Jason Parmar, David Yovino and I are deep in the midst of developing a tabla duet in Jhaptaal, the meditative cycle of 10 beats. We are presenting peskhar, kaida, kaida rela, gats, tuchras and chakradhar all in one of my favorite cycles of time. Don’t miss this year’s performance at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, CA.

March 20, 2010 – 7pm $15

Ali Akbar College of Music Winter Concert Series

www.aacm.org |  215 West End Avenue, San Rafael CA

Special Tabla Trio performance featuring Jason Parmar, David Yovino and Tablapusher. Performance followed by sitar concert by Arjun Verma with Nilan Chaudhuri on tabla and sarode concert by Mallar Bhattacharya with Nilan Chaudhuri on tabla.

Kids Music Class with Tabla (Indian Drums) in the East Bay

Join Robin Sukhadia for another fun oriented informal Tabla music workshop specially designed for young children between the ages of 2 1/2 – 4 years.   Robin will introduce children to traditional Indian rhythms and the percussive language of Tabla and sing along with kids to have them learn the rhythms, followed by a simple Tabla lesson during which each child will be able to play Tablas provided for the workshop participants. A story will be read to the children while they bring the story to life and dramatize it by making different sounds on Tablas.  The workshop will end with dancing to Tabla rhythms.   Props such as scarves may be used to add in the fun!

Kids who love to bang would get a real ‘bang’ out of this class, be creative with different sounds, and have a unique musical experience!  No previous experience necessary.  Open to all music loving kids.   At least one parent should attend.

The cost is $20 per child.

March 21, 2010 – Sunday

11am – 11:50am:  2 1/2 – 4 1/2 yrs old children (8 participants max)

Location: Berkeley Hills

If you’re interested, please email Sandeep at sandeep@monsoonco.com.  The spaces are filling up quickly.

This is all about word of mouth. Words delivered with vocal abandon, echoing through the galleries as they skitter off fragile images in flight; delivered live and full-bodied by artists, poets, and mediamakers who have an allegiance to cinema, but enjoy the skirmish between the anxious utterance and the fleeting image. Los Angeles–based media artist Jordan Biren brings us All That Passes Before You, Already in Ruin, a spectral film that suggests “the illusory promise of narrative” but finds it manifest not in his projected ghostly landscapes but in his recitation of “bodily words.” Local curator and artist Konrad Steiner has repurposed the Japanese tradition of benshi performance—oral narration for silent cinema—as “a cabaret of poetry, satire, and homage.” Poets and other provocateurs render mute sequences from extant cinema while firing a fusillade of verbal mash-ups and hacked critiques. For this performance, Steiner has enlisted Jaime Cortez, Jennifer Nellis, Erika Staiti, Anuj Vaidya, and the tag team of Robin Sukhadia and Neelanjana Banerjee.

Preceded at 6 p.m. by one of our favorite KALX DJs spinning in the lobby, where wine and beer are available for purchase.

Friday, Mar 26 7:30p to 9:00p

Curated by Robin Sukhadia & Jaeger Smith

I am in the midst of planning a two week tabla interstitial at the epic Hammer Museum in Los Angeles from April 1 – 15, 2010 based on the even more epic Machine Project Tablacentric residency of 2008. In partnership with the Machine Project, I am planning to bring a wide range of classical and non-classical tablacentric voices to the Hammer. Featured artists to include Walter Kitundu, Sheela Bringi, Clinton Patterson, and many more.

Open Tabla Workshops for beginners, Film Screenings, & Live Classical and Contemporary Indian Music performances

Tuesdays 2 –5 pm
Thursdays 4 – 9 pm – Free Museum Admission
Saturdays 3 – 7pm

Click here for concert venues, times and details.

