classical concert season with Qsma

IT'S been a massive month for Indian classical music in Brisbane. Following on from the sublime concert by sarangi maestro Sangeet Mishra in June, July saw another international visitor, US sitar Maestro Sri Josh Feinberg, followed by the biggest-ever Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School Concert.

On Saturday, July 1, in Sunnybank Church of Christ Hall, Qld Sangeet Mela Association (QSMA) presented an evening of Hindustani classical music, which ended with our firstever standing ovation, such was the sublime power for Josh Feinberg's sitar.

The evening opened with a heartwarming and charming performance by father and son duo Raghunath and Rugved Pawar, accompanied on harmonium by Joseph Nand and tabla by Pankaj Navlekar. Rugved began with a tarana in Raga Hamsadhwani, Madhya lay ektaal followed by a bandish in the very interesting 14beat ara chautaal. Raghunath followed with Raga Bairagi in addha taal, and the duo closed their performance by singing a bhajan together in Malkauns, bhajani taal.

Then followed the divine sitar of Sri Josh Feinberg, so reminiscent of the great Pt Nikhil Banerjee of Maihar Gharana. Josh’s alap made time stand still, and his taans and jhala thrilled. I witnessed 3 of Josh's performances over

By Shen Flindell (QSMA Secretary)

the weekend, and his alap held the whole audience spellbound every single time. In Sunnybank, Josh performed Raga Poorvi: alap, jor, jhaptaal, teentaal, followed by Manj Khammaj in rupak taal, and finally, Bhairavi. As well as the traditional Maihar Gharana sitar style, Josh introduced his innovations, such as harmonised lines on two strings, harmonics, and chromatic explorations. The standing ovation was well deserved, and we were fortunate to witness such talent.

A couple of weeks later saw the 16th Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School Concert being held at Qld Multicultural Centre in Kangaroo Point on the afternoon of Saturday, July 15. Since our tabla school's humble beginnings, the concert has grown to the scale of a Sangeet Mela. This year's concert featured 40 tabla players along with performers on sitar, bansuri, venu (South Indian flute) and vocal, over 4 hours of performances along with a few intervals to stretch the legs. Despite the concert's length, the devotional atmosphere in celebration of Guru Purnima and the variety of acts with tabla groups alternating with raga performances resulted in time passing very quickly for all involved.

The first session opened with a bhajan dedicated to Guru by Rugved Pawar, followed by a beginner’s tabla quintet, sitar by Anju Ketheeswaran, the junior tabla 9-piece group. It closed with venu (Carnatic flute) recital by Murali Ramakrishnan.

The second session opened with a vocal by young Mishri Gandhi, followed by an adult’s tabla quintet, sitar by Dr

Indranil Chatterjee, tabla solo in one-hand style by Varun Lal, and closed with a bansuri recital by Darshil Shah. The third session featured two intermediate tabla sextets, alternating with a Carnatic vocal duet by Dorairajan brothers accompanied by

Premraj brothers, and closing with a recital by Australia's leading bansuri master, Sri Vinod Prasanna. The final session consisted of a fulllength Benares-style tabla recital by guru Shen Flindell and his top 7 students.

Many thanks to all our supporters and sponsors, including Brisbane Indian Times and Australian Indian Radio.

The next QSMA programme will be held on Saturday, 16 September, in Sunnybank Church of Christ Hall with Sri Vinod Prasanna.