If Mathew Joseph ever gave up his day job, and put away his beloved guitar forever, he might yet regale audiences as a story teller.

Talking casually about his former life, he gave the Classic Guitar Festival audience tantalising glimpses into his past in his homeland India.

Talking of hopping trains, hoofing it up the Himalayas, sleeping in temples and hearing the sadhus sing prayers in the early morning light in the temple helped create a context for the audience to have an idea from whence came the music he was about to offer.

Two of the ?Friends? on stage with him last Saturday evening come from that era of Joseph?s life, when he apparently had longer hair and played bass in a school rock band.

I wanted more of the stories, but music was the main item on the agenda.

The music offered was varied.

All original ?Kaliyug? was the first offering, ?The Age of Destruction?, and Joseph took the opportunity again to contextualise the meaning of the title by referring to the epic poem Mahabharata, where Kali appears as the goddess of destruction.

The band supporting him consisted of Bobby Smith on bass, David Markham, Scott Page and former musical colleagues David Estes, and the multitalented Oliver Rajamani. Joy Barnum (in the first of two outfits) supplied back-up vocals with Scott.

The sound Joseph gets from his guitar is unmistakably Indian.

In addition to his solo on this piece was an extended solo on tables by Oliver Ramajani, himself no mean raconteur, who would later return to dazzle in his own right.

The band followed with a devotional song. The similarity of this piece to Caribbean religious ?choruses? struck me as interesting. (And why not since there is a huge East Indian presence in the Caribbean.) But in world music, these similarities must surely abound.

David Estes sang his reggae composition ?Lockdown?, a protest against politically inspired violence, and Joseph soloed on guitar.

A Joy Barnum original followed, the songwriter herself doing the honours; a very danceable piece.

Next Oliver Rajamani come forward to play.

He gave a brief account of the progress of the Romany people?s moving out of India, crossing through Greece and ending in Spain where they were largely responsible for the evolution of the music we know now as Flamenco.

Then he played, sang and dazzled his audience. The intermission came with the audience on their feet applauding.

Mathew Joseph opened the second set with another of his compositions, ?Between My Eyes?, with the beautiful refrain ? ?Moonlight on the glimmering sea, and the melody rising in me?.

He followed that with George Harrison?s ?Here Comes The Sun?.

Joy Barnum, divine in a revealing chocolate-coloured outfit sang another of her songs, ?See It Through?, which prove very popular with the audience.

David Estes returned to sing Bob Marley?s ?Ambush In The Night?, and Scott Page sang an ode to the fabulous Prince Nabi, an inspirational figure who lives in New York. The song apparently evolved in a late night session fuelled by not a few Coronas, it would seem.

This piece allowed for some audience participation. And then another impromptu evolution, the reggae-flavoured ?Island?, a praise song to the charms of Bermuda, that Joseph had a hand in.

That was it, or so we thought. But prolonged applause brought them back, and they performed Joseph?s anti war anthem, ?Lay Down?.

Lay down those AK 47s. True love should be our one true weapon.

The concert had a natural authentic vibe.

Imagine putting your friends on stage and your life to music. Gives you an idea what Mathew Joseph and Fiends accomplished at the City Hall on Saturday night.