USCB’s vibrant cultural tapestry showed its South Asian colors Monday night with a concert of music from India and Nepal, performed in the intimate Karl Geiringer Hall.
Student players were guided and inspired by Ham Nath Upadhyaya, a musician from Nepal who spends about nine months at the Isla Vista campus every year, according to Rob Wallace. Wallace, a tabla player and graduate student majoring in English, said the Indian music group is made up of some music majors, and a number of students who major in other fields and play just for the joy of it.

Monday’s program featured groups of players on tablas, drums with rope bindings, accompanied by an old-fashioned harmonium. Northern Indian and Nepalese musicians first heard the harmonium from missionaries, and liked it so much they began to use it in their traditional songs, according to Wallace.

The evening also included some dazzling sitar playing, by student Justin Scapimbolo. He was accompanied by Maestro Upadhyaya on tablas.

This regional music is sensual in the way its rhythms are sustained and then build in complexity to completion. It also has a strong spiritual component. The attentive listener will feel a hypnotic pull, in keeping with the Himalayan region’s history of mysticism, and its emphasis on seeking universal truths. After all, this is the land of the Dalai Lama and Mount Everest, Earth’s most towering mountain.

Geiringer Hall was almost full for the concert, and the audience clearly appreciated the opportunity to hear authentic South Asian music. There was a comfortable ease among the players, who sat cross-legged on mats on the floor to play. This, of course, translated itself to the audience, and there was an unusually relaxed feel to the entire concert.

This group also receives guidance from Scott Marcus, long-time mentor of the UCSB Middle East Ensemble. That group includes not only musicians, as well as a number of vividly costumed dancers. Perhaps these fine Indian musicians might consider asking dancers to join in their concerts.