Video: Shen + Junichi in Kyoto

My friend Christopher Fryman has recently uploaded video of myself with sitar player Junichi Osako performing at the Shanti Nilayam event @ Gaea, Kyoto...

The Road To GAEA - Some Indian Music

Honen-in, Shanti Nilayam @ Gaea, Nagoya

Last Thursday I attended the concert of Kenji Inoue and Susanta Banerjee at the beautiful Honen-in Temple in Kyoto:

The stage for the concert in Honen-in

Susanta Banerjee (tabla) and Kenji Inoue (sitar)

Some photos from the Shanti Nilayam event at Gaea in Kyoto on my 35th birthday last Saturday. It was a beautiful day, lovely weather, lots of old and new friends. Thanks to Yasu Fujibayashi for organising and to all the musicians and friends who came.

The stream next to Gaea

AUX performing at Gaea

Eric Mandala and Toyo

Thai Massage space @ Gaea

Mitsuru (tabla) and Kazuma (sitar)

Amadoo inside Gaea

Shen (tabla), Yasu (sarod), Shuhei (sitar), Yuji (tabla)

Shen and Junichi

Ashwini Kumar Mishra ("Chintu") and Hiro Minamizawa

Shanti Nilayam finale: Shen and Jimi-san

On Monday I had a concert in Nagoya with Jimi-san and sitar player Koki Yoshida. Due to the presence of sitar player Amit Roy in Nagoya, there are many students of Indian classical music there. The audience for this concert was particularly nice, showing sincere appreciation at all the right moments.

Shen, Jimi-san (santoor), Koki Yoshida (sitar) at Cafe Dufi in Nagoya

Videos of Shen & Taro in Varanasi

I've just heard that sitar Nick posted these videos with Taro & I in Varanasi earlier this year:

Ashu Babu Memorial Concert clips


Taro & Shen in Kashika, Varanasi


Short clips of a concert at Munna House
This vid is really dark, but you can hear something...

Kyoto - 3 concert reports

Some photos from last weekend, where I attended 2 concerts in Kyoto City on Friday, and then had my own concert with Hiro Minamizawa in Ayabe City, north Kyoto Prefecture...

Echoes of the Ganga
The first concert was Tim Hoffman's Echoes of the Ganga Tour tour, bringing together talented musicians from Varanasi and Allahabad with various traditional Japanese musicians around the country. The Kyoto concert was held in a lecture room at Shuchiin University, a Buddhist university in south Kyoto. The collaborative part of this concert involved a little dabbling by the Indian musicians (especially the sarangi player) while the monks did their chanting. I believe other concerts in the tour worked with "renowned artists of shamisen, biwa, shakuhachi" in other concerts - I hope the collaborations were more successful in those events. Anyhow, it was nice to see the boys from Varanasi - I know Amit and Sandeep personally - and to listen to some Indian classical vocal music.

Echoes of the Ganga Tour with Shuchiin University Monks.
Stage: From L to R: Amit Mishra (tabla), Rishi Mishra (vocal), Sandeep Mishra (sarangi), T. M. Hoffman (shakuhachi), Sakiko Hoffman (tamboura).

Vidyadhar Prasad Mishra (vocal) performing at Shuchiin University.

Concert Tour from Varanasi

From the afternoon concert, Hiro Minamizawa, his student Chie and I went to an evening concert by Shrabani Choudhury, sitar guru of Hiro and Chie. The concert was held in an art gallery in north-central Kyoto, with a nice garden behind the stage. Most Indian classical events in Kyoto (and many other parts of the country) are held in such traditional Japanese buildings. The atmosphere is very suitable for meditative Indian classical music.

So, 2 concerts in the same city on the same day, featuring musicians from the same city! How about Japan, hey? If you take a look at my Japan events page, you'll see that there's some Indian music somewhere in the country almost every day.

Shrikant Mishra ("Toon-ji Maharaj" - pakhawaj) listens to an especially beautiful alap in Raag Poorvi Dhanashri by Smt. Shrabani Chaudhuri (sitar) in their "Concert Tour from Varanasi" Kyoto concert.

