Woodford 2017 with Taro, Saikat, Namita, Tenzin, and Tabla Tarrango!

There was a wonderful varied programme of Indian classical music at Woodford 2017, featuring Namita Mehta (vocalist based in Singapore), Taro Terahara (bansuri player based in Japan), Saikat Bhattacharya (locally based sitarist), and my tabla student group Tabla Tarrango! As usual I also got to play a few times with Tibetan vocalist Tenzin Choegyal, always a lovely time. Taro and I were asked to join a short performance in the Amphitheatre in the leadup to the 1130pm new year's eve silence, an amazing experience seeing a sea of candles and so many silent people. In all I had 15 performances at the festival - my personal record, overtaken the following year in 2018.

Jugalbandi by Saikat Bhattacharya (sitar) and Taro Terahara (bansuri)

Rehearsing for New Year's Eve pre-silence Amphitheatre show.

Tabla Tarrango (Shen, Ishaaq, Rhea, Bipro, Sivamsan) with special guest Taro giving naghma.

Prayer Wheel concert with Tenzin and Taro (sound check).

New Year's Dawn Hilltop concert

First sunrise of 2018

Tenzin and friends at Blue Lotus

  

Namita Mehta (vocal) with accompaniment by Taro and Shen

Taro and I got asked to do a little recording in Brown Dog's caravan. There's a video floating around somewhere....

Tibet2Timbuk2 at Dhaka International Folk Festival

The first week of November 2017 was quite a time of widely varying high quality musical experiences for me. On the first weekend I had a lovely show at a meditation retreat in beautiful Numinbah Valley with devotional vocal group Spirit of Bhakti, immediately followed by a quick drive to Brisbane to accompany Kathak guru Smt Prerana Deshpande, and the next morning flew to Sydney to take the chance for darshan and lessons with my tabla guru Pt Pooran Maharaj, while he was in the country.

That first weekend didn't touch the novelty of the following week, in which I got to fly to Dhaka, Bangladesh, to perform with Tibetan vocalist Tenzin Choegyal and his band Tibet2Timbuk2, in front of 40000 people at the Bangladesh Army Stadium! Tenzin had been invited by Dhaka International Folk Festival and was able to invite myself, guitarist Marcello Milani, and bansuri player Taro Terahara from Japan to gather in Dhaka and put on the biggest show of our lives!

Sound checking

A bit of sightseeing - Bangladesh Parliament

Panorama from a friend's rooftop.

Time with Kathak Guru Smt Prerana Deshpande

In Oct/Nov 2017 I got a golden opportunity to spend some time with Kathak dance guru Smt Prerana Deshpande, who had been invited to Brisbane by her talented disciple Dr Helena Joshi to give workshops to Helena's students and a performance entitled Kathak - An Exploration of Time, Space and Energy at Queensland Multicultural Centre. Rehearsing and performing with such a great master of Kathak dance was a huge experience for me and I learnt a lot about accompanying Kathak dance. Prerana-ji just carries so much of the soul of Kathak with her, a demonstration of a composition by her carries so much more weight and meaning and is so much more easily understood, in comparison with other less learned Kathak dancers I have worked with. Many thanks to Prerana-ji for so many lessons, and to Helena for giving me and the other musicians the opportunity.

Accompanying Dr Helena Joshi: Shen Flindell (tabla), Smt Prerana Deshpande (padhant), Dr Mansey Kinarivala (vocal), Darshil Shah (bansuri), Richard Grantham (viola).

All the team after the show (musicians as above plus Sudha Manian - sitar)

Event flyer

Taro Terahara on tour (post Sangeet Mela 2017)

Following Sangeet Mela 2017, we had a little tour with featured international artist Taro Terahara, the amazing bansuri player from Japan who can not only play fantastic Indian classical bansuri solo but can accompany in a multitude of styles, perhaps most famously now his accompaniment of Tibetan vocalist Tenzin Choegyal. (I'm now catching up on blogging events almost two years back...!)

