Tabla Ecstasy
Will you perform along with the ensemble or as a solo? No, I gave up performing over a decade ago, but I am the producer, director and composer of the ensemries are with tabla, I perhaps started playing around ble. the age of 2.5 years. Thirty years ago, it was very difficult for an Indian classical musician to make a living What will you be covering in your lecture before from only performances, without making many comthe performance? promises, which I was not ready to do. So I began I will be speaking about the connection between teaching, initially for a supplemental income, but I spirituality and music, as well as giving some technical soon realized that I was very good at it, which is not insight into Tabla Ecstasy and doing padhant (oral surprising as both of my parents were teachers. My recitation) of some rare compositions. mother was a principal and worked with Maria Montessori, while my father was involved in law and You talk of spiritual healing? Briefly what do you taught philosophy. For many years, I was a performer mean by this. and teacher. But I found that in running after performAny problem that a human has can be handled in ances and entertaining the audience, I was not able to the spirit level. Everything - matter, thoughts, probgrow as much as I wanted in terms of my learning. lems - in its higher level or occult level has a vibraAlso when I would go away for performances, my stutional form. We have various tools to understand life dents would be waiting for me here. Eventually the pull and behavior, like psychology, astrology, palmistry, between performances, teaching and my spiritual purface reading, etc. In spiritual healing, I combine these suits led me to make the decision to stop performing faculties with techniques that work on the occult level, and focus on teaching and spiritual activities. like the force of positive vibrations and mantras to help people come out of their difficulties. How do you use music to teach people or to help them heal? Pandit Divyang Vakil will give a lecture and Tabla Ecstasy will Music is one the best healing systems. Every raag perform at Dana Auditorium, Queens University of Charlotte on and rhythm has its own effect. Different combinations Saturday, March 27, 2010. Lecture 7pm, Concert 8pm. Tickets of raag and rhythm have very peculiar effects on are $10. For more information, visit www.queens.edu or call human mind. I do use music in healing, but it is not 704-337-2213. Find writings by Pandit Divyang Vakil on his the only tool. Music works well if the patient has a lik- blog - divyangvakil.wordpress.com or www.divyangvakil.com. To preview the group, visit www.myspace.com/tablafusion. ing for it. continued from page 36
Talk a little about the ensemble Tabla Ecstasy. Are they your students or graduates? Tabla Ecstasy is actually the latest in a series of tabla ensembles that I have composed, including Power of Tabla, Ardha Taal Chakra (which is a very difficult half-beat cycle composition), Tabla Taandav, etc. The concept of these tabla ensembles actually came out of a desire and need to take classical tabla to the masses. The young generation and those who don’t listen to Indian classical music have difficulty following or enjoying all types of classical tabla solos. After experimenting with presentation and composition styles, we have found that these ensembles work really well and they have been appreciated by all types of audiences. The foundation is classical, but the presentation style is contemporary. The members of Tabla Ecstasy are artists who have been learning from me for 10 to 20 years each. They all perform professionally, but the expanse of Indian music is endless. They have learned a lot and many even teach at my institute in India, but there is much more that they can learn, so they continue to train under me alongside their professional career.
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Are there other instruments accompanying or is this strictly a percussion performance? Tabla is the main instrument in Tabla Ecstasy. However, as is the practice in Indian classical music, the tabla players are accompanied by a lehera player on the harmonium, saarangi or any melodic instrument. The lehera player keeps the melodic time cycle. March 2010
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