Anantha R Krishnan

Our Celtic Connections concert series continued tonight, with an amazing double bill.

Award-winning fiddler Patsy Reid unleashed new material and served up traditional and contemporary tunes from her highly acclaimed 2014 album, The Brightest Path. Patsy was joined by Anna Massie (guitar & mandolin), Signy Jakobsdóttir (percussion), Alistair Iain Paterson (piano & harmonium) and Ben Nicholls (double bass). It certainly was a tour de force.

Recently Patsy contributed violin, viola and cello to albums by Duncan Chisholm, Tim Edey and Donald Shaw, toured India with Folk Nations and performed alongside Dougie Maclean and Kylie Minogue at the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony.

After the break,  Indian violinists Ganesh and Kumaresh Rajagopalan, plus percussionist Anantha R Krishnan. The brothers are best known as modern contemporary artists who have done lot of service to "Sastriya Sangitam". They are a dynamic duo of violinists, who have carved a niche for themselves in this era of great violinists. The brothers have gone deeper into the realm of the music and brought out a refreshingly original content and style for the instrument. Tonight they were also joined on stage by Scotland’s Trio AAB – twin brothers Tom and Phil Bancroft, on drums and saxophone, and guitarist Kevin Mackenzie – cite influences that range from “post-Ornette bop to The Sound of Music”. Here they teamed up for an exciting and adventurous cross-cultural exchange. It was a mesmerising performance.

What an amazing musical evening. Could not decide between a shot of Patsy and Anantha, but went with the percusionist.

Looking forward to Jimmy Macgregor next Saturday at Mackintosh Queen's Cross.