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

5 days, 4 concerts and a picnic

It's the busy end of my Japan tour. My time in Japan is coming to a close but it's going to a new place every day from here on it seems!

Some photos from last 5 days: 4 concerts and a picnic!

Thursday: Kyoto

Thanks to Christophe Rossi and Ayumi for hosting me in Shiga this week.
Their loungeroom, my tabla.

I played with Tadao Ishihama at Mandala Party @ Hati Hati Indonesian Restaurant in Kyoto. Unfortunately for us the sound system and room acoustics weren't well suited to sitar and tabla. I've been loving my tabla sound especially this week, so this was a bit of a downer. Anyway - true professionals, I think we put on a good show.

Mandala & the Tribe @ Hati Hati. Unfortunately Tadao & I had to get back to Osaka so we couldn't stay for Amadoo and Pese Pese (African music).

Friday: Osaka

Performing with Tadao at WORLD　MUSIC　LIVE vol.1 in Osaka. The event was held in a centre for Okinawan culture (hence all the bottles of awamori behind us). Thanks to friends Kazumi and Nobi for coming along! :-)

In Osaka, this is called "blending in"


Saturday: Kyoto

The stage for our concert at Zuiren-ji temple, Kyoto

The altar at Zuiren-ji

Christophe Rossi @ Zuiren-ji.
This was a beautiful concert - lovely setting, many friends, and Christophe's sweet and sincere sitar playing. Thanks again to Christophe, Ayumi and also to Asai-san of Zuiren-ji.

Sunday: Kyoto, night-bus

It was my good friend and old tabla student Alex' birthday and we had a picnic up near Shugakuin Dam in north-east Kyoto. Lots of cute half-Japanese kids.

Monday: Kyushu

I took the night bus to Kyushu and arrived in Kokura, North Kyushu at 6am Monday morning for a concert that night with Hide Iwai. We have 4 more concerts later this week.

Performing with Hide Iwai @ Brick Hall in Moji, North Kyushu

We were joined by Takuya, a final year high school student and Beatles lover. He sang "Rain" and "In My Life" - nice selection, ne.

Hide, post-gig
Brick Hall is a very stylish yet relaxing cafe-bar-live house in the port area of Moji, North Kyushu, in a renovated old beer brewery built of red-brick. Lots of comfy sofas and loads of space. The building reminded me a bit of Calcutta and the interior was reminiscent of Australia. Thanks to Kamura-san for hosting us!

Coming Up: The rest of my Kyushu tour with Hide, another temple concert in Kyoto with Christophe, return to Australia via Tokyo and Bangkok, and visits to Sydney and Melbourne.

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