Bansuri Concert with Chloé Bennett

This past Saturday, August 3, I accompanied bansuri player Chloé Bennett for her Indian music début in her hometown of Montreal. She has been living in India for the past five years, studying with legendary bansuri maestro, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. She is currently in town for a few weeks, visiting her family, and so we took this opportunity to set up a couple of concerts for her.

This first concert took place at the Sivananda Yoga Centre in downtown Montreal. The concert was really well attended, as many of Chloé's friends and family have never heard her play Indian music before. It was a very special occasion and Chloé did really well, engaging the audience with both her words and her music. She opened with raag Malkauns, with an alap-jor, followed by compositions in Jhaptaal and Teentaal. I particularly enjoyed the Jhaptaal composition; it's one of those that really sticks in your head, even hours after the performance. The Teentaal was a bit odd, as the melody began on khali, and so had a feeling of being flipped around backwards (this is not unusual). She then followed with raag Bageshri in Rupak, a thumri in Pilu, and then a Bengali folk song to conclude.

We were accompanied by flutist and bansuri player Marie Saintonge, which was a very welcome surprise for me.

Chloé on bansuri, with Marie on tanpura.

If you missed this concert, there is still another chance to hear Chloé before she heads back to India. We will be playing at H-OM Yoga in Vaudreuil-Dorion (3187 Harwood), on Friday, August 23 at 8pm.

I am really looking forward to it, and hope to see many of you there! For those of you in Montreal, it will be worth the trip! Here is a link to the Facebook event page, for those of you on Facebook.

As usual, thank you to Caroline Tabah for the photos!

Three Concerts at OpenMind Festival

This past week, I had the pleasure of accompanying three different artists over the course of three days at the OpenMind Festival in La Patrie, Quebec. OpenMind Festival is a music festival, bringing people together in a celebration of diversity and sound ecological practices. The festival takes place every two years, and in a different location that is always very isolated (no cell phone coverage this year!) and very beautiful. You may remember my performance with Uwe Neumann from the last OpenMind Festival, in 2011.

My first performance at this year's festival was an early evening concert with sitarist Uwe Neumann. I accompanied him in raag Kirwani, in Sitarkhani, followed by another raag in Rupak, the name of which has slipped my mind, and lastly, a Bhairavi in Teentaal. We concluded with Uwe's customary finale - an improvised piece on sansa.

A view of the stage and surrounding stunning views!

Next was a noon concert, accompanying santoor player Jonathan Voyer. Our outdoor performance was quickly rained out (Jonathan didn't even get to finish his alap), even though Jonathan had specifically decided NOT to play raag Megh (a monsoon raga, which would have been appropriate, considering the OpenMind theme of the day was water), and instead opted for Bhimpalasi. Well, raag Megh or not, the rain came down hard! The tech crew quickly scrambled to move us and all the equipment into ... how to explain ... an enormous, inflated white ball, with carpets and pillows laid out on the inside. It was a really nice, intimate setting for the music, but also incredibly hot! Jonathan wrapped up his alap, and we moved on to compositions in Rupak and Teentaal. It must have been 40 degrees (C) in there, no exaggeration. Nevertheless, we brought full energy (and lots of sweat!) to the performance, and the audience was extremely receptive.

Photo from soundcheck. No more photos from the outdoor stage, as it soon started to rain!

Inside the big inflated white ball. The stage was unfortunately placed behind an altar, as you can see here.

The ball!

Last, but not least, was a sitar performance with Toronto-based musician, Prosad. This was actually our first time meeting and playing together. Prosad has studied with musicians in both the Vilayat Khan style and Ali Akbar Khan style of playing, and so his approach was quite different from the Montreal-based musicians that I usually play with. It was great fun to follow and see where he might lead me. Lots of fun rhythmic interplay and intricate tihais!

Again, in the ball, and hidden behind the altar!

Overall, a great three days of tabla accompaniment! Thanks to Caroline Tabah for most of the photos, aside from the few cellphone shots. :)

Percussion Duo Concert with Marla Leigh Goldstein

Just before the start of my summer tabla workshop, I had the pleasure of working with talented Californian frame drummer, Marla Leigh Goldstein. We have known each other for a number of years, but never had the chance to play together in concert! She had organized a frame drum workshop in Ottawa, and so was able to come over to Montreal to visit for a few days, before heading off to the Cooperman Drum factory in Vermont. We performed at Timpano Percussion on Friday, June 28, and then she gave two workshops the following day.

For this special occasion, I composed two new tabla / frame drum duets. Bol, inspired by traditional bol paran repertoire, and Dancing Hands, inspired by the kathak dance tradition. Marla also brought in some of her compositions, for frame drum and flute. We had a blast putting this concert together, and hopefully we'll be able to present it again sometime soon!

Having fun in rehearsal, before the concert.

Marla on flute.

In concert!

Bol exchange!

Annual Summer Tabla Workshop 2013!