Ayabe, Kyoto countryside
Thanks very much to Hiro Minamizawa for hosting me these few days! The next morning we headed off to Ayabe in the north of Kyoto Prefecture. The weather was lovely for driving. We stopped off at the Ayabe Onsen where we spent about 90 minutes washing and soaking in a variety of natural hot spring baths including a nice outdoor bath with fabulous view, a pungent brown medicinal bath with a bag of herbs floating in it and a refreshing cold tub. Oh what a feeling!

View on the drive to Ayabe

View from near Ayabe Onsen (more pics on the onsen's website)

Shen (tabla) and Yasuhiro Minamizawa (sitar) performing at Ohgiya Kaikotei in Ayabe

Indian classical music is great. Everyone has their own individual flavour, and Minamizawa-san's flavour is very special indeed. So simple yet so emotional. He just plays the raga and goes deep into the mood of that raga. When playing with someone like that, I can forget any thoughts of what to play, and just play. The response from the audience gave some insight into what is special about Hiro Minamizawa. Two women both described visions they had while listening to the music, both involving nature spirits. Another young woman just couldn't stop smiling all night, and kept telling me "honto ni tasuketa" - "your music really really helped me". Afterwards I heard that her best friend had died 2 days earlier.

--- COMMENTS APPRECIATED! :-) ---

Tadao + Shen on TV-Woo (Internet TV)

Part of my recent concert with Tadao Ishihama at Calcutta Night Vol. 39 has been uploaded to TV-Woo, a Japanese internet TV station. The music is Raga Kafi - Gat in Madhya laya teen taal. Check it out here!!!

There's a bit of spoken introduction in Japanese, but Tadao-kun is quite entertaining whether you understand what he's saying or not. Anyway the music starts after a few minutes... (Just to clarify, when you go to the video page, you'll first see a short video of Tadao introducing the event, then a short vid of Tadao introducing sitar, then a long video of our performance.)

During most of the tabla solos, the camera is focused on Tadao-kun... Reminds me of Doordashan's Nikhil Banerjee DVD. :-)

From Tokyo to Osaka

My only Tokyo concert - with Taro Terahara (bansuri) and Takaaki "Maha-kun" Kuno (ghatam) @ Otoya-Kintoki, Tokyo

Calcutta Night Vol. 39 - Shen with Tadao Ishihama (sitar) @ Salon de Amanto, Umeda, Osaka

Tadao and his mother, about to tuck into some of Tadao's delicious Bengali khana - mushroom curry and parathas

Writing to you from Kyoto, old haunt and one of my favourite places in Japan...

I had my only Tokyo concert on Friday, with regular partner Taro Terahara (bansuri) and Takaaki "Maha-kun" Kuno (ghatam - South Indian clay pot) @ world music live house Otoya-Kintoki. Maha-kun has just arrived in Tokyo so Taro invited him to join this concert to introduce him to Tokyo audiences. Unfortunately only 9 people came... Maha-kun played great though; he has a great mood and lovely smile. He can get away with playing topless too! (apparently necessary for full resonance of the ghatam)

6 weeks in one of the largest cities in the world, and only 1 gig... From there to Osaka where I had 2 shows in 1 night and I'll have quite a few gigs in the Kansai area in the next month - the contrast is distinct. I found Tokyo quite cold as a performer this year, only warmed up by the personal warmth of my few good friends there, like Taro & Yuriko, Takasitar, Martine, fellow Benares tabla-wala Tomoki-kun... Thanks guys!

So! OSAKA! You'll often hear people talking about the contrast between Tokyo and Osaka and it particularly struck me this time that Osaka people are so much warmer, more colourful and more easy-going.

Tadao Ishihama plays sitar in the Maihar Gharana (Ravi Shankar) style, but with his own distinctive flavour. He has been playing sitar as long as I've been playing tabla (13 years now) , but he started learning when he was 15! I was really struck by his sound this time - a very beautiful and strong sound, and very exciting style. He has been organising Calcutta Night at Salon de Amanto for a few years now and this was Volume 39. Part of this concert was recorded for an internet TV site - stay tuned for details... [Now uploaded - click here for more info.]

After Calcutta Night we went to play at the private party of a rich gentleman in an expensive Japanese restaurant. Our host was a very nice and quite cool gent, and provided loads of delicious food and drinks for all. When I commented on the deliciousness of the maguro (tuna) sashimi, a big plate of it came, which Tadao later told me would probably have cost about 50000 yen - that's about $A600. After dinner we played for about 15 minutes, and we not only received a decent payment but also a very fine 2 litre bottle of shochu (Japanese spirits, this one made from sweet potato). Kya bat hai!

