Jazz Articles

Simon Thacker's Svara Kanti: Rakshasa

by Ian Patterson
June 6, 2014

Following the acclaimed guitar concerti of Nava Rasa Ensemble (Slap The Moon, 2011), which saw nine musicians blend Carnatic, Hindustani and Western classical traditions, classical guitarist/composer Simon Thacker scales back the ensemble size, but not his ambition, for Rakshasa, a formidable quartet exploration of Asian and Western sounds that bends the traditions as much as it does one's preconceptions. Specially commissioned works by composers Terry Riley, Nigel Osborne and Shirish Korde sit alongside Thacker's own compositions and arrangements of Punjabi ...