Tabla in Hand: Various events Sep 2015 to Jan 2016

This blog is like a record of all the shows and special events I'm up to. I notice that just like this time last year, I'm about to post photos of my annual tabla school concert, and find I haven't blogged in yonks. So here's a list of what happened between Sangeet Mela 2015 and our 2016 India trip:

SEP 2015

Sun Sep 20 Oxley: Tabla Workshop with Pt Pooran Maharaj - Following Sangeet Mela 2015, we hosted a tabla workshop for my students with the festival's featured tabla master, Pt Pooran Maharaj. In the morning the young students came for a short lesson which was mainly in the way of getting blessing and meeting a great master in our lineage. Then the intermediate students had a couple of hours before lunch, and then more advanced students after lunch. It was a great experience for the students to get a flood of knowledge from a great master, and to sit for a long time.

Sep 24: Flew to Japan for my sister-in-law's wedding. It was a beautiful event. Also while in Japan I got to meet a few old friends which was very nice.

OCT 2015

Oct 2-4: Yuki and Shen - Nada yoga concert/workshop tour of Nagano, Niigata and Kanazawa. Along the way we were treated to some amazing Japanese cuisine too!
Oct 7-11: Spirit of Bhakti in Sydney - Spirit of Bhakti got flown down to perform at "Super Retreat" in Govinda Valley, south of Sydney. The star treatment!
Sat Oct 17 Nerang: GCHCA Navaratri function featuring Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School - Sanjey and Thejan, two of my senior students performed at this event.
Oct 23-25 Stradbroke: Island Elements with Sufi Soul Sangeet - A beautiful weekend away at Stradbroke Island playing great music with Tahir Qawwal! This was the view from my tent:

NOV 2015

Sun Nov 1 Morningside: SpiritSong CD Launch - Check out the CD " Mantra Immersion" here - Western mantras and instrumentation along with my tabla and Shyan Kishore's bansuri, and beautiful harmonies by Rob and Angela of SpiritSong.
Sat Nov 7 Mt Gravatt: From Sitar to Shayari - Dr Indranil Chatterjee (sitar), Rahim Zullah (vocal), Shen Flindell (tabla)
Sat Nov 14 Byron: Spirit of Bhakti Byron CD Launch - feat. Shai Shriki
Sun Nov 15 Ravi Welsh, Zac and Shen free jazz impro - guitar, double bass and tabla fun.
Sat Nov 21 Powerhouse: Spirit of Bhakti - A big happy audience at the Powerhouse Stores Building, many thanks to YogaFest's Jonathan Murphy for organising this one.
Sun Nov 22 Bardon: Vinod Prasanna (Indian classical bansuri) - Thanks to Merv at Magda's Community Artz in Bardon for hosting in their old church hall and bringing a lovely audience to hear Vinod's beautiful bansuri.
Sun Nov 29 Mullumbimby: House of Bliss with Tahir Qawwal and Shen

DEC 2015

Sat Dec 5 Eight Mile Plains: North Meets South - Saikat Bhattacharya (sitar), Shen (tabla), various Carnatic performers
Sat Dec 12 Toowoomba: Nepal benefit - Spirit of Bhakti and many more - A huge lineup including Tenzin Choegyal, Mzaza, and Dheeraj Shrestha. We all had fun up in Toowoomba and managed to collectively raise over $10000 for Nepal earthquake relief. Well done to Moyalia for all her work!
Sun Dec 13 Ravi Welsh, Zac and Shen free jazz impro - more guitar, double bass, tabla fun.
Sat Dec 19 Chenrezig: Tibet2Timbuk2 with special guest Taro Terahara (bansuri)

Tibet2Timbuk2 sound checking at Chenrezig Gompa
Sun Dec 20 Moorooka: Tahir Qawwal + Taro Terahara + Shen
Dec 27 - Jan 1 Woodford Folk Festival - featuring Tenzin Choegyal, Taro Terahara and Shen Flindell, Dr Helena Joshi (Kathak dance), Dr Namita Mehta (vocal)