Austin Tabla 2004 News & Events

Incase you were wondering Austin Texas sometimes known as the live music capitol of America is one of Americas hottest spots for experiencing and learning the music of India especially the tabla. The Austin Tabla Group consists of every tabla player in Austin which there are well over twenty tabliya in our community. This excellent music scene is attributed in part by the support of the Austin Community, ICMCA (Indian Classical Music Circle of Austin), resident teachers at the local college as well as many other organizations that present and support Indian music.  The following news and events focus on activities relating to artist, teachers and performances featuring the Tabla. Thank you for visiting. 

Austin Tabla website's 4th year tracking Tabla events in the Austin Community

• October was a big month with Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, teaching Master classes at UT College, and teaching public tabla workshops in Austin, performed in College Station with Stephen Slawek on Sitar Oct.20, Performed in Houston with Bansuri Pandit Hariprasad Oct.21 and Stephen Slawek at UT Saturday Night the23rd.

• OCTOBER  2ND  Zakir Hussain Performed with L. Shankar, Gingger,  Chris Opperman  In A concert to benefit A.I.D.

• August Ustad Zakir Hussain will teach a one week workshop at the Omega Center Click here to find out more, Gourisankar performed a tabla solo in College Station

• Saturday June 5th Pandit Suresh Talwalkar was available for the day to teach private tabla lessons for the Austin Tabla Students. Pandit Suresh performed a fantastic concert with master vocalist Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar and Vishvanath Kanhere. (Harmonium). The  concert lasted over 3 hours, tals included Ektal, Joomra, Rupak and Teental of course.
   

• May 29 Mastro Yogesh Samsi, disciple of the late Ustad Allah Rakha teaches in Austin.

• Saturday May 8th Pandit Anindo Chatterjee Came to Austin on his way to Dallas and taught a Workshop for the Austin Tabla Students, we enjoyed a great couple of days spending time with Panditji. Sunday Anindo da performs with Masters L Subramanium and Sultan Khan in a fantastic stringed instrument duet featuring the music of north and south Indian styles. Truly a new experience in musical creativity.

   

  Pandit Anindo teaching intermediate students

• March 13th to the 21st Ravi Naimpally, disciple of the late Pandit Nikhil Ghosh and currently a disciple of Pandit Anindo Chatterjee came to  Austin and gave a great demonstration to the students and provided  private lessons throughout the week.

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2003

• Saturday morning, September 20 Austin Tabla students perform at the Austin "Asian American Cultural Center" See a short clip here and pictures in the  gallery .

• Saturday, September 20 Sitar Master  Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan Gives one of Austin most exciting performances. Ustad Shahid belongs to the seventh generation of the famous Etawah gharana in Sitar, the son of Ustad Aziz Khan and  the grandson of Ustad Wahid Khan, the Surbahar and Sitar virtuoso and  uncle of Ustad Vilayat Khan. He was accompanied by young Tabla maestro Akram Khan hailed as a leading tabla player of the  Ajrara Gharana  and  the most frequent accompanist of sitar legend Ustad Vilayat Khan. Akram has been teaching Tabla recently in New York.

•  Gourisankar Tabla Workshops were held in Austin Saturday and Sunday August 15th and 16th and  Sat September 6th. There was a good turn out with several new faces. Gourisankar has been providing expert instructions to the Austin students for 4 years.  Many of the Austin students consider Gourisankar to be  one of there there main teachers. He is a master Tabliya and an excellent instructor.  

• May 11th Zakir Hussain and Shiv Kumar Sharma. It's hard to believe that after Hariprasad Chaurasia and Rajan and Sajan Misra things could get any better but here it is. A fantastic sold out performance with Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Ustad Zakir Hussain (Full Concert Review) and the year isn't even half over.

• April 26th Subhen Chatterjee with Rajan and Sajan Misra  Performed a 3 and a half hour concert of mesmerizing vocals. Other then the sound system which could have been better this was one of the most spectacular concerts in recent years.

• April 3,4,5th Pandit Anindo Chatterjee returned to Austin for a great 2 day tabla workshop, over.20 students, beginning , intermediate, & advanced. Anindo was in great spirits, his concert with Stephen Slawek, local sitarist and disciple of Ravi Shankar was fantastic and ended with a climatic and inspiring Tabla solo.  We really had a great time and hope to see him soon with his son Anubrata!  . Special congratulations to Pandit Anindo for receiving the prestigious 2003 Sangeet Natak Academy Award of India!

