October - A busy month for tabla in Montreal!

Wow, October is looking to be a great month for tabla in Montreal! Here's a rundown of events this month:

PREVIOUS

Oct. 1 - I performed at Tanna Schulich Hall (McGill University) with kathak dancer, Sudeshna Maulik, and cellist Jake Charkey. We opened with Jake performing Raag Durga; a composition set to Jhaptaal (10 beats). I then followed with a medium-length tabla solo of about 30 minutes in vilambit and madhya Teentaal (16 beats). After a short break, Jake and I accompanied Sudeshna through vilambit, madhya, and drut Teentaal.

Oct. 3 - I performed with sitarist Uwe Neumann at a house concert in celebration of Diwali. Somewhat early for Diwali, but it was great fun and the audience was so receptive to our performance. What a pleasure!

UPCOMING

Saturday, October 10 at 6pm - Performances by sitarist Shakir Khan (son of Ustad Shahid Parvez) and vocalist Esha Bandyopadhyay, accompanied by Hindol Majumdar on tabla. Kathak dancer Sudeshna Maulik will open the evening with a short performance as well. Ecole Saint-Henri Auditorium, 4115 Saint-Jacques West, Montreal. Tickets are 15$ and 10$.

October 19-29 - Ok, not quite a concert or performance series, but worth mentioning - Cinema du Parc is again presenting its popular series, Made in India. Ten days of Bollywood movies on the big screen!

October 22-24 - The QuébéAsia dance festival, featuring numerous dancers from Quebec, and representing a wide range of Asian dance forms. Participants include Manijeh Ali, Reena Almoneda-Chang, Amrita Choudhury, Sonia Lopez, Sudeshna Maulik, Janaki Rangarajan, Justine Ricard, and Roger Sinha. Each evening's performance is entirely different, and will feature different artists and different styles. All activities are taking place at Art Neuf, 3819 rue Calixa-Lavalée in Montreal. There are also a few workshops being offered for dance professionals and amateurs alike. (I think that this new dance festival is a great initiative, and I hope that it will continue in the years to come. The only unfortunate aspect in my opinion, is that as far as I know, none of the dancers will be performing with live musicians.)

Saturday, October 24 at 5:20pm- Drummer Steve Smith and percussionist Pete Lockett will be giving a drumset workshop at the Montreal DrumFest. They will be speaking about the application of Indian rhythms (Hindustani and Carnatic) to drumset and other percussion. For more information on their session, click here. All events are taking place at Salle Pierre Mercure, 300 de Maisonneuve East, Montreal.

Saturday, October 24 at 7:30pm - The Kabir Centre presents sitarist Irshad Khan, accompanied by Hindol Majumdar on tabla. Oscar Peterson Concert Hall, 7141 Sherbrooke West, Montreal.

Obviously there are too many things happening on October 24!

Sunday, October 25 at 3pm - Bharatiya Sangeetha Sangham presents an afternoon of Kathak and Bharatanatyam dance with Sudeshna Maulik and Janaki Rangarajan. Sudeshna will be accompanied by myself on tabla and Jake Charkey on cello. The performance will take place at Champlain Regional College, 900 rue Riverside, Saint-Lambert. Tickets are 15$ and 10$

Monday, October 26 at 7pm - KoSA Academy is hosting percussionist Pete Lockett for a workshop on the application of Indian rhythms to drumset and other percussion. KoSA Centre des Arts, 5325 rue Crowley, Montreal. Tickets are 30$.

So, as you can see, October is a great month for Indian culture in Montreal. Time to go out and enjoy some performances!