Dance of Shiva 2012

One of the big highlights of this Japan concert tour was Dance of Shiva, held in west Izu, a few hours drive from Tokyo. This event is the annual party for Indian goods importer in Japan, Tirikita.com, and brings together live Indian classical artists with DJs and bands. I attended the first Dance of Shiva back in 2007, which by good fortune was the time Yuki and I shared our first kiss. Now 5 years and 3 wedding ceremonies later, Yuki and I performed together at Dance of Shiva 2012. The event was timed to coincide with the annular solar eclipse on the morning of Monday May 21, although we ended up returning to Kamakura to witness that from the beach. Many thanks to Atsushi Umehara, aka Tirikita-san, for inviting us to take part and for organising such a fantastic party.

Yuki opened the event with mantras and a fantastic Dhrupad recital, accompanied by Tetsuya Kaneko on pakhawaj. She received a lot of well-deserved praise from respected musicians, which surprised her, but not me! I'm very proud of my lovely wife.

Taro Terahara (bansuri) with Ayako Ikeda (tabla) and Takaaki Kuno (ghatam)

Yuki and I opened the Saturday morning live performances with mantras, kirtans and bhajan.

Yasuhiro Minamizawa (surbahar) with Tetsuya Kaneko (pakhawaj)

Taro Terahara (bansuri) with Arif Khan (tabla), son of Ustad Sabir Khan

I accompanied Yasuhiro Minamizawa (sitar) in one of the best Indian classical performances I've ever been part of.

Makyo: Junzo Tateiwa (percussion), Setsuo Miyashita (santoor), Madoka (oud, saz), Gio (live mixing, electronics), Hayati (dance)

Setsuo Miyashita (santoor) with Arif Khan (tabla)

Atsuko Maeda (Kathak dance) accompanied by Shen (tabla), Taro (bansuri), Yuki (vocal)

Arif Khan also gave accompaniment on tabla, while I gave padhant (vocalised rhythms). At the close of the show, Arif showed some brilliant tabla compositions in dialogue with Atsuko's Kathak dance.

It was great to make a connection with an accomplished tabla player like Arif Khan.

We were offered a lift home early and took advantage of the opportunity, which included a stop at Dougashima Onsen (hot spring baths), with this view!