At first Taro went on his own little tour with slide guitarist Shivam Rath, which kicked off in Byron on Sun 3 Sep with Soul Sangeet Vol.7, also featuring myself on tabla and Mico Sundari on vocals.

Once Taro got back from his adventures with Shivam, he joined Tenzin Choegyal and myself for concerts in central NSW and around Brisbane.

15-17 Sep Kempsey, Wauchope, Uralla: Tenzin, Taro and Shen on tour

Kempsey sound check

Wauchope

Thu 21 Sep Woombye: For Tibet with Love - Tenzin, Taro, Shen

Thanks to Pat and Sim for hosting us in Woombye.

Fri 22 Sep Mullumbimby: For Tibet with Love - Tenzin, Taro, Shen

Sat 23 Sep Queen St Mall - Tenzin, Taro, Shen

: BEMAC: Tenzin, Taro, Shen

Sun 24 Sep Brisbane Powerhouse: Tenzin, Taro, Shen

Thanks to Yuriko Terahara for all these photos...

Sangeet Mela 2017 official report

(via Sangeet Mela...)

Saturday 2nd September 2017 saw the Indian classical music lovers of Brisbane and around Australia gathering at Queensland Multicultural Centre for Sangeet Mela 2017, the 4th edition of this wonderful celebration of Indian classical music and dance.

The first session opened with a Kathak dance performance by Rising Star Award winner Ku Sheena Rinky Bala, a senior disciple of Brisbane’s leading Kathak dance guru Smt Namita Debroy. Rinky was accompanied by a live ensemble featuring Sri Shen Flindell (tabla), Smt Namita Debroy (padhant), Smt Usha Chivukula (vocal), Sri Joseph Nand (harmonium), and Sri Darshil Shah (bansuri). (VIDEO)

Ku Sheena Rinky Bala (Kathak dance) with live ensemble

The second Rising Star Award winner performance for 2017 was Carnatic vocal by Ku Madhuvanthi Muralidharan, with accompaniment by Sri Aswin Narayanan (violin) and Sri Balaram Ramagiri (mridangam). (VIDEO)

We are very proud of our Rising Star Award winners and our tradition of recognising young talent in these challenging Indian classical arts. We hope that the experience of performing at Sangeet Mela encourages them to continue their studies and practice, and look forward to many more great performances as these young artists mature.

Platinum sponsor Sri Sairam Kannaian of Yoga King presents the Rising Star Awards to Ku Madhu Murali (Carnatic vocal) and Ku Sheena Rinky Bala (Kathak dance), with Sangeet Premi Club secretary Smt Usha Chivukula and Sangeet Mela festival director Sri Shen Flindell.

The afternoon session concluded with a tabla solo recital by Sri Simranjit Singh, presenting compositions of the Punjab Gharana, with accompaniment by Sri Joseph Nand (harmonium) and Sri Darshil Shah (bansuri). (VIDEO)

After a break for snacks, stretching legs and chatting with fellow music lovers, the audience reconvened for the sunset session, commencing with a beautiful bansuri recital with a leading Indian classical artist from Japan, Sri Taro Terahara, with accompaniment by Sri Maharshi Raval (tabla – Sydney) and Taro-ji’s wife Smt Yuriko Terahara (tanpura). (VIDEO)

Brisbane-based Bharatanatyam star performer and guru, Smt Padmalakshmi Sriram, delighted the audience with her dance presentation along with her daughter Ku Shivani Sriram. (VIDEO)

The sunset session concluded with a sarod recital by Sri Rahul Bhattacharya (Melbourne) with accompaniment by Sri Simranjit Singh (tabla). (VIDEO)

The dinner break was the smoothest ever with everyone getting their fill of a delicious buffet meal very quickly. Many congratulations to Murali Ramakrishnan and his team for this improvement in the Sangeet Mela experience.

