The Return of the Attar Project

You may have noticed that since the release of The Road Ahead, and a few launch concerts in the Toronto area, the Attar Project has unfortunately been somewhat quiet. Parmela (Attariwala; violinist) was completing work on her PhD, and so had limited time available for performing. Now that she has completed her PhD (congrats!), we're back in action! Last Wednesday, we performed a concert of Canadian works for violin and tabla at the Espace Cercle Carré in Old Montreal.

First on the program was Paul Frehner's Oracle, composed for violin with congas and bongos, which I'm not sure the piece has actually ever been played on! When I first heard the piece premiered by violinist Nadia Francavilla, with D'Arcy Gray on percussion, D'Arcy played the piece on frame drum. That's what gave me the idea that the piece might work well on tabla, and it does! It's a high energy, technically difficult piece (especially the violin part), which works really nicely as an overture of sorts.

Next was Meiro Stamm's The Melody of Rhythm. This piece combines aspects of Mozart's style, with North Indian tabla drumming vocabulary. Yes; Mozart and tabla! The multi-movement work presents variations on the principal theme, through varying time signatures - 2, 3, 5, and 7. We then followed this with Nicole Rampersaud's The Road Ahead... which is principally improvised, via conceptual instructions and fixed structure with certain melodic and harmonic motives being specified by the composer.

We ended the first half with Christien Ledroit's Never the Twain Shall Meet, for violin, tabla, and fixed media (pre-recorded electronics). The composer's alter-ego as a punk guitarist is certainly evident in this piece, as kaida-palta in Jhaptaal are accompanied by distorted guitars and other processed sounds. A nice way to end the first half with a bang! Coincidentally, all the pieces in the first part appear on our CD, The Road Ahead.

Parmela opened the second half with her solo dance piece, Frank, in which she dances while playing the violin, accompanied by a very subtle, eerie backing track of bowed temple bowls and crotales. Her movements are slow and deliberate, swaying back and forth like a blade of grass.

I then followed with a short tabla solo in Teentaal, perhaps around 10 minutes long. I opened with uthaan, and played a famous Benarsi bant through subdivisions of 4-5-6-7-8, and then into a rela. I concluded with a few of my favourite tukras. I'm definitely looking forward to playing a more extended solo, hopefully some time soon!

We ended the concert with the now classic LA, by Robert Rosen. Fortunately for us, Robert now lives in Ottawa, and so was able to attend the concert. It's always a pleasure to have one of the composers in the audience, and especially one so enthusiastic about our performance of his music! 

Looking forward to the next concert!

Thanks to Caroline for the photos!

Cycles Review in The WholeNote

Today I was really happy to learn that Cycles got a glowing review from Andrew Timar in Toronto's The Wholenote. Click here to read the review.

As always, Cycles is available for purchase here, and is also downloadable via iTunes.

Some Photos from the Cycles CD Launch

The new CD!
Photo: Ana Desmond

The CD launch for my new album, Cycles, was held this past November 14 at the Mysore Indian restaurant on Saint-Laurent, Montreal. The event was quite well attended, and I was especially happy that composer Bruno Paquet was in attendance. I performed three pieces from the CD - Paul Frehner's Ke-Te, Bruno Paquet's Les arbres célestes, and Christien Ledroit's Trade Winds (electronic version). Thank you to Bill and Avery from ombu for their hard work in organizing the launch!

Photo: Caroline Tabah

Thanking the crowd for coming out.
Photo: Caroline Tabah

Playing SABIAN Resonating Bells during Trade Winds
Photo: Caroline Tabah

I am very happy to report that so far the album have received two press reviews, from Le Devoir, and from the Bharat Times, and both were very positive! Click here to listen to a clip of the title track from the CD (compressed for the web), Christien Ledroit's Trade Winds, a concerto for tabla with string orchestra, featuring the Windsor Symphony Orchestra.

Photo: Ana Desmond

Announcing the Cycles CD Launch Event - November 14!

