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

Yasuhiro Minamizawa in Ayabe

Ah, Japan! Wonderful culture, food, and so many devoted Indian classical musicians. It's hot sticky summertime in Kyoto, a welcome change from my cold house in Brisbane winter.

I've been here a couple of weeks but until now haven't had a chance to blog. I arrived August 21 and will stay until November 3, during which time I'll be playing concerts around Kansai, Gifu, Nagoya, Tokyo and hopefully Kumamoto in Kyushu!

I spent the first few days in Japan with sitar player Yasuhiro Minamizawa, a very experienced musician who I invited to play in the 2006 Ashu-Babu Memorial Concert in Varanasi.

On the first night we played a little show at Shimi Murasaki ("Purple Stain") in Kyoto city, an alternative arts cafe where we followed an analog synth player and a ukulele player. :-) Unusual setting but I love playing with Minamizawa-san anywhere. He played Raag Puriya Dhanashree.

On the second night we played in Ayabe, a town in the north of Kyoto Prefecture, thanks to my tabla friend Kousuke Matsumoto who organised the concert. The setting was beautiful and the music was very powerful. Raag Marwa was a 1 in a 100 performance - one of those rare moments where everything comes together and the mood is magical. It was followed by Raag Yaman and a Mishra Pilu Dhun.

Minamizawa-san telling the audience he thinks I look like Charlton Heston. :-)

Deep inside Raag Marwa

After the concert we stayed at Kousuke's parents house and discussed the mystical nature of music, the primacy of mood above technicalities and the "moment being the keyhole to god," until late in the night.

Kousuke's father's garden in Ayabe