• Saturday, February 8th Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and  Rakesh Chaurasia performed a short (2 hour) up-tempo concert. Accompanied by Vijay Ghate Tabla, Another great disciple of Suresh Talwalkar.  Austin's second in recent months Vijay's expert spontaneous playing provided the right amount of added flair and energy to the program
   

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 2002

• November 24th Sitarist Partha Bose performed with Gourisankar. A truly fantastic 3 hour concert with the highlight of the evening being an astounding rag performed in Dhamar tal.

• November 16th,23rd & 24th Gourisankar taught a 3- day tabla workshop that focused on playing a traditional tabla solo.

• Sept. 21st Aashish Khan & Zakir Hussain performed in Dallas Texas to a sold  out crowd. Aashish turned out one of his best performances in recent memory and was at his best playing with Zakir. The fact that Aashish Khan broke 3 strings during the performance only made the show that much better as Zakir broke into exhilirating tabla solos during the string changes. 

• Sept. 7th Manasi Tapikar and Kaveri Agashe  Kathak Dance Concert .Ramdas Palsule  disciple of Suresh Talwalker gave an outstanding perforemance on tabla. Ravindra Chary provided some excellant sitar. The bad news Kaveri and vocalist Shekhar Kumbhojkar could not get there visas so this lowered the performance but Ramdas A student of Suresh Talwalkar, guru and good friend of local Tablaya Amit Bhagwat  gave tabla lessons the following day before leaving.

• June 29th &  30 2002 Pandit Sadanand Naimpalli and Pranesh Khan Gave an enlightening and enjoyable  two day tabla workshop which ended Sunday evening with a fantastic tabla solo performed by Pandit Sadanand. 

• June 28th Ustad Aashish Khan performed on Sarode with brother Pranesh Khan on Tabla. The new Maihar Band consisting of members of the Gypsies and others opened the show with a special composition written by Aashish khan who joined them in the  performance. Aashish finished the concert with a number of outstanding ragas  including Shivaranjani and Manj Khamaj.

• May 29th Sandip Burman Tabla Workshop and Concert with sitarist Partha Chatterjee

• May 25th Anindo Chatterjee's Tabla Workshop at the Austin Lyric Opera Center was a success with 14 students. Anindo taught 3 levels of students and a wide variety of exercises, kaida, tukras etc. of his own, Jnan Prakesh Ghosh and older compositions. It was a great day for Austin Tabla.

• May 23rd Thursday night at the Clay pit Anindo Chatterjee performed a tabla solo Concert before Austin tabliya Lauren Dealbert concert with her band Divahn. Anindo's tabla solo astonished the audience performing in Rupak then drut teental.  Sitarist Laila Alif played lahara and also performed a short rag. 

• May 12th San Antonio, Sarode master Aashish Khan gave an inspiring outdoor recital with Gourisankar providing some exciting accompaniment on tabla, The first piece had a short alap and continued in rupak tal , the second piece started with a long enchanting alap and completed in teental.

• May 10th house concert with vocalist Rashid Khan and Samir Chatterjee marked one of Austin's most notable concert in recent years. Rashid's performance lasted almost 3 and a half hours with excellant tabla accompaniment by Samir . Rashid started the performance with Yaman Kalyan performing a short alap then proceeding to a gat in adi-Vilanbit ektal and end the performance with a high spirited taran  

• May 4th Gourishankar held a two day tabla workshop, 12 tabla students attended. Sitarist Indrajit Banerjee and Gourishankar had a great performance Saturday night at the UT Art auditorium.

• April 27th 2002 Bharsana Dham Mela festival featuring junior performers, vocalist  Sameer Kostasthane  with Amit Bhagwat on tabla, Khansahib disciple Shankar Bhattacharya on Sarode with Warren Ashford on Tabla, Snigda and Shubir on vocals and tabla.  It was a great outdoor festival  with music and dance performances throughout the day .

• April 27th John Bergamo & the Hands On'semble preformed and gave a clinic on hand drumming 
  Hands On’Semble performed original compositions blending the rhythmic concepts and techniques of North and South India, the Middle East, West Africa, Indonesia, South American and Western Chamber Music. 
   

