....MIKE RIVERS, for correctly intuiting that "tempura" was a transliterated
mispelling of "tambora"!

I guess you've never read the instruction manual for a piece of Roland
gear? Or the shop manual for a Japanese car? They know what the words
sound like in their language, and they know how to spell phonetically
in our language. What they leave for your imagination is to put them
together.

Yes, indeedy, both the acoustic and electronic versions are "tamboras", and the
existence of "tempura" in both the producer's mind and on the web is but a
coincidence. At least that is the reaction of the ensemble leader when I
explained the mystery to him, and showed him the e-mail.

Extra credit: he also informs me that in (whichever Indian language we're
talking about) "tambora" means "that which completes the tone."


And for his correct answer Mike has won... well, nothing actually, except maybe
the smug satisfaction of being correct, as well as the privilege of continuing
right on with the business of really being Mike Rivers. And my gratitude for his
help.