12th Annual Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School Concert

A selection of photos from the 12th Annual Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School Concert, held on Friday 19th July at Queensland Multicultural Centre in celebration of Guru Purnima...

The concert opened with bhajan in honour of gurus by Anvi Vaidya, with Guhanesh Ganesh (tabla), Kayshinie Ganesh (bansuri), and Nikhil Deo (harmonium).

Beginners tabla group: Mahin

Beginners tabla group: Linesh

Beginners tabla group: Sreyas

Junior tabla group: Amit, Hiyan, Enan, Dev, with Nikhil Deo (harmonium).

Intermediate tabla group: Pyara, Ali, Rishab, Shainthra, Aarav.

Varun Lal performed special compositions for tabla on one hand.

Advanced group: Ashwin, Keshav, Ayush, Guhanesh, Aditya, with Nikhil Deo (harmonium).

Senior group: Arun, Jesinthan, Arka, Rhea, with Nikhil Deo (harmonium).

Presentation of certificates by chief guest Umesh Chandra and tabla guru Shen Flindell. 

Tabla solo in Ektaal (12 beats) by Shen Flindell.

Homelands Tour with Tenzin Choegyal, Kween G, Yasmin Ibrahim

June 14-22, 2019, I got the chance to go on tour with my old buddies Tenzin Choegyal and Marcello Milani, and new buddies Kween G and Yasmin Ibrahim from Sydney, performing a show called "Homelands Tour". Kween G is a Ugandan rapper, and Yasmin Ibrahim a Sudanese singer. We met on June 14 and had a couple of rehearsals before our first show. We then hit the road performing in Armidale, Coffs Harbour, western Sydney and finally at the New Beginnings Winter Festival in Sydney.

It was so much fun working with talented and diverse artists to put together a cohesive show. We included the Sydney artists in a couple of our established Tibet2Timbuk2 songs, developed accompaniment for Sudanese and rap songs of Yasmin and Kween, and pulled together a collaborative piece built on a dialog between Kween G's beatboxing and my tabla bols.

Thanks to BEMAC and SSI for arranging this tour!

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First rehearsal.

Ready for an interview on ABC local radio.

 

Bonus rehearsal at Qld Multicultural Centre.

Let's go! (I'm concentrating on my Rubik's cube, which was a new craze for me.)

On the road between Armidale and Coffs Harbour.

New Beginnings Winter Festival in Sydney

Various events Apr/May 2019

A collection of shows following Sangeet Mela 2019, prior to my 12th annual tabla school concert...

Sat 6 Apr Bris: Nrityanjali - Devotion Through Dance 2019 Annual Dance Concert - Sangeet Mishra (sarangi), Darshil Shah (bansuri) and I (tabla) accompanied a few items in the Nritya Bharati School of Kathak Dance concert, but unfortunately we don't have any photos of us with them. As always it was fantastic having Sangeet-bhai there for rock-solid and beautifully melodious naghma in Kathak accompaniment.

Sun 7 Apr Moorooka: Kirtan Samadhi - feat. Sangeet Mishra - An evening of traditional kirtan with Atul Deshpande and Menaka Thomas, along with Sangeet-bhai on sarangi and Vijen-bhai on guitar. For this concert I played pakhawaj for a few songs. The followup concert is coming soon (as I write this) on Fri 3 Jan in Willawong.

Wed 10 Apr Murwillumbah: Soul Sangeet 2019 April Tour & South Indian Buffet - Following Sangeet Mela 2019, Sangeet Mishra went on an east coast tour with slide guitar player Shivam Rath. This was the first of the tour, and I also joined the tour closer when they got back at the end of the month. For both of these concerts I enjoyed nice interplay with tabla player Massimo Bidin, a fellow disciple of the Benares Gharana.

Fri 26 Apr Mullumbimby: Soul Sangeet - Shivam Rath, Sangeet Mishra, Shen Flindell

Sat 27 Apr New Farm: 1000 Stories Karma Phuntsok and Tenzin Choegyal & Tibet2Timbuk2 - A wonderful concert with wonderful musicians in a wonderful venue with a wonderful artist. Tibet2Timbuk2 with friends Tenzing Yeshi and Tenzin Nyidon, in the Brisbane Powerhouse main auditorium. Karma Phuntsok's art was gorgeous.

Sun 5 May Mt Gravatt: Morning Ragas Classical Sitar Recital - Thanks to Swara Mohini for organising this concert and inviting me to accompany sitarist Shrabani Choudhury.

Sat 25 May BEMAC presents Menaka Thomas' debut album launch "My Eyes Can See" - I first met Menaka when accompanying her mother Vijaya Visvanathan, a renowned Carnatic vocalist and teacher in Brisbane, more than 20 years ago. Since then we have collaborated on various projects, most notably Spirit of Bhakti with singer-songwriter Rebecca Bornstein. Now she has released an album of her own original songs, into which she poured so much heart and soul and her loving attention to detail. The launch concert was an amazing production with everything planned for the various musicians playing in various songs. Thanks to Menaka for having me on her CD.