• March 23rd 2002 Shuben Chatterjee returned to Austin performing with Master vocalist Ajay Pohankar.  The following day Subhen-da  provided tabla lessons for several Austin students.  

• Friday January 25th 2002 Tabla Master Sudhir Pandey of the Ajura Gharana gave an excellent tabla workshop. Saturday Sudhir Pandey and the young Sarangi Virtuoso Sawar Hussan gave an incredible performance opening with a 45 minute tabla solo. 

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 2001

• 2001  turned out to be a fantastic year for Austin and Texas starting with Pandit Sadanand Naimpally's tabla workshop, one performance with Pandit Swapan Chouduri and two performances each with Ustad  Zakir Hussain  &  Pandit Anindo Chatterjee. Shafaat Ahmed Khan, Nayan Ghosh, Yogesh Samsi, Sandip Burman, Shubankar Banerjee  and Subhen Chatterjee visited Austin. In the summer Sri Gourishankar Karmaker returned for another tabla workshop & two concerts..

• Sep 7, 2001 Ustad Shafaat Ahmed Khan  performed with Rahul Sharma & Rakesh Chaurasia Santoor & Flute respectively . An excellant concert, Rahul and Rakesh each performed separately with Ustad Shafaat then all three performed together. Shafaat's demonstrated his masterful Delhi style garnering many breaks of applause from the audience. His strong Baya technique and highly intuitive accompaniment were of key note. Rahul Sharma started the evening with a rag derived from a carnatic composition, Rakesh's rendition of Kirwani  was played in Mattatal (9 beat ). The duet was a light classical piece with an emphasis on Northern India folk music.  Special thanks to Shankar Bhattacharya for helping to sponsor such a fantastic evening.
   

• July 1st , 2001 Nayan Ghosh, Yogesh Samsi Concert at Radiance (Review by Aditya)

• Sitarist Nayan Ghosh's tabla background, coupled with tabalchi Yogesh Samsi's unusual sensitivity as an accompanist, resulted in a recital highlighted by the synchronicity of the performers. Nayan began with two kheyal pieces in teentaal, and ended with a dhun and bhajan, in which he actually sang. Nayan Ghosh's playing was distinguished by complicated and fast taans rendered very precisely. 

• Samsi's playing's most notable aspect was the clarity and strength of his strokes, which complemented rather than obscured the main performer, much like his guru Alla Rakha. His stage manner was very dignified, never evincing too much expression and maintaining economy in the motion of his strokes. During his few solos, Samsi played short but impressive tukadas, with strength and speed reminiscent of his late teacher.

• Gourisankar Karmaker, Indrajit Banerjee Workshop and Concerts

• Everything went really well, the whole week was an intense Rolla coaster with hosting, lessons, concert rehearsals, parties etc. there was no rest and we all got behind on our day jobs.

• The workshop was Excellent, about 12 students total, Gourisankar is a disciplined teacher, and is very focused on teaching and correcting individual technique as well as providing inspirational exercises and compositions.  and quite a bit was video taped.

• The Saturday concert Amit Bhagwat, Jason McKenzie and Warren Ashford opened with a 20 min. tabla trio solo of Gouri compositions,

• Gourisankar played a fantastic 40min traditional teental solo starting with peshkar etc. vilambit to drut, Shankar Bhattacharya did a great job accompanying on sarod for both solos, Indrajit Banerjee and Gouri performed two ragas for the second half. The atmosphere at Red Bluff was personal and uplifting as always which provided inspiration for the artist, kudos to owner and host Daniel LLanes for his part in the concert success.

• Sunday night the fusion concert at the Claypit was pretty crowded with Indrajit, Gouri, Satish Pathakoda on Mridagam myself and most of the Gypsies (Roberto, Mohammad, Amie, Dylan, John and Jason) . This concert was a blast with lots of percussion solos and some great playing by Indrajit and everyone. Mars did a triple video recording and everyone is looking forward to seeing it.

• Plans for next year, more workshops, collaborations and recordings were already in the works before Gouri and Indrajit left Monday morning.

