Mill Race Festival with Galitcha

Another late posting - This past July 30 and 31, I performed with Galitcha at the Mill Race Festival of Traditional Folk Music in Cambridge, Ontario. During the two days, we were kept quite busy! Two concerts on Saturday and a concert and workshop on Sunday. It's always a pleasure to play with Matt Smith, who joined us on mandolin and slide guitar.

Saturday evening concert with Galitcha
at the Mill Race Festival

In many folk festivals, 'workshops' tend to be more like jams. It's often musicians from a few bands, thrown together on stage based on some sort of theme. We usually end up playing a tune from each band, and jamming on each other's tunes. This was one of the first times where workshop actually meant workshop. For "Instruments of Mass Percussion," Kuljit and I were joined by amazingly talented percussionists Maninho Costa and Luis Orbegeso. We each presented our instruments and the music of their source cultures - Luis on cajon, Maninho on pandeiro, Kuljit on dholki, and myself on tabla. Everyone had such an interesting and engaging way of explaining their instruments and music. I later brought out a kanjira; who knew that it would spawn a samba jam! We also did some jamming on other traditional rhythms from India and South America. All in all, probably the best folk festival workshop that I have participated in to date!

Thanks to the Mill Race Festival for having invited us to perform!

Photos by Caroline Tabah.

Playing for Royalty and Canada Day in Ottawa

This past June 30, I was very fortunate to have been invited to perform for the Celebration of Youth Reception at Rideau Hall, as part of Prince William and Princess Kate's visit to Canada. The reception at Rideau Hall (the residence of the Governor General) was by invitation only, and security was very tight. In attendance were the Prince and Princess, the Governor General, the Prime Minister, and 120 youth being honoured for their work.

The Prince and Princess meeting the chefs that prepared the meal, followed by the PM.

Singer Kuljit Sodhi, of the group Galitcha, and I joined French-Canadian band La Ligue du Bonheur, for an Indo-Québecois musical masala. The original plan was to perform outdoors, but the rain forced the reception indoors. Unfortunately, I haven't yet been able to obtain any photos of our performance. Above is a photo that I took with my Blackberry while we were taking a break between sets.

Some photos of Kuljit and myself hanging out at Rideau Hall, while the reception was being set up indoors.

Next, on Canada Day (July 1), Kuljit and I were joined by Jean-Marc, the accordionist from La Ligue du Bonheur for some Indian folk music. Accordion instead of harmonium, why not? :) We performed twice at Major Hill Park in Ottawa, right next to the Parliament buildings. I also did a short collaborative piece with Odissi dancer Sonia St-Michel. I accompanied her on tabla and recited bols.