Shen Flindell
Indian Classical Tabla

Since being initiated into the Benares Gharana of tabla by one of the great old masters of the style in 1994, Shen Flindell has grown to become one of Australia's leading tabla players, and is also very active in the thriving Indian music community of Japan. He is best known for his beautiful sound and supportive accompaniment, and has released 5 CDs ranging from Indian classical bansuri to Tibetan world fusion. Shen loves bringing people together to unite through music, whether it's playing with his many young students or collaborating with top musicians from around the world.

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Shen Flindell started learning tabla in Melbourne from Sri Debapriya Bhattacharya in 1994 and soon went to the holy city of Varanasi in India to study under Pt. Kaviraj Ashutosh ("Ashu Babu") Bhattacharya, a great tabla master of the Benares Gharana. Shen is now mainly based in Brisbane, Australia, but typically spends several months of each year in Japan and India, and has performed with leading musicians in all three countries. Within the realm of Indian classical music, he is not only capable in the 4 fields of vocal accompaniment, instrumental accompaniment, Kathak dance accompaniment and tabla solo, but has also given successful accompaniment in South Indian music and dance performances.

Shen has also intitiated and participated in numerous collaborations with an eclectic range of world music artists. Shen's EthnoSuperLounge events bring together these musicians to share their songs and sounds in the spirit of unity, healing and transcendence. He has released 5 CDs: Deep with classical bansuri player Taro Terahara, Music is Life with world music group Tibet2Timbuk2, Rei-Mei with classical santoor player Setsuo Miyashita, the EthnoSuperLounge Live! - Jay Asu Babu compilation CD, and Basant Panchami, a classical sitar-tabla CD, and has made numerous guest appearances on CDs in Australia and Japan with world music and rock artists.

Shen's tabla playing is noted for his clear sound, comfortable rhythmic sense, intuitive accompaniment, sensuous bayan (bass) and a feeling of sincere devotion to Guru, Saraswati, Music and Tabla, thanks to many blessings from his Guru-ji.

He also teaches, supplies and repairs tabla. In Brisbane he recently opened the Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School, with both adult and children's classes. Shen's lessons follow his Guru-ji's traditional classical style of teaching, emphasising quality of sound, refinement of hand-shape and development of technique and through devoted practice.

You can catch news and photos of Shen's travels on his personal blog, Tabla in Hand.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A TABLA SOLO BY SHEN

IN BRIEF

Name : Shen Flindell
Email : shen@ethnosuperlounge.com (See Contact Us for more contact details.)
Born : 23 June, 1972, Canberra, Australia
3 Homes : Brisbane (Australia), Varanasi (India), Japan (various locations)
Tabla Style : Benares Gharana, Pt. Kanthe Maharaj/Pt. Ashutosh Bhattacharya Baj)
Blogs : Tabla in Hand, Shen's Best of the Web, タブラと共に

Musical Roles :

: Performer (accompanist and soloist)
: Teacher
: Student
: Producer
: Tabla repairer and supplier
: Musical matchmaker and networker
: Website developer