• May 29 Sitar Pandit Debu Chaudhuri   performed with Sandip Burman on Tabla, PT. Debu Chaudhuri Gave a beautiful performance, Pandit Manilal Nog was in the audience and this type of situation tends to bring out the best in a performer. Sandip Burman's stage presence is like a man filled with electricity, his sound and theka are distinct and very reminiscent of Pandit Mahapurush Misra. Two items of note, one on the beginning of  the fast teental gat he doubled the baya notes for an extended amount of time showing extreme speed and agility  and two as the rag proceeded into the final section of drut teental Sandip played the baya keeping the tone in tune with the rag and sitar, it was very interesting and sounded almost like a 3rd instrument. Sandip is very enthusiastic about teaching a tabla workshop on his next visit, which is something to look forward to. 

• May 25th Pandit Manilal Nag and Mita Nag performed a sitar duet that was very unique. The fast Jalla was especially interesting with the mix of  two sitars. Subhen Chatterjee accompanied on tabla
   providing uplifting theka and a cheerful mood to the performance. Jason and Roberto hosted the artist during the day before the concert. 
   

• Soli Kapadia, accompanied by Nisha Upadhyaya and Rajeev Mahavir  April 22,  Zakir Hussain and Shiv Kumar Sharma in Houston May 12,    Manilal Nag (house concert) on May 25

• Saturday April 14th Shubankar Banerjee  and Sarodist Tajendra Majumdar put on a great concert, Shubankar played one amazing part incorporating a number of talas over 9 beat matta tal, Tajendra also amazed us by incorporating a number of different gats of different thekas over the same 9 beat matras.   

• Sri Gourishankar Karmaker and Sri Indrajit Banerjee Performed in College Station Friday April 13th, the concert was fantastic with about 200 attending. Indrajit and Gourishankar are truly top notched musicians and there familiarity working together so long makes there performances extremely entertaining and mesmerizing. Although they play with great sensitivity the fast theka and sitar riffs were unbelievable. 

• Shankar-da was there the supreme host and afterwards I think the entire audience went to Shankar's house for  great food and a party that lasted until about 3 am. Quite a few people took turns singing and Amit and I played some tabla. There were also a couple of local College Station tabla players there and we  look forward to hearing from them. 

• Indrajit and Gouri hope to do some workshops in Austin in May and we should have a very special performance on the 3rd week of June.

• April 6th Anindo Chatterjee  performed  with noted violinist  L.Subramanium and two members of the Madras percussion ensemble. It was an excellent performance with a focus on South Indian Karnatic music, the percussion jugelbandi was the highlight of the evening. Afterwards some of us Austin tablachis and friends from San Antonio spent a little time with Anindo later a couple of the gang went to dinner with L Subramanium.  Anindo had a good time in Texas, taking his family around to see some of the sights including the Houston Space Center, Anindo said next time he would possibly like to do a tabla workshop.

• Tuesday Morning March 27th three of us locals met up with Zakir Hussain at Bass hall for his sound check, we hung out for a couple of hours chit chat, played with all the drums and picked a few new  compositions, Tuesday evening concert featured Zakir  performing on multiple percussion instruments accompanying the Northern California Lines Ballet Dance Troupe, Zakir-da started his piece with a tabla solo, he displayed phenomenal mastery of kanjiira and a number of other percussion instruments and Zakir can sing! 

• Monday March 26th Ustad Zakir Hussain provided a lecture demonstration to a packed house and almost all of the Austin tablachi's were there. Zakir-da mixed performance and storytelling provide an interesting explanation of the history of tabla.

• Saturday March 24th Pandit Swapan Choudhuri performed in Austin with resident sitarist and music teacher Stephen Slaweck. The auditorium was very nice, they put on a quality show ending with a great solo in drut teental, most of the Austin tablaya were there, Swapan-da came out and visited for a short while after the concert. 

• Friday March 23rd four of the Austin gang met in Houston to see Pandit Anindo Chatterjee with Sarod Maestro Raji Taranath. After an incredible performance we helped with tear down and visited with Anindo-da, Raji, M.G. and our dear friend Shankar for a very good Indian dessert (made with carrots) and some after concert libations, we had a great time and  Anindo-da  gave us some compositions to bring back to the Austin gang.    

• 2001 January started off with Pandit Sadanand Naimpalli's excellent workshop and fantastic tabla solo demonstration, thanks to our Houston tabla pal M.G.Shetty.