Tibet2Timbuk2 in Coffs Harbour with Yuki

Tibet2Timbuk2 recently had a show helping to raise funds for CWON (Child Welfare Organization of Nepal) at a concert in Coffs Harbour. On the drive down Tenzin asked Yuki if she would join us for a couple of songs, which turned out beautifully! Yuki opened the show with a short mantra and lovely bhajan, then joined us for Crane Song, Tso Marpo and the finale Aum Mani Padme Hum. In the process we helped to raise $2000 for Nepali kids, and we were then treated to a fun party by the CWON crew.  Many thanks to Calida Neal and her father Neville Neal for bringing us down to Coffs Harbour.

Tibet2Timbuk2 with Yuki Taniguchi Flindell

I did a short tabla demonstration with my usual finale - "Rabbit, Deer, Lion"

Tokyo concerts part 1

After a successful and enjoyable few days in Kansai, Yuki and I took an overnight bus to reach Tokyo in time for a special live TV appearance with Taro Terahara on NHK-BS1 program "Hotto @ Asia". Taro was being interviewed as part of a series of features on different Indian classical musicians in Japan. It was an interesting day - rehearsal, makeup, then live show including 3 minutes of music. Check it out on Youtube.

Shen, Taro and Fumie (tanpura) with the Hotto @ Asia hosts

The following weekend (April 20-22) I had a few concerts, firstly with father-and-son sitar duo Koro and Rei Ito, at regular world music venue Otoya-Kintoki. Koro-san greeted me by saying "Japan's radiation is very high!" and later asked me to give a message to "all of Japan" (although there were just 8 people listening!). What could I say? There should be more vocal political opposition to nuclear power here.

The next night I joined Taro again to accompany Kathak dancer Atsuko Maeda in a dance studio in Meiji-Jingu-Mae, near Shibuya. It's been a few years since I accompanied Kathak (last time being with Atsuko-san on Tenzin's first Japan tour in 2009), and it was very enjoyable going through those dance rhythms again. Yuki and I will be accompanying Atsuko at a concert in Tokyo on May 5 and again at Dance of Shiva in Izu on May 20.

Then on the Sunday Yuki Taniguchi gave a nada yoga workshop at Rakudoan in Kanda, Tokyo, followed by our concert. We played almost 2 hours of music, starting with Yuki's mantras, followed by Dhrupad in Raga Yaman (alap and chautaal), various bhajans and kirtans, and finally tabla solo.

This weekend I had 2 concerts, firstly back at Otoya-Kintoki, this time with Afghani music group Chalpasah. It was lovely to accompany beautiful Afghani music, as well as to play some Indian classical music with Taro as always.

Then last night I joined my old friend TC Deane at jazz/rock/blues venue Someday in Futamatagawa (near Yokohama). TC and I first met when I was living in Tokyo back in 2005 and the last time we properly played together was at that time, also at Someday. We had some really beautiful improvisations and the audience, only one of whom had ever seen tabla before, seemed quite profoundly affected. TC has uploaded some audio from the concert to his soundcloud page. Thanks TC.

Remaining concerts on my Japan tour:

• Sat May 5 Tokyo: Cafe Muriwui - Atsuko Maeda
• Fri May 18 - Mon May 21 Izu: DANCE OF SHIVA2012-Travel of mind effect music-
• Wed May 23 Tokyo: Taro Terahara (bansuri), Tetsuya Kaneko (pakhawaj), Shen (tabla)

Kansai concerts with 3 sitar players and Yuki

After the 40 degree heat of Varanasi it was a relief to come to the beautiful spring weather of Japan. We arrived here at the peak of sakura (cherry blossom) season. After a stressful journey from Kuala Lumpur, via Haneda to Kamakura and then by bus to Kyoto, I was happy to wake up to the perfect spring day for some hanami (flower viewing) with friends.



I had a busy few days in Kansai, starting with a concert on the Thursday in Kobe with sitar player Shuhei Ozaki, student of current rising star Purbayan Chatterjee. Yohei Iwashita (sitar) and Bayan Fujisawa (tabla) opened the night. I have to say a big thanks to Shuhei-san for pulling this concert together so that we could have a chance to play together.