Coming up this week: On the 16th I have a concert with Hiro Minamizawa, who I played with in Varanasi in the 2006 Ashu Babu Memorial Concert. We'll be playing in the North Kyoto countryside town of Ayabe.

--- PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT ---

Farewell Greenhouse, Dance of Shiva in Izu

Thanks so much to my host of the last month, Chris Case, a wonderful man and a good friend. Having had only one concert in May, I had a lot of spare time to fill and The Greenhouse was a great place to spend it. Lots of gardening, visits to onsens, late night philosophical discussions and documentaries and a fair bit of time on the internet too (please visit my new website!).

The Greenhouse - farewell to my home of the last month...

Chris and I drove along with friends Azusa and Mari to the Dance of Shiva event in Izu. I was really excited about this drive because the route looped right around Mount Fuji. I'd have a photo for you here except that Fuji-san was completely shrouded in clouds - pretty usual apparently. The peak poked out for about 10 minutes at one stage. Anyway, I can say that it's bloody big and conical.

Dance of Shiva : Takashi Kougo (esraj) and Junzo Tateiwa (tabla)

Setsuo "Jimi" Miyashita (santoor) and U-K-O Segawa (tabla)

Taro Terahara (bansuri) and Shen Flindell (tabla)

Koro Ito (sitar) and Dinesh Chandra (tabla)

The folks dancing on the final morning of Dance of Shiva

I've just gotten back to Taro's place after the weekend in Izu, a peninsula several hours south-west of Tokyo where Taro & I were performing at the descriptively titled "Dance of Shiva: Travel of Indian mind effect music" party, held in a remote camping ground high up in the mountains of west Izu. It was a fantastic event - combination mini-Sangeet Mela and Indian-influenced trance party. There were four pairs of Indian classical music performers (photos and names above), which made for quite a festive gathering at our cottage, and some very nice DJs. I've been to a few bush dance parties in Australia but this was my first in Japan. There was a lot more ambient and mellow music over the 2 days of this party than comparable events in Australia - much more my cup of tea.

After the event a band of us including Taro, Yuriko, tabla player UKO Segawa and wacky Indian music freak Akira (from Kyushu), visited a lovely little onsen perched on cliffs above the bay, dined on some delicious seafood bukkake and then took the long drive back to Tokyo in time to catch a tabla solo by the amazing U-Zhaan (Hiro Yuzawa), easily the best non-Indian tabla player I've ever witnessed.

I'm now resting up at Taro & Yuriko's place and enjoying a few days without gardening. :-)
Unlike May, June and July are looking really busy for me. Taro & I play at Otoya-Kintoki this Friday and then on Saturday I'll be jumping on the shinkansen (bullet train) for Osaka to play 2 concerts in one night with Mr. Action Sitar, Tadao Ishihama. Then June 16 in countryside Kyoto, followed by 13 concerts in 22 days starting from my birthday gig on June 23 in Kyoto. Please visit my new events page for details.

*** Please leave a comment if you got this far! :-) ***

New EthnoSuperLounge Website!!!

Hi folks,

I've been hard at work over the last few weeks on the new version of the EthnoSuperLounge website. Please take a look and let me know your comments.

I know there are problems with the site on Safari (Mac) but hopefully I can get those fixed up in the next week or so.

New features on the site:

• FORUM - Meeting place - Meet other folks with similar interests for jamming, etc
  - Discussions -Discussions about any world music topic
• ESL Shop - Buy CDs from ESL artists, plus tabla and tabla accessories from Shen
  
• Playlists - listen to the best ESL music - look out for the Best Of link on the front page
  
• Tibet2Timbuk2 - New music from the latest ESL world music group, featuring Tenzin Choegyal and Taro Terahara
• Taro in Oz - Info on Taro Terahara's Australian tour, including photos from last year
  
• Shen's Photo Gallery - photos from Australia, Japan, India
• Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School - Tabla lessons in Varanasi, Brisbane and around the world with students of Late Pt. Kaviraj Ashutosh Bhattacharya
• New Links and People pages - re-organised to make it easier to search
• ESL Google Search - search all of the ESL pages (including blogs)
  

I especially encourage Brisbane-region folks to join the Meeting place forum and make a post.

