Wednesday, June 28, 2017

India trip 2017

For the last few years we have been visiting India for Dhrupad Mela on the event of Shivaratri, and if possible staying for my guru-ji's memorial concert on March 17. This year was the 100th anniversary of his birthday so we made it a priority to attend. Unfortunately, quite early in this India trip I was struck by shingles so spent quite a lot of time in bed with severe back pain, saving my energy for lessons and the occasional concert. I did get some excellent lessons from Pt Pooran Maharaj as well as my guru-bhai Manishankar Tripathi, saw some fantastic performances, and made a few good new friends too.


Ustad Bahauddin Dagar (rudra veena) with Sukhad Munde (pakhawaj) at Dhrupad Mela 2017.


Beautiful performance by vocalist Kalapini Komkali at the Shivaratri Sangeet Mahotsav


I bumped into Tu of Bangkok's Tu's Place at the Dhrupad Mela, having not met for about 10 years!


I really enjoyed performing with UK bansuri player Jason Kalidas, at an all-night memorial concert for late pakhawaji Amit Shani.
 

Yuki had the opportunity to perform at Subah-e-Benares, a daily dawn concert on Assi Ghat.
  


Practice with guru-bhai Manishankar Tripathi and his student Ashesh Mishra.
 


My friend, Turkish vocalist Feridun Avar, visited from Brisbane on his way to Turkey and France. We visited the Ganesh Hall at my guru-ji Pt Pooran Maharaj's house.
 

We also had a little concert at Vegan and Raw Restaurant near Assi, where we were joined by Wade Evans on oud.

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