Diwan

East meets West, a musical plot line as near-universal as boy meets girl, provides the basis for this new collaboration between pianist Helen Anahita Wilson and tabla player Shahbaz Hussain. A series of seven category-evading compositions are pitched somewhere between the Western classical tradition Wilson studied and the South Indian Karnatic tradition she now researches at London's School of Oriental and African Studies. This space proves fertile territory for variety and experimentation. Opener ‘Azar’ yields urgent ostinatos suggestive of modern jazz piano, which contrasts the Debussy-esque cascades of notes on closing track ‘Dharana’.

The album – which contains two solo piano pieces – bears a slightly deeper imprint from Wilson than Hussain. The tabla maestro's big moment comes on ‘Carneline’, in which a tabla solo weaves its way around a portentous piano figure in seven-time to reach a rhythmically improbable climax. Despite Wilson's status as a doctoral candidate in musicology, listeners of Diwan need not fear an over-academic approach to Indian musical forms. This is a genuinely felt and crisply executed record that offers plenty of sustenance for heart and head.