Shizuoka with Dr. Chandrakant Sardeshmukh

Diamonds and Sitar
I've just returned to The Greenhouse after spending the weekend in Shizuoka for a performance with Dr. Chandrakant Sardeshmukh. We were performing at the Century Hotel as part of an exhibition showcasing Indian jewellery, organised by the Taj Group under the auspices of 2007 Indo-Japan Friendship Year. Quite a big do - diamonds everywhere. We played two 10 minute sets, and were followed by an Indian dancer. A bit of fun, a decent wage and a good experience with some nice people - Chandrakant and his wife Pooja. Had a reasonable "Viking lunch" - the Japanese term for a buffet - think Smorgasbord and it makes sense.

Dr. Chandrakant Sardeshmukh

Shen and Dr. Sardeshmukh perform in Shizuoka

Shen in Shizuoka

On the Chuo Line back to Takasitar's place in Hachioji, I became a pillow for both my neighbours. Omoshirokatta. 面白かった。

Kakegawa
Following the concert in Shizuoka City, I caught a local train to Kakegawa City in western Shizuoka, to meet sitar player Nobuo Sugimoto. He is a long-time student of Amit Roy, a major father-figure in Indian classical music in Japan. (Amit Roy is also Taro Terahara's guru-ji.) We had only previously met once, about 3 years ago at a Calcutta Night in Osaka, and I'd never heard him play although I'd heard his reputation. Very nice. I had a great time with him and his wife Shoko. 杉本さんとしょこさん、ありがとうございました！

Takasitar

On the way between Chichibu and Shizoka, I stopped off at my friend Taka Kurihara aka Takasitar in Hachoji. He is also a lovely sitar player and also a good singer, and not only that he's an excellent producer - in fact I like his music so much I'm selling his fantastic CD Jantar Night on my website. Lots of fun practice there, plus some great coffee at his wife Kei's shop, Khazana Coffee. (Actually I don't drink coffee but I want to give them a plug.) たかさんとけいちゃん、ありがとうございました！


COMING UP:
This weekend we're hoping to have a party at the Greenhouse before I leave for various travels around the country. Not sure how many will come though.... Next weekend I've got the Dance of Shiva party in the onsen area of Izu, after which I'll be back at Taro's for a week in Chiba. Then Osaka, Kyoto, Kyushu, Nagasaki, Kyoto, Tokyo,


---- ANY COMMENTS??? ----

Gardening and Fascinating Podcasts

Hi folks,

I'm up here in the hills of Chichibu, Saitama in Japan, at The Greenhouse where I'm staying for most of May with my host Chris Case. I've written quite a bit about The Greenhouse and Chris - check this post from last year, for example. For whatever reason, I have only one paid gig in May (with Dr. Chandrakant Sardeshmukh in Shizuoka) so I'm fortunate to be able to stay at The Greenhouse. As well as enjoying the Japanese countryside atmosphere and Chris' fascinating company, I have the opportunity to receive free food and accommodation in exchange for some work. Rather than staying with friends in Tokyo and taking over their cramped lounge-rooms, I can stay in the spacious Greenhouse and contribute at the same time. I've given Chris some help with website design and sound-system setup, but mainly I've been doing a lot of gardening work.

While pulling weeds, cutting grass and planting basil, I've been listening to some absolutely fascinating podcasts. If you're looking for some interesting listening, allow me to make some recomendations... (Warning - some controversial topics ahead!)

BTW The links on the podcast titles below link to the XML file you use to subscribe to the podcast. Put that link into your podcast aggregator (eg iTunes).

Starting off on the world music side, I've found a few world music podcasts recently, although most of them aren't very regular:

• SF Jazz - not regular, only 4 podcasts all posted last year, but the content is very interesting. Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain talks about his life and in particular his musical influences. I've only heard episode 1 so far - he discusses his childhood with his father, the legendary tabla-master Alla Rakha, Bollywood, The Doors, and starting to find his own style with Hariprasad Chaurasia and Shiv Kumar Sharma.
  
  
• Gongcast - also very irregular, only 2 podcasts in the last year. But you can hear some nice Gamelan there.
  