The late session opened with our international star of Hindustani vocal, Smt Sunita Tikare (Mumbai), with accompaniment by Sri Maharshi Raval (tabla – Sydney) and Sri Joseph Nand (harmonium). Sunita is a senior disciple of Late Vidushi Kishori Amonkar and the audience were entranced by her renditions of compositions made famous by her esteemed guru-ji. (VIDEO)

At last the grand finale arrived, Carnatic Saraswathi veena by Smt Nirmala Rajasekar (Chennai/USA), with accompaniment by Sri Murugaboopathi (mridangam) and Sri Ganesh Prasad (violin). The virtuosity and musicality of all three artists was just brilliant. (VIDEO)

After another epic journey through the various styles of Indian classical music and dance, we eagerly await the next instalment of Sangeet Mela. The organisers would like to extend our deepest gratitude to all our supporters: the sponsors, audience, volunteers, performers and organising committee members.

Cast and crew of Sangeet Mela 2017

Photos by Randhawa Media and Brian Sullivan (click on links for the full photo albums by each photographer).

Sangeet Mela 2017 was supported by platinum sponsor Yoga King, the Lord Mayor’s Suburban Initiative Fund via The Gabba Ward, silver sponsors Sahaja Yoga Meditation, Homeopathy for Health (Rukmani Paliwal), and Sitar Restaurant, and exclusive media sponsors Brisbane Indian Times and Australian Indian Radio. It was organised by EthnoSuperLounge in conjunction with Sangeet Premi Club.

10th Annual Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School Concert

On the day before Guru Purnima ("Guru's full moon"), 8th July 2017 we held our 10th annual tabla school concert at Queensland Multicultural Centre (aka BEMAC). I think we stepped up to another level of maturity in our presentation this year - we had less items overall so it was quite a snappy programme, and each item was well planned and performed. A lot of students who were "intermediate" last year are now becoming "advanced", so the final tabla group performance was bigger than ever with 7 students performing a taal mala. Overall 21 of my students performed along with beautiful guest artists Ananya Murali (vocal) and Anju Ketheeswaran (sitar). We were honoured for our 10th annual concert with the presence of the Honorary Indian Consul Dr Archana Singh, as well as our number one supporter over the years, Mr Umesh Chandra of Brisbane Indian Times.

As always big thanks to our regular sponsors Brisbane Indian Times and our stalwart harmonium accompanist Joseph Nand. Thanks to Jesinthan Ketheeswaran and Shantini Ganesh for managing the whole event, to Vasuki Sivaananthan for coordinating the meals, to Brian Sullivan for the photographs, to all the students and parents for their tireless efforts, and to all the other supporters who came along to listen.

NEW: Please visit our Facebook page for videos of this event, including short sweet highlights video.

Opening bhajan by Ananya Murali, with accompaniment by Jesinthan Ketheeswaran

Beginner students: L to R from back - Keshav, Aarav, Pyara, Rohan, Enan, Ali

"Juniors" group included Guhanesh and Saurabh

Also in juniors group: Aarav and Rishab. Not pictured: Aditya and Ashwin

Varun Lal was my best student back in 2008, when he had a tragic car accident which left him unable to use his left side. He has been learning tabla again for the last few years and is doing great.

Seniors group: Arun, Siva (not pictured), Sivamsan, Ayngaran, Bipro, Ishaaq, Rhea.
They presented a "Taal Mala", with different sub-groups presenting Jhaptaal (10), Rupak (7), Ektaal (12) before all coming together for tukaras and tihais in Teentaal (16).

Hats off to our harmonium accompanist all night, every year: Sri Joseph Nand.

Anjuha Ketheeswaran presented a short sitar recital with accompaniment by her brother, my senior student Jesinthan Ketheeswaran.

VIP guest, Honorary Indian Consul Dr Archana Singh

VIP guest and chief sponsor: Mr Umesh Chandra (Brisbane Indian Times)
Presentation of certificates to all the students.

I presented tabla solo in Jhaptaal (10 matras), for the 10th annual concert. Last year I played Basant Taal (9) and next year I plan to play Char Taal ki Sawari (11).