Classical guitar and tabla: Svaranjali by Simon Thacker, with Sarvar Sabri

Order the Rakshasa album: (also new Trikala double album just released) Svaranjali (“tonal offerings“) is written by guitarist Simon Thacker, here performing with Sarvar Sabri on tabla. They make up half of Simon Thacker’s Svara-Kanti, an Indian/Western supergroup whose debut “Rakshasa“ is now available.. Svaranjali explores a hybrid scale of A, B, C, D, D#, E, F, G, A, combining the ancient Aeolian mode with the sharpened fourth degree of the “blues scale“, a scale which has several close relations in the raga system. Classical guitar and tabla work particularly well together because they share a capacity for creating multilayered textures, both having highly developed solo repertoires, as well as a rich variety of tones created directly by flesh contacting the instrument (as opposed to a bow, plectrum, etc).