How have you been?  It's been about 6 months since I wrote, since when the highlights have been touring Australia with Sangeet Mishra and Taro Terahara, touring Japan with Tenzin Choegyal and Steve Oda, and most recently some concerts with Debapriya-Samanwaya.  All excellent musicians and overall I feel like the quality of performances I'm taking part in has really taken a step up.  I'm now back in Australia for a few weeks before I leave for India on November 28, where I'll be visiting Delhi, Varanasi and Mumbai until Feb 20.

When I wrote my last newsletter back in April, I was preparing for my first Australian tour, which I'd organised for sarangi player Sangeet Mishra and bansuri player Taro Terahara.  After concerts in and around Brisbane, we made the big 1700km drive to Wangaratta in country Victoria where my sister Jacki had arranged a concert.  One of the highlights of the tour was our concert and stay in the historical Theatre Royale in Castlemaine.  We also performed in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, and in so doing we opened a few doors for future tours.  Taro and Sangeet had never met before I introduced them, but they got on really well and we had a lot of fun. As well as being a great musician, Sangeet cooked us delicious Indian food along the way.  Between us Taro and I drove 4600km!   I hope to organise another Taro and Sangeet tour in April/May 2010.

Back in Brisbane, I've had a few special concerts this year including accompanying Gauri Pathare (Mumbai vocalist), Toby Wren (jazz guitar), and most recently brilliant vocal/sitar duo Debapriya-Samanwaya (Kolkata - video of our concert here).  I also had the chance to open the evening session of the 1st Annual Brisbane Indian Music Festival with a tabla solo.

My tabla students are slowly growing in both numbers and experience, and this year's Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School Concert was a beautiful night full of love and devotion.  My top students have started giving group tabla performances in public.

I did my usual Japan tour again in September and October, but this year was very special in that I managed to get my old friend and Tibet2Timbuk2 bandmate Tenzin Choegyal along for a couple of weeks.  We did a few shows around Tokyo, a bit of sightseeing, and finished up doing a surprise spot at the all-night Indian classical Gifu Sangeet Mela, where I also accompanied sitar player Yoshida Daikiti and bansuri player Carlos Guerra.  Touring Japan with Tenzin was absolutely brilliant and people fell in love with him and his music everywhere we went.  The highlight was performing at Namaste India festival in Yoyogi Park, where about 1000 people had gathered before we started and the audience swelled to about 3000 by the end of the first song!  Tenzin, Taro Terahara and I formed a really tight group I have to say that these were definitely the best quality performances I've ever been a part of.  Next year will be bigger and better for sure!

Also while in Japan, I was blessed to accompany sarod player Steve Oda, 35 years' student of the great Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.  Steve is a sublime musician and it was an honour to play music with him.  Many tears were shed by those listening to his music.

COMING UP:
I have a couple of Tibet2Timbuk2 shows before I fly from Brisbane on Nov 28, arriving in Delhi on Dec 1 after a few long-awaited nights in Bangkok.  I'll be in Varanasi from Dec 5.  This year I plan to have some lessons in Delhi with my senior guru-bhai Govinda Chakraborty but as usual to stay mainly in Varanasi, especially for the festivals of Makar Sankranti (Jan 14), Saraswati Puja (Jan 20) and Shivaratri (Feb 12).  I'm planning to visit Delhi and Mumbai between Dec 18 and Jan 12, and hopefully to see a new tabla teacher in Mumbai....  I'll be back in Australia on Feb 21, possibly a bit earlier depending on a high-profile concert opportunity currently in negotiation.....