  
• Global Rhythm - monthly world music program. Very professional format, perhaps a little too mainstream for my liking. As usual with "world music" it's dominated by the more commercially appealing versions like Latin and African. But maybe I shouldn't judge too soon - I've only heard one episode so far.
  
  
• IMC OnAir - Indian Classical Music podcast from Germany. I haven't downloaded any episodes yet, as I already have a lot of what they're podcasting, but it seems this could be a good source of free Indian Classical Music.

Now for the really fascinating stuff. Music is great but I get much more of a buzz out of actually playing it or at least witnessing it live, so I'm enjoying interview and speech-style podcasts a lot more. I've actually been listening to these 3 podcasts for about 6 months, all three related to the possibilities of human consciousness.

• Psychedelic Salon - "Your source for cutting edge information about the exploration and expansion of consciousness. Featured speakers include Terence McKenna, Alex Grey, Daniel Pinchbeck, Erik Davis, Ann and Sasha Shulgin, Nick Sand and more."
  
  Hosted by "the podfather" Lorenzo Hagerty, I first found this podcast while searching for audio from the late great Terence McKenna, psychedelic thinker extraordinaire. Lorenzo is now up to episode 91 and it has been constantly fascinating. There are loads of talks by Terence, plus his Trialogues with Rupert Sheldrake (of the morpho-genetic field theory) and Ralph Abraham (chaos mathematician) where they discuss an enormous range of topics including the technological singularity, development of consciousness on the internet, "Chaos and Imagination", "Skepticism and the Balkanisation of Epistemiology" and so on.
  
  Apart from talks by Terence McKenna, there are a load of other talks and interviews featuring various urban shamans, psychedelic researchers and theorists. My favourite episodes so far have been "080-Pallamary: Adventures of an Urban Shaman" and "081-Siebert: Salvia Divinorum", both of which discuss shamanic experience. Absolutely fascinating. Favourite quote from Matt Pallamary: "The absolute best thing you can do for yourself, and for everybody, for the universe, for the cosmos, for the race, for humanity, truly the absolute best thing you can do for everybody, is to work on yourself and heal yourself. Because when you heal yourself you heal part of the collective, and you begin to realize that everybody around you is a mirror. Because we are all one"
  
  
• C-Realm - "Discussions on topics focused on the coming Vingean Singularity, Entheogenic Exploration, alternative agriculture and Individual Conscious Autonomy."
  
  My favourite episode so far was Episode 28: Building a Better Monster, an interview with Ben Goertzel in which he and host KMO discuss Goertzel's work in developing an artificial general intelligence and then branch off to discuss "kinds of minds; straight-laced and psychedelic, evolved organic and autogenous 'artificial' agents" and sci-fi visualisations of the technological singularity.
  
  
• Dopefiend - "Dopefiend.co.uk is The Web's Favourite Cannabis Podcast Network, supplying a wide variety of programming for every side of the International Cannabis Community."
  
  There are a number of different programs on this podcast, some of which I can take or leave but some are quite entertaining. The "core program" The Dopecast is always good for entertainment value and discussion of "our favourite sacred sacrament". However the fortnightly Psychonautica program is the really interesting program, hosted by C-Realm's KMO along with Max Freakout, it explores similar topics to C-Realm and Psychedelic Salon with a more practical approach.

As a musician, particularly in the realm of spiritual, devotional, transcendental music, I find such discussions on states of consciousness, exploration of metaphysical realms, changing the world for the better, developing creativity etc to be totally absorbing. And as Lorenzo says, "you don't need to be currently using these ancient medicines to have an interest in these topics." [Just to divert those disposed to prejudice...]

I recently had a great conversation with Chris and another musician in which we discussed some metaphysical aspects of music performance. Chris told us that the musician is in the same category as the yoga practitioner, in that we are both seeking for that connection with the Higher Mind (cosmos, God, whatever...). The difference is that the yoga practitioner takes that energy into him/herself, while the musician immediately shares it with everyone present. This makes the path of the musician much riskier, because we have to deal with the risks of ego and fame.

I really believe that this kind of path - that of the musician, the artist, the yogi, the shaman - is the most important work we can be doing for the development of human consciousness.

I'm going to repeat this quote from Matt Pallamary (from this podcast) - it's worth reading at least twice!

