EDUARDO Niebla is unquestionably a fine guitarist, and for his fans the Niebla "experience’"(his word) is no doubt self-explanatory. For us neophytes it is more of a mystery.

For a start, there was no printed programme last Friday, the first of two York performances. Nor did a muddy sound-system help when explanations were attempted. A kind friend later provided me with a list of titles that had been given to the choir, Ewa Salecka’s Millegro and Prima Vocal Ensemble. Why not to the audience as well?

St Chad’s, with a very high ceiling and all-embracing stonework, provides a generously resonant acoustic. So it was hardly necessary to instal, especially for this event, an amplification system that would have been right at home in the Royal Albert Hall.

The detail of Niebla’s fingerwork – along with that of his fellow-strummer Matthew Robinson and violinist Kate Chruscicka – struggled for ascendancy over the constant rumble of what had happened two bars earlier. All three players were plugged in, but a purely acoustic performance would have been more appropriate.

Niebla’s virtuosity belongs within the tradition of flamenco, but encompasses a much wider span of influences.

The evening moved gradually from East to West, beginning with India, in which music of sitar and tabla were clearly discernible, taking in My Gypsy Waltz, with wordless chorus, and finishing somewhere in Latin America, probably Brazil, with Bluebell Gardens and Macaroni. However, he electronics curdled too much of this fine playing into an amorphous mess.