On the Friday I joined old friend Yasuhiro Minamizawa, with whom I played at my Guru-ji's memorial concert in 2006, at Uzura Gallery in Kyoto.

Then on Saturday it was off to Cafe Amanto in Osaka for Calcutta Night Vol 82 with Tadao Ishihama. Tadao has been playing sitar as long as I've been playing tabla, but started at the age of 15! I've played with Tadao at Amanto many times over the years, starting back in September 2002.


Finally on the Sunday I accompanied Yuki Taniguchi in a concert following her nada yoga workshop, held in a beautiful old Kyoto house ("machiya"). Our concert followed our usual pattern of mantras, kirtans and bhajans, finishing up with a short tabla solo. Very enjoyable :-)

After dinner we jumped on a night bus back to Tokyo, where I appeared with bansuri player Taro Terahara on NHK TV programme "Hotto @ Asia", which was a very interesting experience.  Will post links to video if anyone uploads them...

I have a few concerts in Tokyo from hereon:

• Fri Apr 20 Tokyo: Concert with Kourou and Rei Itou (sitar)
• Sat Apr 21 Tokyo: 「東京ガラナ＃８」 　ーNew Moonー Atsuko Maeda (Kathak), Taro Terahara (bansuri)
• Sun Apr 22 Tokyo: Nada Yoga Workshop and Concert with Yuki Taniguchi
• Fri Apr 27 Tokyo: Concert with Chalpasah (Afghani) and Taro
• Sat May 5 Tokyo: Cafe Muriwui - Atsuko Maeda

Holi season concerts and fun

No I didn't go out and play Holi in Varanasi this year. In keeping with our usual policy of keeping clean and calm, Yuki and I stayed in and did a big yoga session on the morning of Holi. However, around Holi there was lots of fun to be had in Varanasi.

A couple of days beforehand our friend Gumi (a bansuri player from Kyoto) organised a concert called "Namaste Mela" featuring foreign students of Indian classical music, in which I accompanied Tetsu Takana, a sitar student of Pt Shiv Nath Mishra. Along with one practice, it was the first time we'd met or played together, but hopefully not the last! Very enjoyable.

Hannah played very beautiful alap on Mohan veena

Gumi played Holi in the chai break

Shen and Tetsu playing together for the first time

On the afternoon of Holi it's traditional to put on new clothes and go visiting friends. I took this photo of Yuki and Nao on the way to visit their Guru-Ma.

Holi is on the full moon

An atmosphere of wildness lingers on for a few days after Holi, helped by traditional drumming groups like this (and mobile DJs).

A few days after Holi it was March 11, the first anniversary of the great Tohoku Earthquake of 2011. Many Japanese people in Varanasi gathered at Dasaswamedh Ghat to pray together and to sing a Japanese folk song, "Furusato" ("Homeland"). Yuki was asked to play the harmonium and lead the singing!

Some Varanasi concerts

I arrived in Varanasi the day before Shivaratri ("Shiva's night"), one of the biggest festivals in the City of Shiva. There are usually two big music festivals around Shivaratri: the Dhrupad Mela (now in its 37th year) on Tulsi Ghat, and the more recent khayal event near Durga Temple, sponsored by Jalan's. As my wife Yuki is studying Dhrupad vocal she spent all her time at the Dhrupad Mela - see her blog (many photos, text in Japanese). I visited the Jalan's concert for a couple of items but was mostly disappointed. The sponsor's son's singing sent me out the door. Talk about nepotism.

Meanwhile at Dhrupad Mela... Yuki performed with her Guru-ji Dr Ritwik Sanyal's student group and did very well.

Two days later I saw Tahir Qawwal's excellent Qawwali group Fanna-fi-Allah at a guest house in Assi. Tahir spends parts of the year in Varanasi, USA and Byron Bay, so he is a nearby musical friend for me when our schedules coincide. I've seen and accompanied Tahir in khayal and light classical (in which he is also excellent) but this was the first I'd heard his Qawwali. The atmosphere was electric and uplifting. Kudos to Hari Om Hari on the tabla.

The following day we were blessed to be invited to a special ceremonial concert. My friends Debapriya Adhikary (vocal) and Samanwaya Sarkar (sitar), aka Debapriya-Samanwaya, had their gandabandhan initiation with Benares vocal legend Smt Girija Devi. Many local music legends were in attendance. (I've written previous blogs with Deb-Sam.)

