Australia & Japan - Performer, Producer & Teacher :

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 Indian classical artists in all three countries, including Smt. Raka Mukherjee, Ustad Ghulam Sadiq Khan, Pinaki Bose, Smt. Gauri Pathare and vocal-sitar duo Debapriya-Samanwaya. Within the field 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 Carnatic music, Odissi and Bharat Natyam dance performances.

In Brisbane and Tokyo, he has also performed with many excellent musicians from a wide variety of musical traditions including Turkish, Tibetan, Persian, Flamenco, African, jazz and electronica artists. Shen's EthnoSuperLounge events bring together these musicians to share their songs and sounds in the spirit of unity, healing and transcendence. The most recent and successful ESL project is Tibet2Timbuk2, with Tibetan singer Tenzin Choegyal and singer-guitarist Marcello Milani.

Shen's CD appearances include Music is Life with world music group Tibet2Timbuk2, and Rei-Mei, a classical santoor-tabla CD featuring Setsuo Miyashita, a close disciple of Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma. Other CDs include the EthnoSuperLounge Live! - Jay Asu Babu CD, a compilation of EthnoSuperLounge live tracks, Basant Panchami, a classical sitar-tabla CD, plus numerous appearances on CDs in Australia and Japan with world music and rock artists.

In Australia, Japan and India, Shen has a number of tabla students, some of whom have gone on to study in Varanasi with Shen's guru-ji of tabla, Late Pt. Kaviraj Ashutosh Bhattacharya and in the music school which continues in his name. 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. Shen also supplies and repairs tabla and tabla accessories

Shen can be contacted by email at shen@ethnosuperlounge.com, or by phone on 0415-106428 (Brisbane).