THE STORY
2004 was quite a year for me, moving from India to Japan to Australia, back to Japan (all via Bangkok), short side trip to Guam for visa purposes (best forgotten), and now full circle back to India again. Along the way there were some great sessions, the best of which are now on the ESL website:
JUL/AUG - Home Concerts and a Tabla Solo in Brisbane
It was my first time in Australia for almost 3 years and I brought various old friends together in my living room in Highgate Hill for a series of divine home concerts. What can I say, it was special. 3 (or more) musicians, no divisive sound system, 30 (or 60!) guests snuggling together on wintry Sunday evenings to really SHARE the musical experience. The audience (and some special members) joined the music each week and we all remembered what music is all about. Selected tracks feature flamenco guitar, Persian santoor, mbira, Tibetan singing bowls, Turkish, Indian, jazz and audience vocals (and tabla). Also while in Brisbane I performed a Tabla Solo accompanied by my guru-sister Liz Campbell on harmonium, dedicated to my Late Guru-ji.
NOV/DEC - IndoJazz 4tet and Kora+Bansuri in Tokyo
I'd been in Japan since August and after a few months of life in Tokyo I started to get the chance to bring people together across genres as I'd been doing with EthnoSuperLounge in Australia. Firstly, IndoJazz 4tet brought together a jazz double bass player and guitar player with Indian bansuri (bamboo flute) and myself on tabla. The sound system and recording weren't very good, especially on the tabla but it was still a very cool session. Secondly, the first official EthnoSuperLounge gig in Japan was quite a healing event, with kora and bansuri providing some very soothing sounds to Shibuya (central Tokyo). There was a lot of excellent Indian classical music action too but I haven't put a raga online yet - hopefully soon.
The samples above were recorded on MD (possibly LP2 or LP4) and are encoded in both MP3 and RealAudio format (requires 
).