"The absolute best thing you can do for yourself, and for everybody, for the universe, for the cosmos, for the race, for humanity, truly the absolute best thing you can do for everybody, is to work on yourself and heal yourself. Because when you heal yourself you heal part of the collective, and you begin to realize that everybody around you is a mirror. Because we are all one"

- Please leave a comment if you got this far :-)

New paintjob for Hilary, the ultimate hippy-van

While I've been in India and Japan, my van Hilary has been in the care of my tabla student Brent. He's just sent me some photos of the new paintjob he's doing. Check it out!

More photos from Golden Week Gathering

Mia & Miki performing Balinese welcome dance @ Greenhouse Golden Week Gathering

Mia & Miki performing Legong Dance

Chris Case plays Bach

Tim Hoffman tuning his swarmandal, used for vocal accompaniment. He also performed Indian classical music on koto (pictured) and shakuhachi.

So the Golden Week Gathering has finished up, but I'll be here for all of May. Started work in the garden yesterday. My next concert is on May 20 with Dr. Chandrakant Sardeshmukh in Shizuoka, however that's not a public event. My next public concert is at the very interesting-looking "Dance of Shiva: Indian music mind effect party" with DJs and live Indian classical music at the hot-spring resort town of Izu, in early June.

Niigata temple concert, Yamaquito Family, Squid-Choco

Hi folks,

Thanks to everyone who's expressed concern about my headache. It's all OK now. After 5 quite intense days leading me to the hospital in Funabashi, it started to subside and 5 days later was basically gone. All well.

I've been having a lovely time with musical friends here in Japan. After a few days at Taro & Yuriko's house, we took a trip to Koide, Niigata, about 300km from Tokyo for a concert in Rin-Sen-An (Forest-Spring-Temple - spring as in fresh water). We were taking part in a yearly ceremony at the temple, and played after the monks performed their rituals including lots of chanting. We were also treated to a magnicifent lunch.

The night before the concert, we stayed at Bon-Jin-san's house - a friend of the organiser who is a trained monk but also works as a chiropractor and healer. During dinner he showed us an incredible video of a 90 minute performance in New York by 1000 Japanese monks, accompanied at times by Japanese flute, taiko drums and a Japanese jazz band consisting of sax, flute, keyboards, marimba, bass and drums. Imagine the cost and logistics of rehearsing and flying that many people to New York!!!

Rin-Sen-An temple in Koide, Niigata

Snowy mountain view in Koide, Niigata

Main altar at Rin-Sen-An

Part of main hall of Rin-Sen-An

Dragon panel at Rin-Sen-An

Ika-Choco (Chocolate coated squid): Found in a service area in Saitama on the way to Niigata. Even Japanese people I mentioned this to thought it was very strange. The sales blurb on the box describes it as "a rare collaboration between two special flavours, creating a new deliciousness." Also available, Ika-Choco-Kare (Chocolate coated curry squid). {Sorry I forgot how to do close-ups at the moment I took this photo.}

After the Niigata concert, we drove to The Greenhouse in Chichibu, about halfway back to Tokyo, for the annual Earthlingz Golden Week Gathering. I talk a little about the event in general in this post, but here are some photos of Yamaquito Flamenco Family from the first night. Before the flamenco performance, Japan's seniormost tabla player Kenji Sakasegawa and I gave a tabla duet performance. I have to say it was the best ever tabla duet I've been involved in, and maybe my best ever tabla solo playing. Kenji-san gives fantastic accompaniment and mood which really got me going well, and the dialogue was fantastic. The fact that we both come from the Benares Gharana of tabla really helped our communication. Kenji Sakasegawa is great!

Likewise, Yamaquito Family were fantastic. Totally professional, and to me it sounded totally Spanish - until they politely said "Arigatou gozaimasu" after each piece. The singing was really great.

Yamaquito Family Flamenco Dance Group

DJ and live performances from the Golden Week Gathering are streaming on live web radio - click here to listen. Live performances are generally from about 10pm (Japan time) or so each night (11pm in Brisbane), maybe a bit later. Please have a listen. If you leave the broadcast running for a while you're more likely to catch us playing or at least some announcements about the schedule.

Comments appreciated...