Wow, this past week just flew by so quickly! As I have for the past three years, I held my annual summer tabla workshop during the first week of July, at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. This year, the participants all came from the Montreal area. I had two groups - one of pure beginners, who had no prior experience with tabla, and an intermediate group of students with a few years of experience. Each group had four 90-minute classes, spread throughout the week, and both groups joined together daily for a two-hour group practice session. We also met for two video-viewing sessions, where I showed videos of concerts by some of the great maestros, and as always, we concluded the workshop with a Guru Puja.

The participants this year had such great enthusiasm and energy. We were also joined by two guests from the UK, Caroline (my Gurubahen) and her partner Neil. Neil participated in the beginner class, while Caroline helped out with some of the teaching.

This year, for the intermediate class, I decided to follow an 'accompaniment' theme, and so for one of the classes, I invited my santoor buddy Jonathan Voyer to come, and be accompanied by the students in Rupaktaal, Sitarkhani, and Teentaal. The following class, Neil sang some bhajans, which gave the students a chance to accompany in Kaherva, Dadra, and Bhajani theka. The experiment was a great success, and I will surely integrate this type of activity again in the future.

One of the many group practice sessions.

Lighting the incense for Guru Puja.

Marc doing puja. This is his third year at the workshop!

Kai getting his offerings, walking around everyone's tabla. 

In case you would like to see more, I have posted many more photos on Facebook.

Until next year! Thank you to Caroline Tabah for the photos!

One More Show with Kiran!

Just a few days before bansuri artist Kiran Hegde returned to India, Marie Saintonge organized one last concert, at an art gallery in Saint-Hyacinthe. The show was really well attended, and the gallery had quite an exceptional acoustic! Kiran and I were joined by special guest Ziya Tabassian, who is an excellent percussionist, specializing in Persian tombak. The trio format was a nice change of pace, and the tombak/frame drum and tabla work really well together!

It was sad to have Kiran leave, as it was a great two months of musical adventures together. Looking forward to his return to Canada next year!

Ziya accompanying Kiran during the jor.

Yes! The tihai came on sam! :)

Tabla - bansuri - tombak trio!

With Kiran, after the concert.

The whole gang!

Marie and Caroline!

Thank you to Caroline Tabah for the photos!

Accompanying Bansuri Player Kiran Hegde on his First Canadian Tour

My friend Marie Saintonge recently spent six months in India, studying the bansuri with Kiran Hegde, himself a student of legendary violinist N Rajam. Marie has since invited him to Canada, where he is currently spending two months performing and teaching. I am very happy to be accompanying him for all his Canadian concerts and workshops.

Kiran has a very sweet sound, and plays in a very vocal style, though is not shy to bring out the more 'instrumental' aspects of bansuri playing as well, from the slowest vilambit ektaal, to a blazing fast drut.

Our first concert took place at the Grande Bibliotheque in Montreal on May 11.

The next day, I accompanied Kiran for a hands-on raga workshop that he gave at Timpano Percussion. Quite a few musicians came, and we had singers, flutists, a saxophonist, and even a fretless electric guitarist!

Marie, during the workshop.

A couple of weeks later, we headed to Toronto, for a concert graciously hosted by Joanna de Souza and Ritesh Das from M-DO/Toronto Tabla Ensemble, at the lovely St-Stephens-in-the-Fields church. Here, we were joined by longtime collaborator, and Kiran's Guru-bhai, Jake Charkey, for a rare bansuri-cello jugalbandi. Jake and I have performed numerous times before in Montreal, before he headed out to Mumbai to study with N Rajam. He has been there for the last three years, and so it was great to be playing together again, and to hear the progress he has made in all this time.

Kiran's solo, with Joanna on tanpura.

Here with Jake, for the bansuri-cello jugalbandi.

The next morning, we hit the road, and were back in Quebec for a concert at the beautiful Sivananda Ashram, in Val Morin.

We also performed a house concert last week, but I unfortunately don't have any photos of that occasion. There is yet one more concert to take place on this tour, on June 26 at an art gallery in Ste-Hyacinthe. Please see my website for more details...

Thank you to Caroline Tabah for the photos!

Tribute to Pandit Ravi Shankar

This past April 27, I took part in a concert in honour of the late Pandit Ravi Shankar, organized by Hindustani vocalist Vinay Bhide, in Ottawa. The evening concert took place at the Centrepointe Studio Theatre in Ottawa. The concert included performances by vocalist Vinay Bhide, Aditya Verma (sarod; Montreal), Bageshree Vaze (kathak dance; Toronto), Jonathan Voyer (santoor; Montreal), and Tara Krishnan (Bharatanatyam dance), and Kiran Morarji (Toronto) and myself on tabla.

I accompanied Jonathan Voyer for his set, as well as Vinay Bhide for his, followed by a concluding piece with the Ottawa Ensemble, joined by some of the other artists.

It was a beautiful evening, and it was a pleasure to have participated. I really enjoy these types of concerts, where many artists get together and collaborate. Pt. Ravi Shankar was such an important artist of our time, having influenced and inspired so many musicians around the world.

Accompanying santoor player, Jonathan Voyer

Accompanying vocalist Vinay Bhide, with his son Udit on harmonium.

All artists on stage for the final bhajan, composed by Pt. Ravi Shankar.

Thank you to Caroline Tabah for the photos!