Dear friends, 

After 10 years of collaborating with Canadian composers, and one year of preparations and recording, Cycles is finally ready for release! The release event will be on Monday, November 14, and you are all invited! Below is a copy of the press release from the label, ombu productions.

ombú productions, inc., is thrilled to announce the release of Cycles, Shawn Mativetsky’s latest CD of new music for tabla. Over the past decade, Shawn Mativetsky – percussionist, composer and educator – has been working to combine his dual backgrounds in both Western and Indian classical music by commissioning new music for the tabla. The resulting works draw their inspiration from Western and Indian music in varying degrees, and reflect the personalities and approaches of the individual composers. Cycles features new works for tabla from Canadian composers Paul Frehner, Jim Hiscott, Christien Ledroit, Nicole Lizée, and Bruno Paquet and features guest performances by the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, directed by Brian Current, as well as Marie-Hélène Breault on flute, Catherine Meunier on vibraphone, and Xenia Pestova on harmonium.

Credit: Scott Webster / Windsor Star

Disciple of Pandit Sharda Sahai of the Benares gharana of tabla, Shawn Mativetsky is highly sought after as a versatile tabla artist. As an ensemble musician, Shawn Mativetsky performs regularly with violinist Parmela Attariwala's cross-cultural Attar Project, Indian-fusion ensemble Ragleela, and the Indian-folk group Galitcha. Shawn has performed numerous solo recitals, spanning Canada, the United States, England, and India. He has been featured in series such as the Windsor Canadian Music Festival, New Music in New Spaces, Groundswell, Festival Montréal Baroque, Jusqu’aux Oreilles, Evolutions, Voyages: Montréal-New York, Festival International du Domaine Forget, New Works Calgary, Music Toronto, and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. As a practitioner of Indian classical music, Shawn regularly gives solo tabla performances, as well as accompanying kathak dance, voice, bansuri, sarod, santoor, and sitar artists. Cycles is Shawn’s second solo disc; his first, Payton MacDonald: Works for Tabla, was released in 2007.

CD launch, Monday, November 14, 2011, at Mysore Indian Cuisine, 4216 St-Laurent Blvd., from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. Shawn Mativetsky will be performing works from Cycles, after which he will be available to meet the public and members of the press, and to sign CDs.

Cycles - CD release coming soon!

Cycles is the culmination of over ten years of collaborating with Canadian composers, creating a new repertoire for tabla that combines elements of Indian classical and Western classical music. The resulting works draw their inspiration from Western and Indian music in varying degrees, and reflect the personalities and approaches of the individual composers. Cycles features new works for tabla from Canadian composers Paul Frehner, Jim Hiscott, Christien Ledroit, Nicole Lizée, and Bruno Paquet and features guest performances by the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, directed by Brian Current, as well as Marie-Hélène Breault on flute, Catherine Meunier on vibraphone, and Xenia Pestova on harmonium. The CD is being released on the ombu productions label, and will be available on October 14.

The pieces on the CD are:

Elementalities, for flute, vibraphone, and tabla, by Christien Ledroit

Metal Jacket, for tabla and harmonium, by Nicole Lizée

Les arbres célestes, for tabla and pre-recorded tape, by Bruno Paquet

Shadow Play, for flute and tabla, by Jim Hiscott

Ke-Te, for solo tabla, by Paul Frehner

Trade Winds, concerto for tabla with string orchestra, by Christien Ledroit

Producing this CD has been quite a journey for me. It represents ten years of new music for tabla, and the CD project itself took over one year to complete. The chamber music pieces were recorded in September and October 2010, and the tabla concerto with the WSO was recorded in February 2011 by the CBC.

Performing Christien Ledroit's Trade Winds, concerto for tabla, with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra
Photo credit: Scott Webster, Windsor Star

Many thanks to all who collaborated with me on this special project! I will post links to purchase the CD once it becomes available.