Swara Synthesis is a music ensemble based in Perth, made up of artists with experience and training in India, Bangladesh, Australia and beyond. On September 11 and 12, they offered two programs, the first ostensibly more focused on Indian classical forms, while the second was more of an improvised “World Music” fusion. I attended the first.

The group is led by Avra Banerjee on sarod, an instrument similar to the larger sitar, but whose fretless design means Banerjee often employs string bending to glide through sections rather than the slightly more staccato attack characteristic of the sitar.

In addition to Banerjee, the musicians include Carnatic violin virtuoso Krishna Prasad, together with Sudarshan Subramanian on the long, double-headed mridangam drum. Subir Guha on tabla is also often featured in the numerous solos and combinations, though slightly less often than Prasad and Subramanian.
Shwet Jeshrani, on electric keyboard, also adds non-rhythmic highlights to those pieces featuring the group’s two vocalists, Amitav Islam and Riddhi Mitra.

To my mind, this slightly noodling, less rhythmically sharp musical framing of the vocal contributions was less successful – though this is a question of musical preference more than skill of execution.

Also included in the ensemble was Tao...