The last concert we attend is by an oddly named group: Pang Pung. I expect to see Chinese faces, but they are a French group and they use western instruments – like the guitar – to play music from the East (India, Indonesia).

The performance is engaging. The guitars, modified to sound like sitars, are good but some notes give away the instruments’ original nature. The last piece, though, is excellent, as if coming from an accomplished sitar player. We buy the CD, but when I listen to it later it sounds hollow; the depth is missing.  It could be a case of poor recording, but I suspect the reason is related to something a player at home cannot reproduce: the atmosphere of a live concert.

The pieces of the Bignol Swing Quintet on their webpage are good, but they come nowhere close to the quality I associate with their live performance that Saturday. The atmosphere created an experience beyond the reach of music on CD.

That is why we are here in Belfort this time. That is why we’ll come again.

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