Various events Jul to Dec 2016

Wow, I used to be such a regular blogger and here I find I can go back to July 2016 for concerts I haven't mentioned here yet. Here goes - 49 events over the last financial year to be spread out over the next few posts...

JULY 2016

• Sat 16 Jul 9th Annual Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School Concert - always a fantastic event - please click on the link for the full blog post.
  
  
  Juniors group: Ben, Ashwin, Aaryan, Aditya and Josh.
   
• Sun 31 Jul Mt Gravatt E: Pt Upendra Bhat (Hindustani vocal) - disciple of Pt Bhimsen Joshi
  
  
  Shen, Pt Upendra Bhat (vocal) and Joseph Nand (harmonium)

AUGUST 2016

• Sat 6 Aug Rocklea: Namaste World - A Multi-Cultural Carnival - Tabla Tarrango! - I got my 3 seniormost students, Jesinthan, Tito and Sanjey, to join me for a really nice presentation of tabla compositions at this new outdoor festival organised by Radio 4EB's Indian group.
  
  
  
   Mt Gravatt: Murali Ramakrishnan (bansuri), Shrabani Choudhury (sitar), Shen - Then later that same day I joined a Swara Mohini concert featuring two of Brisbane's talented artists.
  
  
  
• Sun 7 Aug Southport: Gold Coast Multicultural Festival - Tabla Tarrango! - My Gold Coast students Thejan, Siva and Arun were joined by Darshil Shah giving naghma on bansuri.
  
  
  
• Fri 26 Aug BEMAC: Rajyashree Josyer (Carnatic vocal) - part of BEMAC's Singout Sista series of women in world music, featuring the former Brisbane resident Carnatic exponent.
  
  
  
• Sat 27 -Sun 28 Aug Nimbin: Soul ~ Sangeeta - Shivam Rath and friends - Yuki and I joined Shivam Rath (Indian slide guitar) and Jolanda Moyle (sarangi) for evening and morning concerts of Dhrupad and instrumental Hindustani classical music. I got the pakhawaj out for my first concert! It was also Yuki's first proper concert without a babysitter since being a mother, and our 3 year old daughter Saraswati was so good, lying down quietly behind her on the stage!
  
  

SEPTEMBER 2016

• Sat 3 Sep BEMAC: Sangeet Mela 2016 - The third Sangeet Mela was headlined by Pt Shubhendra Rao (sitar) and Smt Saskia Rao-de Haas (cello) with Sri Zuheb Ahmed Khan (tabla) and was certainly the best and most consistent yet. Read the full report here.
  
  
  
  
• Sun 4 Sep Oxley: Sangeet Mela 2016 Workshops - The fantastic Sangeet Mela international artists gave very enjoyable workshops in tabla, raga, and bowed instruments.
   
• Sat 17 Sep Mt Gravatt: Smt Sunita Tikare (Hindustani vocal) - senior disciple of late Smt Kishori Amonkar, Sunita-ji will be performing at Sangeet Mela 2017!
  
  
  Smt Sunita Tikare with the usual Brisbane vocal accompaniment team of Shen and Joseph.

OCTOBER 2016

• Sat 8 Oct Peregian: Spirit of Bhakti - a small fun concert, before which we had this and several other photos taken:
  
  
  
• Sun 9 Oct Westlake: Navaratri home concert by Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School - a small devotional event at the home of my senior student Sanjey Sivaananthan, featuring Murali Ramakrishnan and Darshil Shah both on bansuri.
  
  
  
• Sat 15 Oct Holland Park: Sangeet Premi Club presents Sangeet Mehfil - An evening of old Bollywood songs with Indian classical bases, featuring Usha Chivukula and Mansey Kinarivala on vocals.
   
• Sun 16 Oct Introduction to Dhrupad ~Ancient Indian Vocal Workshop~ - with Yuki Taniguchi Flindell (I played a bit of pakhawaj).
   
• Fri 21 Oct Spirit of Bhakti played on a boat in the Brisbane River, as part of a demo series of yoga and exercise classes in a Fitness and Health Expo.
  
  
  Yes I played tabla here.
   
• Sat 29 Oct New Farm: Infinity Kathak presents: 7 Beats and Bells - One of the biggest and best productions I've ever been involved with - Dr Helena Joshi led a huge Kathak dance show at the Judith Wright Centre, with a fantastic ensemble of musicians: Shen Flindell (tabla), Mansey Kinarivala Gandhi (vocal), Darshil A. Shah (bansuri), Richard Grantham (viola), Monique Bartkowiak (cello) and Shreyas Niwas (drumkit). After Helena's student performances and some musical interludes, the main feature "7 Beats and Bells" presented traditional Kathak dance in Rupak taal in a fusion with Western accompaniment of viola, cello and drumkit. We worked very hard over several months and it was quite a success. I felt the Kathak tabla nut starting to crack for me and at last started getting a freer feeling and understanding of how to interpret Kathak compositions on the tabla. Thanks Helena! More photos at the Infinity Kathak Facebook album.
  
  

NOVEMBER 2016

• Sat 19 Nov Bulimba: Spirit of Bhakti - A beautiful evening at Inna Bliss Yoga in Bulimba. Unfortunately there aren't many photos of Spirit of Bhakti shows because everyone is blissing out in the dim lighting.
   
• Fri 25 Nov BEMAC and Tenzin Choegyal Present World Music Café: Himalayan Film Festival featuring Short Films + Tibet2Timbuk2 - Some wonderful short films and some wonderful music. We welcomed Richard Grantham on viola, who I met through the 7 Beats and Bells Kathak show. You'll see his face appearing here in a few different projects - a very talented man.
  
  
  Tibet2Timbuk2 - Shen, Tenzin, Marcello, Richard

DECEMBER 2016

• Sat 3 Dec Samford: High Vibes in the Valley - Spirit of Bhakti and Andy Copeman - A dark stormy evening in hills of Samford, enjoying the beautiful sounds of these two healing music acts.
   
• Sun 4 Dec Oxley: Introduction to Dhrupad ~Ancient Indian Vocal Workshop~ - a bit of pakhawaj for me.