Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Palta Theka, Palta Theka, Rela

Howdy!

Quick post with 3 new videos plus a bonus!

First up:
2 Palta Thekas:

1. Jhaptal Palta Theka




Recorded during the Cycles Project, this is a mashup/arrangement of palta thekas I learned from Pt. Swapan Chaudhuri, Pt. Suresh Talwalkar and material from Sri Karaikudi Mani, with some of my composition as well. More detailed post on this recording here: http://52kaidas.blogspot.ca/2013/05/a-pair-of-jhaptal-recordings-from.html

Lots of phrases of 5, but the only strokes used are: Dhin, Na, Tin, Tun and terekite...in other words, pretty much the strokes of Jhaptal theka: Dhin na Dhin Dhin na Tin na Dhin Dhin na

Palta Theka is basically an improvisation on the strokes of the theka, happens right off the top of a solo, and, because it uses the strokes of the theka, has a huuuuuge scope for improvisation. You can do anything...it's the zombo.com of tabla, if you will.

Lineup:
Ed Hanley-tabla, voice, udu (heavily auto-filtered to sound like a kickdrum), shaker, programmimg, recording, mixing
Larry Graves-Green Egyptian Parade Drum
Lisa Patterson-Duduk
Mary Ellen Moore-voice
Adam Ogilvie (age 2.5)-bell

The video is part of the early morning train ride from Mumbai to Bhopal on January 9th. It was super foggy and mysterious, so I clamped the GoPro outside the train and let it run for awhile.

2. Tintal Palta Theka




Two palta thekas in one post? Anyone still reading/watching a definitely a tabla nerd. *hi5*

I was a bit leery of sharing this video here... I'm working on a solo *solo* show, and this was an experiment: can I do a set of tabla solo w only my drums and my iPhone. So, I'm running 3 apps here: a drum machine called FunkBox, a generative music app by Brian Eno called Bloom, and iTanpura. Lame? Cool? not sure...it is what it is.

I recorded this Palta Theka on my Tintal album, so nothing new...there's a post about it here:
http://52kaidas.blogspot.ca/2010/02/uthan-palta-theka.html

3. Rupak Rela with slooooow motion !



I got offered a solo *solo* tabla gig at a local food and beer fundraiser in the CBC Atrium in Toronto, and I took it because a) it was a challenge: let's see if I can keep non-tabla nerds entertained for an hour, and b) because hey! tabla solo gig!

This is something I've been working on for awhile, an adaptation to a tisrajati rupak rela Pt. Suresh Talwalkar taught me a couple years ago. I posted about this here:
http://52kaidas.blogspot.ca/2013/12/6-7-8-7.html

BUT! I filmed it at 120 frames per second, which means slow-motion playback action was possible! So, the 2nd part of the video is slow motion action (where ugh! my technique looks so sloppy!!). I kinda dig the super low pitch sound of tabla at 25% normal speed though...

OK, BONUS!


Aside from tabla, I'm also a photographer, and here's a brand new video with some of the photos I took in Bhopal when I was there in January, set to 2 versions of Autorickshaw's song City of Lakes (all proceeds to the Bhopal Medical Appeal, which funds the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal, which offers free healthcare to survivors of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Disaster). The BIG version of this song, with the much heavier video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BydB4_tUnP8



OK, that's all for now, thanks for reading!

OH! almost forgot: if you're in Toronto, I have 4 shows this summer, including a tabla solo on July 8th:
Facebook event w info: https://www.facebook.com/events/514170575379089/



Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Music:India Summer Series

Greetings!

Concert news:

I'm presenting a 4-part concert series at Musideum this summer in Toronto called Music:India


photo David Courtney
July 8th is tabla solo night, and I'm planning 4 mid-size solos in Rupak, Jhaptal, Chartal Ki Sawari and Tintal. (7, 10, 11 and 16 beats). Esraj wizard Rattan Bhamrah is accompanying, and I think we will do one solo with Tar-Shennai, which is SO COOL: an esraj with an old-style mechanical gramophone amplifier and horn attached: Haunting sound. Here's a playlist of the Jhaptal solo we did at Musideum in August 2012:
 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLY0sWm3RaqGt62n_kggWshR0bnjh3LwwG
spooky-wallah!
July 29th is North/South dreamteam night: Vocalist Suba Sankaran (Autorickshaw vocalist and the daughter of mrdangam maestro Trichy Sankaran), sitarist Christopher Dicran Hale, bass veena player Justin Gray and I will present an evening of classical/hybrid/fusion. This will be the first time we've all played together, but I've no doubt it's going to be a lovely combination. Here's a playlist of vids I've done with each person separately:




August 1st I'm accompanying sitarist Rajib Karmakar in an evening of classical music. He's a fantastic player, and I'm really looking forward to this.



August 29th is mad experimentation night! remix/electronics/abelton wizard Matt Miller and I will be doing...I'm not sure what, exactly. I will be playing tabla, and he will be doing things to my tabla. That's all I know. I don't have a video for this, but here, this is appropriate:



and HEY!

This blog just crossed 100,000 pageviews! ok ok, I know view-counting is tacky and doesn't mean much when Skynet ..I mean Google.. has a brazillion bots crawling the web poking around your TCP ports, but hey, when I started this blog in 2009 I never thought it would reach 1000 views, let alone 100,000, so, yay! TIME FOR TABLA CAKE!

This...!  is a tabla cake. Just look at it. TABLA CAKE!
PS: i just updated the Live Videos and Artsy Videos  pages w new videos.