French musical group enthrals
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, March 24
Indian traditional melody in fusion with techno music, played by the new and upcoming French musical group Nataraj XT, performed at Bal Bhavan in Sector 23, today.

The group that originally comprised Richard playing esraj and sarod, Pierre on sitar and Kapi playing techno music including drums and bass , added a new dimension today by inviting an local classical guitar player Subhash Ghosh for this particular concert.

Nataraj XT, who played a few tracts from their latest CD Tandava, swayed the audience with light dance music. “Our music contains elements of Indian traditional music and not classical in essence,” said Richard. Richard, who learnt sarod in the Ali Akbar Khan Institute of Music in San Fransisco, said the powerful tonal variations was what attracted him to take up this instrument.

Pierre was influenced by Pt. Ravi Shankar way back in 1960s and when he came to India ,he grabbed the opportunity to learn sitar under Prof Debu Choudhuri of Delhi University. Playing sitar gives me a sense of peace, he said.

The group was originally christened as Nataraj, a pure Indian traditional musical group, with Richard on sarod, Pierre on sitar and another person playing tabla. After the tabla player quit about a year back, the group incorporated a new member Kapi, who entirely changed the concept of the music the original group used to play. Natraj XT is the extension of the original group. There is one more addition going to be made soon, said group manager Benoit du Sartel. “One vocalist who has specialised in Indian vocal music is soon going to join the group,” he added.