Prana: North Indian classical & fusion music

St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh, 8/11/25

Prana: Alec Cooper (sitar, vocals), Ewa Adamiec (violin, handpan), Liam Finn (bansuri, shakuhachi), Manav Singh (tabla)

My last visit to St Cecilia’s Hall was to hear the Edinburgh Quartet playing Haydn, Rebecca Clarke, and Beethoven. This time I was listening to a very different quartet of musicians playing a very different type of music. The Edinburgh-based ensemble Prana (‘breath of life’ in Sanskrit) plays a fusion of North Indian classical music and East Asian traditional music, mostly improvised using Indian rāga and Japanese traditional min'yō or folk songs. I was able to listen to the ensemble rehearsing before the concert and was fascinated by the improvisational freedom between the musicians – no written music here.

A rāga (lit. ‘colouring’) is a framework for improvisation, each one with its own melodic structure and motifs. Some are short, others last over an hour. Each rāga has associations with different emotions, seasons, times, and moods. The first piece was a short, slow opening in rāga Gorak Kalyan for vocals, bansuri (Indian side-blown bamboo flute), violin, and tabla (Indian hand drums). This was beautifully slow and meditative, with the distinct sound of each instrument layered and blended with the others.

After the first break we heard a more extended piece in rāga Megh for sitar (Indian plucked string instrument), bansuri, violin, and tabla. This rāga is associated with the rainy season in India and looking out of the window as I write this review, it has been all too effective. Again, it started slowly, simply, and quietly, with the instruments answering each other, gradually building in speed and complexity, mounting to a hypnotic climax symbolising a thunderstorm, then slowing and finding a way back to the original melody.

After another break the final piece was based on a min'yō, or traditional Japanese folk song, for shakuhachi (Japanese end-blown bamboo flute), handpan (see below), sitar, and tabla, using Japanese, Indian, and Western instruments. The delicate sounds of the individual instruments calling to and answering each other, then interweaving filled the hall and fascinated the audience of over 80 people.

This piece introduced the youngest instrument played today, the handpan. It was created in 2000 in Switzerland and looks like a baby UFO. Its warm sound draws on the Caribbean steel pan, the Indonesian gamelan, the Thai gong, and the Indian clay ghatam. A real fusion instrument.

St Cecilia’s Quiet Concerts are concerts stripped back to the essentials: music, performers, and audience. The music is presented in relatively short sets (usually three or four per concert) with five-minute breaks between sets to move around or chat quietly. Performers often talk about the music and their instruments. There is a chill-out zone in the downstairs Laigh Hall, with water available. Quiet Concerts are ideal for those who, for whatever reason, find the formal constraints of a traditional concert challenging. All are welcome, and thanks to some generous sponsors the concerts are free to attend. The music played is not necessarily quiet, although it can be. The next concert in the series is ‘FOLK(ISH)’ with the Haver String Quartet on Friday 5 December.

https://www.stcecilias.ed.ac.uk/whats-on/