Hi folks,

Another chapter closes, another begins. Must be in Bangkok! I'm staying in
Tu's Place, like Varanasi's Munna House a word-of-mouth oasis for
like-minded folks. It's a lovely place hosted by Tu, a Thai hippy with a
1960 Vespa, a couple of sitars, tablas, numerous guitars, drums and assorted
other instruments, and what's more a great cook. The house itself is a
wooden Thai house in a quiet back street but only a short walk from all the
conveniences of Kao Sarn Road, like travel agents and massage shops.

AN INVITATION - CONCERT IN VARANASI ON MARCH 17
I'll be heading off to India in a few days, spending a few days in Kolkata
meeting some members of my Guru Parivar (Guru-family) and then reaching
Varanasi by Christmas. In February and March there are some memorial
functions for Guru-ji (who passed away this February 8) - a puja (devotional
ceremony) on Feb 26 and a big concert on his birthday, March 17. The
concert will be my debut in Varanasi and I'll be performing with my friend
Setsuo "Jimi-san" Miyashita, a santoor student of the great Pt. Shiv Kumar
Sharma. There will be some very big names from the Indian classical
pantheon performing that night. If you're of a travelling bent I'd like to
invite you to come to Varanasi in March! Other important festival dates
around that time in Varanasi are: March 8 (Shivaratri), March 25 (Holi) and
April 28-May 2 (Sankat Mochan music festival).

TOKYO LIFE
Since I last wrote I've been settling into Tokyo life with my lovely
girlfriend Orie. I met Orie in Varanasi, where she was studying sitar, in
March, when she moved into Munna House. Things clicked for us very quickly
and after my trip to Australia in June/July I moved to Tokyo. Actually
we're just outside Tokyo in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, but it's
only 20 minutes by express train from Shibuya. I'm sure you've seen images
of Shibuya - the world's busiest pedestrian crossing surrounded by 3 giant
sized video screens on the surrounding buildings, and frequently haunted by
all kinds of fashionable folk and fashion victims. The train line home from
Shibuya is the Tokyu Denentoshi Line, one of the most packed train lines I
think. I've developed strategies for carrying 3 tablas when it's sardine
time.

As the new kid on the block in Tokyo, I've spent most of the last few months
networking and trying to develop a reputation amongst musicians so I can get
some gigs and start making an audience. I think I've done reasonably well
and hope to be busy when I return next April/May. Here are the brief
highlights (since the Tohoku tour which I covered in my last email):

SEP - A concert with Mr. Tim Hoffman, a very interesting chap who, after
studying shakuhachi with one of Japan's National Living Treasures, went to
Lucknow to study Indian classical vocal and instrumental music (on
shakuhachi). He's got a fantastic voice!
- A few jugalbandi (duet) concerts with Taro Terahara-san (bansuri) and
Tadao Ishihama (sitar) - Mr. Peaceful and Mr. Action! Lots of fun.

OCT - Saw a great Indian classical concert by Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumder
on sarod with Shubankar Banerjee on tabla - fantastic! One great thing
about Japan is the number of high-profile artists who make it here...
- KANSAI TOUR - Visited my old home for a couple of weeks, did a concert in
Osaka with Tadao-kun and one in Kyoto with Jimi-san (santoor) in a beautiful
traditional Japanese house. At the end of the month I took part in the GIFU
SANGEET MELA, an annual all-night Indian classical event in the countryside
a few hours from Kyoto. It's a fantastic event - a conference of Indian
musicians and dancers from around Japan which this year also featured Mata
Prasad Mishra (Kathak dance and tabla) from Varanasi. I performed tabla
solo and accompanied Keiku on vocal. It was so exciting being part of that
event, seeing all the other musicians playing, chatting in the green room,
visiting the onsen (hot spring) the next day... Kudos to Jimi-san for
organising such a great event!

NOV - Another Indian master came to town - Pt. Manilal Nag (sitar), an old
friend of my late Guru-ji. Lovely concert.
- For myself, a few concerts with Taro Terahara on bansuri. Taro's such a
lovely bansuri (bamboo flute) player and we are very well-matched. One of
these concerts was a very interesting jazz-fusion collaboration with double
bass and guitar. I do promise to put samples on my website very soon.
- I also had to leave the country this month as my 3 month tourist visa
expired. Orie and I decided to spend a few days on the beach in Guam but
unfortunately it wasn't so enjoyable. I don't recommend Guam, especially if
like me you're not enchanted by American culture. But I got a new visa in
Japan...
- Finished the month with a few concerts with Sushma Omata, a Nepali sitar
player who came to Japan 30 years ago after meeting her Japanese husband in
Kathmandu. The concerts were quite unusual - we were performing at the hair
show of students of the Nippon Beauty Academy. Our 30 minute performances
were introduced by "Music Aesthetics Professor" Negishi-san, and followed by
some pretty far-out hair-styles and music. Well-paid though, and the
biggest audiences I played Indian classical music for.

DEC - Finished off with a very busy 5 gig week which gave me a lot of
optimism for next year. The 5 gigs were with - T.C. Deane (American New Age
acoustic guitarist), Hilo Kawagishi (kora - African harp) and Carlos Guerra
(bansuri) (the first EthnoSuperLounge in Japan), Chris Silva (jazz/rock/funk
electric guitar in a rock bar), and twice with Koro Ito (sitar - learnt
sitar in the Himalayas from a Baba about 25 years ago). Very eclectic!!!

Links to most of these artists can be found on my People and Links pages:
www.ethnosuperlounge.com/people.htm
www.ethnosuperlounge.com/links.htm

May you all have a happy Christmas/New Year season!!!
Love to all
Shen Flindell
Aum Mani Padme Hum

shen@...
http://www.ethnosuperlounge.com

Mobile phone: 090-9868-1213
shen@...

Home phone: 044-861-0608
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216-0002 Kanagawa-ken, Kawasaki-shi, Miyamae-ku, Higashiarima 1-4-20