Here's what Taro, Sangeet and I performed on our recently completed tour, courtesy of Taro's Mixi blog...
<1st leg - QLD stage>
・4/16(Thu) home concert on the Gold Coast.
Raga Vachaspati : alap, gat in vilambit & drut tintal
<intermission>
Thumri Kirwani in Ektal (request from Mahendraji)
Dhun Khamaj in dadra & Kaharwa
Raga Darbari Kanara(short...request from Mahendraji)
・4/17(Fri) Temple of Melodious Sound, Ocean Shore
Raga Rageshri : alap, gat in vilambit & drut tintal (Taro)
<intermission>
Raga Kirwani : alap, gat in vilambit, maddhya & drut tintal (Sangeet)
Dhun Khamaj ~ Ragamala
special thanks to Matthew Weekes on tanpura
・4/18(Sat) Sri Saileshwara Sai Baba Temple, Brisbane
Raga Puriya Kaliyan : alap, gat in drut tintal (Taro)
Raga Latangi : alap, gat in drut tintal (Sangeet)
<intermission>
Raga Jog : alap, gat in VIlambit & drut tintal (Jugalbandi)
Kirtan
・4/19(Sun) Home concert in St Lucia, Brisbane.
Raga Charukeshi : alap, gat in v&d tintal
<intermission>
Dhun Khamaj
Raga Marwa (request)
Dhun Mishra Shivranjani (request)
NB Recordings of Charukeshi and Mishra Shivranjani are available for download here!
<2nd leg - VIC stage>
・4/23(Thu) Wangaratta Exhibitions Gallery
Raga Hansadhwani : alap (Taro)
Tabla solo in tintal (Shen, Taro)
Raga Puriya Dhanashri : short alap, gat in drut tintal (Sangeet, Shen)
<intermission>
Raga Kirwani : alap, gat in v&d tintal (all)
special thanks to Jacki on tanpura
・4/24(Fri) Theatre Royal, Castlemaine
Raga Megh : alap, gat in jhaptal, drut tintal
<intermission>
Dhun Pahadi in deepchandi
Dadra Khamaj
Dhun Bhairavi with Philip Cheek(t.sax)
・4/25(Sat) Prana House, Melbourne
Raga Puriya Kalyan : alap, gat in v&d tintal
Dhun Mand
W tabla : Shen & Glen Kniebeiss
・4/26(Sun) W bansuri×W tabla @Magpie House, Melbourne
Raga Purvi : alap, maddhya tintal (Taro+Shen)
Raga Yaman : alap, maddhya & drut tintal (Vinod+Glen)
<intermission>
Raga Kirwani : alap~jod~jhala, gat in rupaktal, drut tintal
Aarti
・4/29(Wed) lecture/demonstration @Box Hill TAFE Music School, Melbourne
Raga Charukeshi : alap, gat in drut tintal
Dhun Bhairavi with Jonathan Dimond(fretless bass)
<3rd leg - ACT,NSW stage>
・4/30(Thu) Australian National University's School of Music, Canberra
Raga Hemavati : alap, gat in drut tintal
・5/1(Fri) Belconnen Theatre, Canberra
Raga Yaman : alap, gat in v&d tintal
<intermission>
Afghani dhun
Khamaj dhun
Varanasi Thumri
Pilu dhun
Bhairavi dhun
・5/2(Sat) home concert in Sydney
Raga Khamaj (Sunanda Sharma, Surinder Jeet Singh)
Raga Puriya Dhanashri : alap, gat in v&d tintal
<intermission>
Khamaj Dhun
Bhairavi Thumri
・5/3(Sun) Yogaways, Terrigal
Raga Bihag : alap, gat in vilambit ektal(!), m&d tintal
Dhun Pahadi
Dhun Bhairavi
Showing posts with label Taro and Sangeet 2009 Tour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taro and Sangeet 2009 Tour. Show all posts
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Taro + Sangeet 2009 part 1 - BrisByron (with video)
I've just completed my first "national" tour (in Australia, national usually means "at least a few states"), with sarangi player Sangeet Mishra and bansuri player Taro Terahara. We drove 4500km and did 13 gigs in 18 days, starting in Brisbane and Byron and then after a big drive through central NSW to Wangaratta, Castlemaine and Melbourne, then through Canberra and Sydney back home to Brisbane again. What an experience! I'm going to let the pictures do the talking, starting in this post with the BrisByron sector, the First Test...
Practice on first day - Taro and Sangeet had never met before. The good chemistry was evident from the start though.
Home concert at the "Temple of Melodious Sound" in Ocean Shores, near Byron Bay. This was the biggest concert of the tour - I love home concerts! The tamboura player here is Matthew Weekes, with whom I have a sitar-tabla CD recorded several years ago.
Home concert in St Lucia, Brisbane. This was an excellent concert, and the recording is available for download on my website. Coincidentally, this house was right next door to the place I lived in 1992 while studying at university.
Some video of the St Lucia home concert taken by concert attendee Craig.



Some video of the St Lucia home concert taken by concert attendee Craig.
T + S 2009 pt2 - The Big Drive
After our first 4 concerts in the Brisbane/Byron area, we undertook the 1600km drive from Brisbane to Wangaratta in north-east Victoria where my sister is living. Taro and I shared the driving, and Sangeet was designated passenger, waking up for petrol stops, meals and a spot of scenery including some emus and a kangaroo in the Warrumbungle National Park. We drove from 4am til 10.30pm, time-appropriate ragas playing for most of the day. Nikhil Banerjee's Marwa at sunset in southern NSW was perfect...
... and the scenery often flat. Taro took loads of photos and videos all through the day. When I pointed out that they were all pretty much the same, he replied "Exactly!"
We intended to visit Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, but unfortunately the road was closed. There is a scale model of the solar system for a couple of hundred kilometres around the observatory.
We couldn't visit Siding Spring but we were already on the scenic drive through Warrumbungle National Park. Lovely spot.

