music, what can I say?

They played sitting on the floor on a big Persian rug to a full house.

Sometimes the music was serene and meditative as the oud and the kampenche (like a violin with a Persian attitude) played, and had the audience swaying like snakes in a basket.

At other times, it was quite stirring. At one point the oud player closed his eyes and leaned back with his instrument, and you'd swear from the expression on his face that he was riffing with an electric guitar.

There was one amazing number where the two drum players duelled, one on the Indian tabla and the other on the Middle Eastern dhoumbek . Their fingers were going so fast they blurred.

Having taken some middle Eastern drumming lessons last year, I have an inkling how TIRED my fingers would get doing that. I was seriously impressed. As it happened, I found myself sitting by my drumming teacher tonight, and she said she'd never seen some of their techniques before.

I met some of the musicians at the intermission and they seemed like really nice guys. I'm glad I came and listened to them instead of staying at home. Also, I was very glad they got two standing ovations and came back for an encore here at The Abbey.

Seems they played on Saltspring Island the night before and were a bit disappointed when some of their audience disappeared before the second set....I guess not everybody loves Iraqi folk songs. Ah well, I do.

Good people of Saltspring, I feel sad that you missed a fabulous second set!