THE sitar is the sound of India – the soundtrack to the confusion and complexity of the life we imagine there. It is a sound at once mysterious and otherworldly, familiar and evocative.
Paul Best is the crossed-leg, centreman in the world music group, Yatte Yattah Beat. He’s been studying the sitar – his instrument of choice – for over 30 years.
“Like pretty well everyone, the first, and for a long time only sitar influence in my life was Ravi Shankar (legendary sitar virtuoso) with the Beatles.
“Then in the mid seventies I travelled around Europe, Britain then through North Africa.
“We got on a train in Istanbul and made our way through Iran, Turkey – ended up in India.”
That particular route would be a bit harder these days, admits Paul, but he said the one thing the experience showed him was that people are much the same anywhere in the world.
“Some people are real friendly and some are not so friendly but they’re the same as you and I – they just speak a different language with different customs.”
Best said he travelled the width and breadth of India but it wasn’t until he reached a place called Benaras – now Varanassi, where it turns out the best sitars are made – that he found himself his own instrument.
He’d been on the look out but wasn’t really sure why.
“I’d played a bit of guitar before that but there was just something about the sound of the sitar – its complexity and the challenge in that - which attracted me.
“Playing the sitar is like starting a truck – you don’t get going very fast,” explained Best.
Slowly, as the strings begin to vibrate and interact with each other the resonance of the instrument builds up – a multi-layered drone accompanied by a melody played on strings that can bend an incredible three notes beyond their starting note.
With bandmates Mick Hibberd on tabla, the traditional Indian ‘talking drums’, and Randall Sinnamon on didgeridoo, Best said he finds a freedom of expression.
“They give me the flexibility to be able to wander in an out of lead and rhythm parts. And I enjoy bouncing off the didg – mimicking its own unique sounds.
“Over the years I’ve played with just about every instrument you can think of and there’s none I’ve found that the sitar can’t blend with.”
Like musical metaphor for life, Best said that is what the master sitar players are about – “improvising and playing in a way where you blend in.”
And what better venue to achieve the ultimate blend than Milton Theatre, with its impeccable acoustics. Yatte Yattah Beat performs there, August 2.
Yatte Yattah Beat at Milton Theatre, August 2. Doors: 7.30pm. Tickets: $15 from Milton Country Leather and Malibu Music, Ulladulla.