T + S 2009 pt3 - Beechworth/Wangaratta
Following our big drive we stayed a few days with my sister in Wangaratta, which included a lovely day-trip to historic Beechworth, an old gold-mining town in north-eastern Victoria.
Our concert at Wangaratta Exhibitions Gallery was hosted by Wangaratta Arts Council. It was a really nice acoustic space. My sister Jacki is on tamboura here.
T + S 2009 pt4 - A Love Story?
As Taro and Sangeet had never met before the tour, I was interested to see how they would get along both personally and musically. They were a really fun combination to go on tour with, always joking and having fun. But do these three photos hint at something more...? :-)
Oh dear, that was a bit fast!
But seriously... Sangeet is a great cook. I think Taro put on 5kg during this 18 day tour!
But seriously... Sangeet is a great cook. I think Taro put on 5kg during this 18 day tour!
Next up on the Taro & Sangeet tour programme, the Theatre Royal in historic Castlemaine.
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T + S 2009 pt5 - Castlemaine Theatre Royal
Next stop for the Taro and Sangeet show after Wangaratta, we were lucky enough to be hosted by the Theatre Royal in Castlemaine, another historic gold-mining town in country Victoria. The backstage bed and breakfast was particularly note-worthy!


Poster for Lola Montes in 1856, attended by 400 diggers according to Wikipedia.
"To conclude with the extraordinary Terpsichorean Achievement
THE SPIDER DANCE, BY LOLA MONTES.
Mrs Gill will preside at the Pianoforte."
We were joined for the final piece for a jam with Philip Cheek. Philip and I played a lot together in the early days of EthnoSuperLounge - you can hear him on this page (tracks 3 and 4).
The Harry Potter room under the stairs. Taro ended up in here, something to do with feeling at home in a Tokyo-sized apartment...
Next stop on the Taro and Sangeet express, Melbourne...
"To conclude with the extraordinary Terpsichorean Achievement
THE SPIDER DANCE, BY LOLA MONTES.
Mrs Gill will preside at the Pianoforte."
Next stop on the Taro and Sangeet express, Melbourne...
T + S 2009 pt 6 - Melbourne
After the Theatre Royal in Castlemaine, Taro, Sangeet and I stayed 5 days in Melbourne, starting with a concert at Prana House in Thornbury with tabla player Glen Kniebeiss. While in Melbourne we stayed at our friend Vinod Prasanna's place - thanks Vinod and Lisa! Vinod is a bansuri player from Varanasi who was in Munna House at the same time as me a couple of years ago.
Shen, Taro, Sangeet and Glen Kniebeiss at Prana House, Thornbury
Glen is playing really nicely and I'm always very happy to play with him. It's quite rare for tabla players to get along musically.
Glen, Taro, Vinod and Shen in a double bansuri, double tabla extravaganza on the coldest night of the tour.
Sangeet and Taro with Melbourne tabla player Sam Evans.
Sam had Sangeet accompany his tabla lessons for a couple of days. Taro and I had a couple of rest days so we went about town meeting a few Indian music folks.
On our last day in Melbourne we gave a lecture/demonstration at Box Hill TAFE Music School - many thanks to Jonathan Dimond for having us!
We discussed the differences between Ragas Todi, Multani and Madhuwanti, then presented a few taals and a tabla solo in teentaal, then presented a 20 minute raga.
Glen is playing really nicely and I'm always very happy to play with him. It's quite rare for tabla players to get along musically.

Sam had Sangeet accompany his tabla lessons for a couple of days. Taro and I had a couple of rest days so we went about town meeting a few Indian music folks.
T + S 2009 pt7 - Canberra/Sydney
After Taro, Sangeet and I completed our 5 days in Melbourne, we headed off to Canberra for a concert hosted by the India Australia Association of Canberra. We then wrapped up the tour with a home concert in Sydney hosted by Sydhwaney Sounds of Sydney and finally a concert at Yogaways in Terrigal, about 90 minutes north of Sydney. Many many thanks to all the organisers and hosts!
Autumn colours in Canberra - while the warm winters in Brisbane are really lovely, we don't get colours like these!
On the first day in Canberra we played in the Australian National University's School of Music for large audience of music students. No photos of the show though sorry.
We were absolutely blessed to be able to stay in my uncle's house about 45 minutes outside Canberra. This photo, though blurry, does capture quite a surreal view. The white lines in the distance are power generation windmills.
Our Sydney concert was opened by the host's daughter Sunanda Sharma on flute and Surinder Jeet Singh on tabla.
Shen, Sangeet and Taro performing at a home concert in Sydney. This was an excellent concert and I was very happy to have Sydney last on the tour schedule so we were well warmed up for the very knowledgeable audience there. This was my first Indian classical concert in Sydney! Hopefully we made a good impression....
The final concert in Yogaways, Terrigal
Next, the final stage of our journey.


Sangeet left us here to return to India via Sydney. Thanks very much for coming on this amazing journey with us Sangeet! We learnt a lot and had lots of great experiences, and made a lot of excellent connections for the future.
Next, the final stage of our journey.
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