On tour with Taro Terahara (part 1)

This summer we were lucky to have our old friend, bansuri master Taro Terahara returning to Australia, this time with his wife Yuriko. (Click here for an index of blogs on Taro's previous Australian tours.) As you'll see in the coming episodes, we had a great summer with lots of good times for all. Unlike previous years, the weather was fine most of the time, though not too hot with the occasional afternoon shower to cool things down.

We kicked off the tour with a couple of classical shows, firstly in the Sri Saileshwara Temple in Brisbane and then the next day at Awakening Centre in Maleny. On the Sunday we were joined on the Sunshine Coast by Tibet2Timbuk2 for a concert in the splendid gompa at Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Community, on the anniversary of HH the Dalai Lama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

Yuki opening our concert at Sri Saileshwara Mandir.

These two members of the temple congregation treated us to a beautiful devotional song at the end of the evening.

Yuki opening our concert at Awakening Centre. There was a storm just before the concert, which resulted in a blackout and a candle-lit performance.

There was a lunar eclipse that night. After the storm the sky was quite clear.

Tibet2Timbuk2 with special guest Taro Terahara, at Chenrezig Gompa.

Many thanks to Yuriko for the following videos of the concert:

And thanks to Lesley for the following videos of the concert:

4th Annual Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School Concert

My annual tabla school concert on (or near) Guru Purnima has become one of the definite highlights of my year.  This year's event was held in Sunnybank Community Hall on Saturday 9th July, 6 days ahead of Guru Purnima.  Guru-ji's magic was evident in the atmosphere as always, and more and more each year I feel we are cultivating the energy passed down from guru to student through several generations including Benares Gharana originator Pt Ram Sahai and my late Guru-ji Pt Ashutosh Bhattacharya.

In this year's 4th annual concert (click the links for 1st, 2nd and 3rd concerts) we had 11 students performing.  Four of the students had performed at previous concerts but happily we had a lot of new students performing this year.  The concert always brings out the best in the students, with lots of extra practice in the weeks beforehand and a lot of inspiration to keep practising in the weeks afterward.  Everyone put in a great performance but special mentions must go to youngest and only girl tabla performer Rhea Ravi, naal solo by Vraja Dhama, fine accompaniment in bhajan by Tito Basu, and excellent all-round playing by Sanjey Sivaananthan.

Many thanks to Joseph Abhay Nand for patient harmonium accompaniment as always, and of course to all the parents and friends for helping out with the concert and throughout the year.  Special thanks to super volunteers Darshil Shah, Vraja Dhama, Yuki Taniguchi and Feridun Avar, and to Brent James for these splendid photographs and other assistance.

An altar to Guru-ji

 Our distinguished guest, Smt Vijaya Visvanathan, inaugurated the proceedings

Yuki Taniguchi (Sanskrit mantras)

 

 Darshil Shah (bansuri) accompanied Yuki's mantras

Sulagna Basu presented some bhajans in honour of goddess Saraswati and the Guru.  She was accompanied very well by her son Arka Tito Basu on tabla, and Joseph Abhay Nand on harmonium.

Diptanu Debroy (11) started the tabla solos

Bipro Hussain (9) and Ishaaq Jamil (8) (see them on youtube!)

 Rhea Ravi (7) played in a tabla duet with her older brother...

Ritvik Ravi (13)

 Nitin Niranjan (12)

Vraja Dhama - naal solo

 

Thejan Elankayer (11)

 Arka Tito Basu (15) gave tabla solo in Jhaptaal (10 beats) and Teentaal (16 beats)

Jesinthan Ketheeswaran (17) and Sanjey Sivaananthan (15) also performed in Jhaptaal and Teentaal

 

Joseph Abhay Nand gave patient accompaniment on harmonium throughout

 The students received certificates, presented by Smt Vijaya Visvanathan.  The certificates feature the lineage of Benares Gharana guru-shishya parampara starting from gharana founder Pt Ram Sahai.

Finally I gave a tabla solo, also in Jhaptaal and Teentaal.  If you play something twice, you should make a tihai and play it three times!