India Alba - Reels and Ragas (Phat Controller)

As both the ensemble's name and the CD title suggest, India Alba is a fusion project that brings together two musicians trained in Indian classical music with two Scottish trad players to explore the affinities between the raga gats of north India and the melodies of the highlands and islands. As if that wasn't sufficiently exploratory, they also make a brief Antipodal excursion and give a complete makeover to AC/DC's Thunderstruck. Too often efforts like this end up sounding like a patchwork, but, to their credit, India Alba succeed in weaving whole cloth. Nigel Richard's cittern and Gyan Singh's tabla provide a solid foundation for the instrumental flourish provided by Ross Ainslie's pipes and whistles and – especially – the improvisations of Sharat Srivastava on violin. After repeated listening I remain unconvinced that the border pipes are particularly sympathetic with Indian violin. On the other hand, when the pipes are replaced by whistles the effect is quite striking.