Company

An evening in the company of Ganavya at Belgrave Music Hall. You may have seen her on Later… last year. She was accompanied by Max Ridley on bass and, throwing a great shadow, harpist Miriam Adrefis. In my head she is a concert hall artist, so it did seem a little odd (to her too, it transpired) to find her performing in a small room above a bar in Leeds for around 100 people, but that’s what also made this event unmissable for me.

The harp accompaniment immediately put me in mind of the Welsh tradition of penillion singing (a practice which I was occasionally engaged with as a schoolboy soprano). Ganavya, raised in Indian spirtual traditional singing, works across, for example, jazz, ambient and electronic music.

Support was from Leeds-based British Asian folk singer, Satnam Galsian, who last year was an 'artist in resonance' at Opera North.

The venue was set out as seated for this performance- I had the luxury of a deep armchair to relax into to enjoy the show. Despite the ambient and mellow music, I didn't fall asleep :-)