Performers from the Music of India Ensemble will bring a quarter of tutelage under visiting Nepali Professor Hom Nath Upadhyaya to a close tonight with an evening of North Indian and Nepali music.

The concert takes place at 7 p.m. in the MultiCultural Center Theater. The concert is free and open to the public, though organizers ask that attendees donate $5 each to help cover their expenses.

The musicians are undergraduates, graduate students and members of the community. The performers studied the tabla – a set of two Indian drums – and its music in a class taught by Upadhyaya throughout the quarter. Upadhyaya said the concert will feature performances from both a “junior” and “senior” student group, and will consist of various rhythmic cycles, compositions and improvisations.

“[Performing] will give them a type of good feeling and inspire them to learn more,” he said.

Portions of an instructional video on tabla music featuring Upadhyaya will be screened at the concert. Upadhyaya began making the video last spring using a $3,000 collaborative project grant from the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.

Upadhyaya came from his homeland in Nepal to Santa Barbara last March to teach the tabla classes within the ethnomusicology division of the Music Dept. during Spring and Fall Quarters.

Scott Marcus, an associate professor of ethnomusicology and founder of the Music of India Ensemble, said Upadhyaya has a talent for teaching.

“We have a real gem here because he’s a very sophisticated teacher,” Marcus said. “Hom Nath is completely sophisticated in his thinking, but is also able to really realize where the student is and what he needs. He works with the students exceptionally well.”