Woodford 2011-12

The weather-gods smiled on Woodford Festival patrons and organisers this year, and we had one of the most enjoyable festivals in quite a while. I was performing there with bansuri player Taro Terahara and also accompanying sitar player Saikat Bhattacharya in a couple of performances. Taro and I had 7 performances, mostly in the Folklorica stage but also including the special hilltop New Year's sunset and sunrise concerts. For those of you who don't know, Woodford Festival runs from Dec 27 to Jan 1 every year and has over 20 stages and music and entertainment of all varieties. I'll be uploading these and many more photos to my Facebook Australia 2011 album.

Tashi Lhunpo Monks

Taro and Shen with Yuriko (tanpura) in the first of our 5 concerts in Folklorica. Fantastic stage with the talented Siri on sound, making it so easy for musicians of all ethnic varieties.

One of my festival favourites: Hanggai - Mongolian rock music. Very entertaining, especially the lead singer with frontless studded leather jacket, talking enthusiastically in Mongolian between songs.

Taro was invited to join Tenzin Choegyal, Michael Askill (gongs) and Stuart Ransome (shakuhachi) for a beautiful morning meditation concert.

Fantastic Flamenco dancer with Gerard Mapstone (guitar). Some of the most musical Flamenco tapping I've seen.

Another festival favourite: Tuba Skinny - old-time New Orleans jazz

And the dream band: EarthSync Collective - ghatam, sarod/guitar, bass, samples/drones, Carnatic male vocal/morsing, Hindustani female vocal, violin, tabla. We had a lot of fun hanging out with the EarthSync folks, especially tabla player Chiranjit. I had to help Chiranjit out with an emergency tabla repair at the festival, so thanks to Australian Quarantine for helping seal our friendship.

After Taro and Saikat's solo sets on Dec 30 we joined together in a trio jugalbandi.

The crew for the New Year's Eve Sunrise Concert - Stuart Ransome (shakuhachi), Carla Thackrah (flute), James Coates (poetry), Michael Askill (gongs, samples), Jonny Ng (violin), Shen (tabla), Yuriko (tanpura), Taro (bansuri)

The last sunset of 2011

We enjoyed Die roten Punkte - intentionally bad comedy music in German industrial pop style. Unfortunately I couldn't see the whole set as I had my own set...

I accompanied both Saikat and Taro as part of the Sacred New Year programme in Folklorica stage on New Year's Eve night.

As the clock ticked over to 2012, some of the festival-goers were sitting in contemplation in Folklorica, while Trikaya performed "... in the Between - The Tibetan Book of the Dead"

The New Year's Dawn concert - Yuriko, Shen, Taro, Tenzin, Tashi Lhunpo Monks, Jonny Ng (violin)

First sunrise of 2012

Taro and I had a set immediately followed by Tenzin Choegyal, which gave us the perfect opportunity to play along together. This was New Year's Day, and our 4th show in 24 hours, but despite the brain-daze it was a beautiful set.

The Tashi Lhunpo Monks made this sand mandala during the festival.

And had a Dissolution ceremony at on the last evening.

The Farewell Ceremony in the Amphitheatre.

On tour with Taro Terahara (part 2)

For Taro's second weekend in Australia this summer, we had a 3 stop tour of NSW with Tibet2Timbuk2. We were hosted in Bellingen by Roots Records, who were celebrating their 1st birthday. Then the Wauchope Arts Council welcomed us back after our show there in January, and we closed out the weekend with an afternoon show at Sphinx Rock Cafe near Mt Burrell, NNSW.

Tenzin and I have toured Japan with Taro a couple of times now, but this was our first chance to have both Marcello and Taro playing with us for a series of really good shows. The chemistry that developed was really fantastic, and these were some brilliant concerts. (Here's a review of the Bellingen show.)

日本語のブログは、Yukiのブログを見てください。

Bellingen:

Wauchope:

Sphinx Rock Cafe:

This is a U-Stream (live internet stream) archive of our Sphinx Rock Cafe concert. The sound is not the best!

Brisbane:

After the Tibet2Timbuk2 tour, I had Taro help some of my students with accompaniment. We had a little student Christmas party and 4 of the students accompanied Taro.

On tour with Taro Terahara (part 1)

This summer we were lucky to have our old friend, bansuri master Taro Terahara returning to Australia, this time with his wife Yuriko. (Click here for an index of blogs on Taro's previous Australian tours.) As you'll see in the coming episodes, we had a great summer with lots of good times for all. Unlike previous years, the weather was fine most of the time, though not too hot with the occasional afternoon shower to cool things down.

We kicked off the tour with a couple of classical shows, firstly in the Sri Saileshwara Temple in Brisbane and then the next day at Awakening Centre in Maleny. On the Sunday we were joined on the Sunshine Coast by Tibet2Timbuk2 for a concert in the splendid gompa at Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Community, on the anniversary of HH the Dalai Lama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

Yuki opening our concert at Sri Saileshwara Mandir.

These two members of the temple congregation treated us to a beautiful devotional song at the end of the evening.

Yuki opening our concert at Awakening Centre. There was a storm just before the concert, which resulted in a blackout and a candle-lit performance.

There was a lunar eclipse that night. After the storm the sky was quite clear.

Tibet2Timbuk2 with special guest Taro Terahara, at Chenrezig Gompa.

