Date: Wed Aug 8, 2001
Subject: Master percussionists and the Varanasi Club

Hi there friends around the globe,

I've had a very interesting couple of weeks lately, seen and been involved in some great music, so I thought I'd share the experience with y'all. I've been hanging out quite a bit in and around Byron Bay, about 3 hours drive south of Brisbane - I'm so happy to have a car!

First up was "Into the Fire", which was part of the Brisbane Biennial music festival, and featured the Sruthi Laya Ensemble (South India's premier classical percussion group) performing with the Australian Art Orchestra (a jazz orchestra which has created some compositions with the Sruthi Laya Ensemble). There were some great moments, combining rich jazz tones and harmonies along with complex Carnatic rhythms, but for me the concert was marred by the AAO's tendency to use the most horrible noises that their instruments can produce, to play from their heads instead of their hearts.

A few days later I drove down to Byron Bay to see "Taal Vadya", a concert featuring 3 top Australian percussionists - Bobby Singh (a tabla player), Ben Walsh (a drumkit player) and Greg Sheehan (a jazz drummer who's well known for playing anything, from finger-tapping on a bass to playing with children's toys, not to mention his sweet tambourine/kanjira playing). (Bobby and Ben are well-known around the place for playing together in The Bird, a 100% live techno act.) The three of them had developed a pretty neat and wide-ranging show which covered enough territory to stay interesting. Highlights for me were a sweet jal-tarang piece (china bowls with water, tuned to a scale and played with chopsticks, accompanied by tabla and tambourine), and Ben's solo 4-way (UpDownLeftRight) Taiko-inspired drumming piece, which was really intense.

While I was in the Byron Shire, I stayed with my friend Matt Weekes, a sitar student of Govinda Goswami of Varanasi (Matt & I have a CD together). We were rehearsing for and promoting an EthnoSuperLounge the following weekend. So while I was there I met Armando, an Italian who learnt pakhawaj and bansuri in Varanasi, as well as meeting about 5 other people who have learnt music in Varanasi. The Varanasi Club is alive and well in Byron Bay!

The following week I was back in the area to go to a workshop/demonstration by the Sruthi Laya Ensemble at the university in Lismore (inland from Byron). Luck was certainly my way that day as I managed to get a seat in the van taking the group between Byron and Lismore, so I got to sit next to Sri Karaikudi R. Mani, one of India's leading mridingam soloists, and talk with him about Hindustani and Carnatic music, Indian percussion, music philosophy, "Into the Fire" and horrible noises. I learnt a lot that day, both from the demonstration and the conversation.

A couple of days later we had the first EthnoSuperLounge since I came back from India, in Bangalow (near Byron), and it was pretty much a success. We'd done a great poster and a good radio ad so the promotions were good. We'd decorated the hall beautifully with statues and batiks of Hindu gods and goddesses. Matt's wife Lucy cooked up beautiful chai, curry and cakes. The musicians were great - sitar, tabla, pakhawaj/bansuri, saxophone, vocals, samples, violin, percussion and bass. The stars were Cleis Pearce, Byron-based violin legend, Greg Sheehan (see above), and Yani on vocals - some of you might know Yani from the EthnoSuperLounge CD (which sold out that night - I now have to press some more) - and the audience in the final "Aum Mani Padme Hum" compassion mantra chant. So hooray for us! I think the only fault for me was that all the musicians were too busy to get together very much beforehand, so while the improvising was good, I know that more rehearsals would have been better.

So another burst of activity fades into memories. Coming up I've got a few Indian classical shows and the usual run-around of trying to line up more work, as well as keeping up the practice and hopefully going to a few parties. I miss you all and I wish you'd write more!

Love to all,

Shen Flindell

Aum Mani Padme Hum