3 shows:

Thursday March 4 – SF, CA – 8pm – Cafe Du Nord (Upstairs at the Swedish American Center) – $20

Saturday March 7 – Tracy, CA – 7pm – Grand Theater

Sunday March 8 – Tracy, CA – 4pm – Grand Theater

Changing the World with a Tabla Drum
Hagerty Lounge – Saint Mary’s College

2:15 – 4:30pm
(facilitated by Robin Sukhadia from Project Ahimsa)

Robin uses the tabla to build bridges between children of different religious backgrounds, to introduce possibilities to homeless and struggling youth in places ranging from the San Francisco tenderloin district, to detention facilities to the slums of Kolkata, India. In this session, Robin will lead participants through a hands-on experience of how to create music with the tabla and more importantly, how to think outside the box when forming partnerships and alliances between men and women.

Join Southern Exposure for an examination of the music and impact of Sholay, considered by many as one of the most revolutionary films in Bollywood History. Presented by Robin Sukhadia, the lecture focuses on RD Burman, the brilliant film composer of the film, who integrated western musical influences with classical Indian sounds to create the atmosphere for this “Curry Western” film. “Kitne Aadmee The!”

The lecture will be followed by a classical tabla (north Indian drums) performance in the meditative cycle of jhaptaal (10 beats) featuring Jason Parmar and Robin Sukhadia.

Kids Music Class with Tabla (Indian Drums) on Peninsula

Join Robin Sukhadia and Neelanjana Banerjee for another fun oriented informal Tabla music workshop specially designed for young children between the ages of 2 1/2 – 6 years.   Robin will introduce children to traditional Indian rhythms and the percussive language of Tabla and sing along with kids to have them learn the rhythms, followed by a simple Tabla lesson during which each child will be able to play Tablas provided for the workshop participants.   Neelanjana will read a story and the children will bring the story to life and dramatize it by making different sounds on Tablas.  The workshop will end with dancing to Tabla rhythms.   Props such as scarves may be used to add in the fun!

Kids who love to bang would get a real ‘bang’ out of this class, be creative with different sounds, and have a unique musical experience!  No previous experience necessary.  Open to all music loving kids.   At least one parent should attend.

Two sessions, each lasting 50 minutes, will be offered.  The cost is $20 per child.

February 21, 2010 – Sunday

10am – 10:50am:  2 1/2 – 4 1/2 yrs old children (8 participants max)

11am – 11:50am: 4 1/2 – 6 yrs old children (8 participants max)

Location: Burlingame (close to Burlingame Ave, Cal train station, and Highway 101), CA

If you’re interested, please email Rachna at arachna@pacbell.net.  The spaces are filling up quickly.

What’s Next for Global Cinema and Music? The Rise of Bollywood and South Asian Identity

January 27, 2010 – 7 to 9pm | Soda Center

FREE to the public

1928 Saint Mary’s Road -  Moraga, CA 94556

The Hollywood glitz and glam that comes with living in California can be overwhelming, even if you aren’t part of the industry. It is easy to forget that there is a whole other cinematic community across the globe. St. Mary’s Jan Term Lecture Series would like to remind you that Bollywood is alive and thriving, and continues to outmatch Hollywood on many fronts. On Jan 27, scholar Robin Sukhadia presents Bollywood as a lens through which to understand India’s growing influence on global politics, music and culture.

I’m very excited to announce a series of performances featuring PremaSoul in San Francisco, California. This project features vocalist/flautist Sheela Bringi, trumpeter Clinton Patterson, and bassist David Tranchina, and myself. Compositions from our newest album, A Shrine to All Things, will be featured throughout the performances:

#1: Saturday, December 19, 2009
Red Poppy Art House

A Shrine to All Things – CD Celebration

2698 Folsom Street SF, CA 94110

$12-$15 suggested donation. 2 Shows! 7pm & 9pm

To purchase advanced tickets for either the 7:00 pm or 9:00 pm show,

please visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/90125 or call 1-800-838-3006.

#2: Sunday, December 20, 2009
Sangati Center
3049 22nd Street
SF, CA 94110
http://www.sangaticenter.org/concerts.html

4 pm
$10 – $20 (sliding scale)