Photos from Pulse + other weekend news

Tenzin @ Pulse

Shen @ Pulse at the Transcontinental Hotel, Brisbane.

Notice the wrought-iron Queenslander-style verandah-fencing in front of the stage. I sat on a couple of high beer tables! It was a really nice set with Tenzin, who I've been playing with almost since he came to Australia 10 years ago. We have developed a nice rapport and can improvise freely together. I'm really happy to have Tenzin as my friend. This time we played a piece for flute, a few of Tenzin's songs with dranyen (Tibetan lute), and some tabla solo with dranyen nagma.

Spankinhide @ Pulse
(L to R: Tony, Aden, Piers, Charles, Elliott)

Long long ago (for a few years back around 1996) I used to play with Elliott in a percussion band called Bubada Dubada, which had a monthly gig called The Big Bang. Bubada Dubada, which used to play a blend of African, Indian, Latin and hippy-tribal percussion, has now evolved under Elliott's guidance into Spankinhide, who play traditional West African drumming pieces. They were so tight - I was really impressed. Pretty much all the members are capable of leading the group, and they have developed a whole bunch of really cool musical "moves" which they can use as a group. Great stuff!

Other Weekend News
Also this weekend, I had a recording session with Alec Burns, who is submitting a song to Australian radio station Triple J's Unearthed competition. (I'd like to add links but we're on dialup at Rosecliffe St right now.... broadband coming soon, we hope!)

I then sped over to the other side of town for a rehearsal with Vijaya Visvanathan's students for her coming student concert on Sep 1. Playing tabla with lots of cute South Indian kids!