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An Appreciation of Intensity -- Bergmark & Metzger at Khyber Pass.

An Appreciation of Intensity -- Bergmark & Metzger at Khyber Pass.
In late January 2020 for what I did not know would be my last pre COVID indoor music, I roused myself to hike 
over to the Khyber Pass  There was no wind, the temperature steadied around
the freezing mark. Snow clung to the neighborhood trees, homes, signs and muffled the sounds of the
night. 
I arrived five  minutes late - to my great, great regret.  Krissy Bergmark on tabla and Paul Metzger on
banjo were playing with verve and an intensity of interplay that kept my senses fully engaged for the 
evening.  I won’t feign knowing more than I do, but I’d label the music as raga or raga-inspired. Reference
 point for some: The Beatles’ Within You Without You.  
Metzger’s banjo is no ordinary round box, neck and strings.  One version of his creations has
 23 strings including a zither-like spray of thirteen fanning out over the drum head, with the skin and sides 
of the doubled depth body drummed for percussive effect. He achieves banjo, guitar, sitar and drone 
sounds and bows the strings as well.   Head rotating or wagging with ecstatic concentration, Metzger 
lead most but not all the way in both sets, with fast runs that rockers might say "shredded the 
atmosphere" and delicate picking and strums that were permitted to linger for three or four seconds 
before he embarked on another run of raga or manic drumming.

Bergmark with her two-drum tabla set supplemented occasionally by a third drum, played with stellar
virtuosity.  Her fingers, palms and heels of her hands struck and muted the heads of these drums to
produce sounds that rang out melodically and percussively.  While Metzger wound himself up to
eyes-closed ecstasy, Bergmark sat on her cushion with her core and arms in constant
motion. When not taking the lead, she watched her partner with an intent Mona Lisa-like expression, 
with particularly pleasing interchanges sparking flashes of smiles.   
I lack the technical vocabulary for a description of  the totality of the sounds and the compositions
of Bergmark and Metzger.  Their performance was rhythmic and melodic with plenty of improvisation 
but they worked with a synchronicity I have seldom heard.  
Walking home after the two sets, winter’s quiet reasserted itself.  Snow’s intensity of silence a fitting coda.  






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