Moving my blog over to shawnmativetsky.com

Dear friends,

With the recent update of my website, I now have the ability to integrate the blog directly into the website, so that is what I am doing; it just makes sense. I will no longer be posting updates here. Thank you to all of you for your interest in my musical adventures. Please click along to my website for the continuation of this blog in the future! If you would like to update your RSS subscription, this is the new RSS URL: http://shawnmativetsky.com/blogs/blog.atom

I hope to see you over at shawnmativetsky.com!

Shawn

Thursday 27 December 2007

Lahara alternatives

Hi everyone,

For the tabla players and kathak dancers out there, we all know how hard it is to find good lahara accompaniment outside of India. Many of us practice with Nagma machines, or computers playing back MIDI files that loop melodies for us to practice with. Ideally, we'd all have sarangi players for hire, but we don't. As an alternative to the above methods, I recently came across these links on chandrakantha.com's Indian music forums:

Sarangi lahara: http://www.kritiarts.com/lehra.htm (available for purchase at 5$ per lahara)
Harmonium lahara: http://www.riyazmala.com/htm/lehera_sathi.htm (300 Rs per CD)

Both sites have free samples available for download.

And of course, there's always the free TaalPulse software - http://taalpulse.sourceforge.net/

Happy holidays!

Thursday 6 December 2007

Recent performances (November/December)

Hi everyone,

It seems like it has been a while since my last update. I've had a few concerts lately that I've neglected to post here, so here's a quick roundup (sorry, no photos!):

November 17 - ICM with Aditya Verma at the Freedom From Poverty Foundation Fundraiser
On November 17, I was fortunate to perform with the extremely talented sarod player, Aditya Verma, at the Freedom From Poverty Foundation's annual fundraiser. The Foundation is raising funds to start up a hospital in U.P. (India). The event was well attended, and the FFPF is surely a large step closer to reaching their goal.

December 1 - Galitcha at the Canadian Folk Music Awards
Galitcha performed at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, held at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau (just across the river from Ottawa). We had a great time performing, and it was great to see and hear some of the other musicians who were in attendance.

December 4 - McGill Tabla Ensemble
The advanced class of the McGill Tabla Ensemble performed a tabla soli in Teentaal, with harmonium accompaniment. The performance included a composed bhumika and uthan, a few moharas, followed by a kaida, a rela, and a few tukras. The audience response was great, and we're looking forward to our full-length concert in March.

Also, coming up tomorrow:
Friday, December 7 at 9:00pm (Free yoga class at 8pm)
A performance of Indian classical music by Surtaal (Nicholas Williams, bansuri and myself on tabla), followed by storytelling and poetry by Mathieu Lippé. We'll conclude the evening with some bhajans.

Studio Bliss
3841 Saint-Laurent
Montreal, Qc
Info / reservations: (514) 286-0007
Admission: 15$