Live music streaming from Earthlingz Golden Week Gathering

Here at The Greenhouse in Chichibu, a few hours from Tokyo, for the annual Golden Week Gathering. This will be my 3rd Golden Week Gathering and it's always a wonderful event, but this year the lineup of musicians is particularly diverse. Plus as always there'll be cool DJs, delicious food, nice people, visits to local onsens and walks in the forest.

Click here to listen to the Earthlingz Radio live web stream

Please visit here for general info on the event and here for info on the musicians performing. The live schedule is here. The list of performers includes:
Taro Terahara (bansuri)
Kenji Sakasegawa (tabla)
Yamaquito Family (Flamenco Dance & Vocal)
Eric Mandala (various acoustic)
Mia & Miki (Balinese Dance - Legong Kuntul)
Taka Kurihara (sitar/vocal)
Aquilah (Hula & Oriental Dance)
Tim Hoffman (Shakuhachi, Vocal, Koto)
Shen Flindell (tabla)

Friends from all around the world can enjoy the music at this event via the newly set-up Earthlingz Radio live web stream. We are sending out a stream from the mixing console, so you'll hear DJs (mostly playing downtempo and ambient chill music) and in the evenings live music and live-DJ jamming. Please drop me a line with any comments on the stream - whether you're having problems, comments on sound quality and music, etc. I'll warn you in advance that we're currently having a problem with the left-right balance and I don't expect the live sound from the PA to sound particularly hi-fi.

Earth Day + Hospitals: Bangkok vs Tokyo

So I've finally arrived in Japan for another 3 month tour...

Had an interesting conversation with the immigration officer at Narita airport: (NB I'm not supposed to play concerts on a tourist visa, so I wrote "part-time worker" as my occupation.)
"Part-time worker...? What will you do so long-time in Japan?"
"Just visiting my friends."
"Really? Nothing else?"
"Yes, really."
"..... I believe you" (in a tone which said, "I don't believe you, but what can I do?")

Got the tourist visa. And to my surprise, the customs officer didn't fully search my luggage. Usually when I arrive in Japan from India, via Thailand, with my tabla in hand, they're very suspicious... This customs officer just seemed really happy that I could speak Japanese.

I headed off to my old friend Martine's house - lovely place that - dropped my luggage and then headed to Yoyogi Park where the Earth Day festival was going on. I had a rehearsal with Masa (of Mbira Zvakanaka) and Shun for our show the next morning, and then headed to Ogikubo to see my friends Yasu (sarod), Teiju (sitar) and UKO (tabla) giving an Indian classical performance. Lovely stuff.

Playing with Mbira Zvakanaka and Shun @ Earth Day
(Thanks to Martine for the photo - original here)

The show on Sunday morning with Mbira Zvakanaka was quite fun, but unfortunately I couldn't hang around and enjoy Earth Day, as for the last 6 days I've had an almost non-stop headache, and it was just too much. What a pain! As I mentioned last week I've been a bit worried it might be malaria. I had a blood test in Bangkok which came up negative, but apparently if you're not suffering from fever at that moment it will usually be negative.

Yesterday I came to Taro's house and he took me to a hospital to get checked out again. Same result as in Bangkok - no fever, negative for malaria - but here's a brief comparison of the two hospital experiences:
: Bangkok - got pushed around in a wheelchair from arrival to departure;
Tokyo - please take your blood sample down the hall to the testing department yourself
: Bangkok - blood test took about 20 minutes and the whole visit about 1 hour;
Tokyo - blood test took over 1 hour and the whole visit 2 and a half hours
: Bangkok - final bill 1000 baht (about A$40), and I got 4 kinds of medicine for 3 days;
Tokyo - final bill 12000 yen (about A$150), and I got 10 headache tablets.

So the moral of the story is, don't get sick in Japan!

Still got a headache... I'm hoping it will either go away soon or if it is malaria that it will hurry up and make me feverish so that I can get on with fixing it!

Coming up for me this week: Thursday morning rehearsal with Dr. Chandrakant Sardeshmukh, Sunday workshop and concert with Taro Terahara in Niigata, then from Monday I'll be at the Greenhouse in Chichibu, enjoying the Golden Week Gathering with a host of DJs and musicians including sitar, tabla, Indian vocal, shakuhachi, koto, Flamenco dance and Balinese dance!!! (My Japan tour schedule is here.)

Please leave a comment if you've gotten this far. :-)