Recently Matthew Barley, a musician from UK came to Dhaka to conduct a workshop with local musical schools. He does not have any musical boundary, rather he experiments a lot with blending foreign culture and his own set of melodies. After training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Moscow Conservatoire, Matthew's activities in musical compositions and performance, crossbred projects, which soon developed to form a uniquely eclectic international career.

Barley's short yet elegant performance on the cello was held at the British Council Auditorium on May 19. His presentation comprised noted compositions of JS Bach, which went into other performances giving an insight into the European Classical and European opera music. The tunes ranged from sheer happiness to ultimate sadness all brought out from the cello he played. Song of the birds--the first track, a Catalan folk song expressing vibes of freedom and peace from Spain, was well applauded. I

The last piece for the evening was a delightful Raag Kirvani-- fusion with Shampa Reza playing Tanpura, giving a strong rhythm backup along with Matthew playing the main brutal chords of the cello. The piece had the most awesome climax of progression changes.

Matthew Barley is a famed musician abroad. Working with celebrated artistes like Amjad Ali Khan, he says, extends his musical horizon to a next level of precision. Artists like Matthew, find it artistically stimulating to create music by synthesizing ideas from more than one tradition.

'For my next project I will come to Bangladesh in September with my band Between The Notes. The aim is to combine our art form with the local Government Music College of Bangladesh and compose fresh music,' says Barley. 'It will be fusion, not just between styles of music but of the people of both the countries,' he adds.