I had three more concerts in the rest of 2021. There would have been four, but a Tibet2Timbuk2 booking in August got postponed due to a Covid outbreak and the new date didn't suit us.
Sat 25 Sep Street Serenades: Tibet2Timbuk2
This was one of the most innovative performances I've been involved in. We turned up in the morning to a warehouse district near the airport, where we sound checked on a mobile stage on the back of a truck. Some things were nailed down and instruments were packed away, and we got into a van to drive around town and play half hour sets in three different locations: outside a cafe in Anstead, at the entrance to a park on Mt Coot-tha, and finally in a park in Hendra. It was a beautiful day and each location had a lovely audience gathered for our performance.
Tibet2Timbuk2 performing on the back of truck in a park in Hendra.
Having joined Arthavan Selvanathan's mridangam school concert as accompanists in 2020, we've made a tradition and had a tabla-mridangam collaboration each year since. In 2021, my senior student Jesinthan Ketheeswaran and I joined a performance with Arthavan and his senior mridangam student Balaram Ramagiri for a tabla lehera style performance, with harmonium accompaniment by Nikhil Deo. (This week in 2022 we will follow that up with a similar performance, but this time I will play harmonium for 2 tabla students and 2 mridangam students.)
Sat 11 Dec "Aksh" - The Still Point of the Turning World, by Infinity Kathak
By December, Covid vaccination levels in Queensland were approaching 90% and we were ready to have some big events again. My first big concert over 18 months was a Kathak extravaganza organised by Dr Helena Joshi and her students in Infinity Kathak. I accompanied all the students on tabla, as well as accompanying Helena's performance in Dhamar on pakhawaj.
Accompanying Dr Helena Joshi on pakhawaj
Some of the musicians: Shen Flindell (tabla), Helena Joshi (padhant), Ananya Murali (vocal), Nikhil Deo (harmonium)
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