Many thanks to Yuriko for the following videos of the concert:

And thanks to Lesley for the following videos of the concert:

Various concerts with Tenzin and Tabla Tarrango

Since my hectic Japan tour (including two weeks with Tenzin Choegyal) in August and September, I've been enjoying the relaxing space at my Highgate Hill home and getting back into lessons with my tabla students, along with a few concerts on the weekends.  Once again, I've been doing a few shows with Tenzin Choegyal, including a 3 show weekend in the countryside inland from Brisbane doing small concerts fundraising for Tibetan Children's Village.  We've also performed at Gold Coast and Queensland Multicultural Festivals, along with my tabla student performance group Tabla Tarrango.  I'm missing some photos from a few recent concerts, notably Tibet2Timbuk2 with erhu player Nicholas Ng at Crystal Waters on Friday 14th October, a really lovely gig.

Tenzin Choegyal accompanied by Shen (tabla) and Peter Hunt (guitar) at Kaivalya Meru community, 17 Sep 2011

Accompanying Tenzin at Gold Coast Multicultural Festival, 18 Sep 2011

Tabla Tarrango performing at Gold Coast Multicultural Festival
L to R: Sanjey, Jesinthan, Shen, Thejan, Tito

Tenzin with Jacqui and Shen in Glamorgan Vale, 8 Oct 2011 

Glamorgan Vale, 8 Oct 2011

Tabla Tarrango performing at Queensland Multicultural Festival, 16 Oct 2011

Brisbane Family Success in Tabla Exam

Rhea Ravi (7) and Ritvik Ravi (13) achieved distinctions in PRSSV tabla exam

A brother and sister in Parkinson have achieved distinctions in a London-based tabla exam. Ritvik Ravi (13) and Rhea Ravi (7) received top marks among 12 tabla students from Brisbane and Gold Coast who took the exams held by Pandit Ram Sahai Sangeet Vidyalaya (PRSSV). Rhea Ravi also studies Carnatic vocals under her mother, well-known vocalist Susmitha Ravi, as well as Bharat Natyam dance. Ritvik Ravi has also taken his mother's singing lessons and currently also plays drumkit.

All the other students of the Ashutosh Bhattacharya Memorial Tabla School who took the exams achieved merits. The exams are available in 8 grades equivalent to AMEB or Trinity music examinations. The students have to study a range of practical and theoretical material including classical tabla repertoire, Hindustani classical music theory, music writing system, biographies of famous musicians, and the history of tabla gharanas. 

The top Brisbane tabla students, Tito Basu (15) and Sanjey Sivaananthan (15) successfully completed grade 6 and will attempt grade 7 when the exams are next held in Brisbane next February. PRSSV are currently applying for recognition by the Qld Studies Authority, so that from next year exam results will be included in the students' school certificates.

For enquiries about PRSSV tabla exams, tabla lessons, repairs and instrument sales, please contact Shen Flindell on 0415106428 or email shen@ethnosuperlounge.com



CONCERT DATE
Sunday October 16: Queensland Multicultural Festival, Roma St Parklands.  Tabla Tarrango will perform on the Children's Stage from 1245 to 1pm.

   (to be printed in Brisbane Indian Times Oct 2011 edition)

Indian Classics Tokyo 2011 - A first class Indian classical concert

My last concert of this year's Japan tour was a really first class event held in Densho Hall in Shibuya, bringing together some of the top Indian classical artists in Japan at the time.  The 9/11 event marked 6 months since the Fukushima tsunami and 10 years since the New York attacks.  The hall was packed full of attentive listeners creating a fantastic atmosphere for great music.  Many thanks to organiser Yuriko Terahara and congratulations on a great job for Indian music!  The after party was loads of fun too - the biggest I've ever been part of!

These photos were taken by Akiro Io and there are many more on his blog.

Fumie Negishi (vocal) with Ayako Ikeda (tabla)

Taro Terahara (bansuri) with Shen Flindell (tabla)

Steve Oda (sarod) with Ty Burhoe (tabla)

Amit Roy (sitar) with U-Zhaan (tabla)

14th and Final Gifu Sangeet Mela

I've been lucky enough to participate in the annual Gifu Sangeet Mela 6 times - the first time as an audience member and then 5 times performing, culminating in this year's final instance of this wonderful event. (Here are my blog posts for the last three years'.)  It really is great to gather so many musicians to perform together and see each others' performances, give feedback, discuss music and just hang out all night.  This year I was blessed to play twice: first accompanying Taro Terahara (bansuri) and second accompanying Koki Yoshida (sitar).  Unfortunately a few of us Tokyo musicians had to leave at 4am to return for a concert the next day, and so weren't able to see the final two performances nor enjoy the feeling of having experienced the whole night together.  The next day's after-party is always a blast too; so sad to have missed that.  Many thanks to Jimi-san for inviting me to join in again, and we'll miss the Sangeet Mela in future years.

Event organiser and wonderful santoor player, Setsuo "Jimi-san" Miyashita

This image of Saraswati-maa, goddess of music, has looked over Sangeet Mela for 14 years!

Baku Hirakawa (sarod) with Ayako Ikeda (tabla)

Rahul Acharya (Odissi dance)

Taro Terahara (bansuri) with Shen Flindell (tabla)

Sachiko Murakami's Odissi dance group

Live accompaniment for Sachiko Murakami's Odissi dance group

Jai Bajrang - Tetsuya Kaneko (pakhawaj) and Takaaki Kuno (ghatam)

Scene from the green room

Koki Yoshida (sitar) with Shen Flindell (tabla)

Atsuko Maeda and her Kathak dance group

Steve Oda (sarod) with Ty Burhoe (tabla)

Yukie Satou (Odissi dance)

Shree (Dhrupad vocal) with Tetsuya Kaneko (pakhawaj)