Monday, April 16, 2007
Sat Nam!
Here is Ram Dass setting up the keyboard before the concert. He does such a nice job playing the keyboard... but his real passion and gift is the clarinet. In last night's concert the keyboard had a blip of some sort (that is one of my more technical terms) and it just blopped out (another technical term). Each time he would strike a note on the keyboard it played out into the speakers with about a half second delay. He managed to play a few pieces with this delay going... now that is talent. But after awhile it was clear that it wasn't worth it... so we played the rest of the concert without the keyboard. The good news is that we heard some more clarinet and he did a beautiful job.
Here is Manish tuning his tabla before the concert. Manish really makes sure that his tabla is always in tune. I am really beginning to appreciate it. When the tabla is in tune it sings with you... it is so beautiful. I hadn't really payed that much attention to tuning before... I admit it. But Manish told us a fun story. The first time that Ravi Shankar came to the west and did a concert he started off the concert with tuning his sitar. As is quite normal in an Indian classical music concert Ravi Shankar came out on stage and sat down to tune his sitar. It took him 45 minutes. When he finished the audience gave him a standing ovation! He said very humbly to the audience, "If you like my tuning, you will probably like the actual music that I will be playing tonight."
Here is GuruGanesha with his guitar tuner before the concert. He really loves to tune his guitar, and so he is very happy that Manish has helped me to see how important tuning is. I have to admit since all of this tuning fun has come upon the tour I actually really enjoy it and have become more sensitive when something is out of tune.
Here is after our very beautiful concert last night. GuruGanesha and Mahan Rishi team up to move the piano back on stage.
Here is GuruGanesha and a young man named Ravinder taking the poles out of our banner which sits behind us on stage.
Here is Ram Dass and Manish taking a moment for a samurai fight with the poles.
Today's blog will feature the "before" and the "after" of each concert. It is actually alot of work. For every concert we arrive 3-5 hours before hand. After a concert it is about a two hour process. We have a wonderful team. Here are some fun photos....
Here is Ram Dass setting up the keyboard before the concert. He does such a nice job playing the keyboard... but his real passion and gift is the clarinet. In last night's concert the keyboard had a blip of some sort (that is one of my more technical terms) and it just blopped out (another technical term). Each time he would strike a note on the keyboard it played out into the speakers with about a half second delay. He managed to play a few pieces with this delay going... now that is talent. But after awhile it was clear that it wasn't worth it... so we played the rest of the concert without the keyboard. The good news is that we heard some more clarinet and he did a beautiful job.
Here is Manish tuning his tabla before the concert. Manish really makes sure that his tabla is always in tune. I am really beginning to appreciate it. When the tabla is in tune it sings with you... it is so beautiful. I hadn't really payed that much attention to tuning before... I admit it. But Manish told us a fun story. The first time that Ravi Shankar came to the west and did a concert he started off the concert with tuning his sitar. As is quite normal in an Indian classical music concert Ravi Shankar came out on stage and sat down to tune his sitar. It took him 45 minutes. When he finished the audience gave him a standing ovation! He said very humbly to the audience, "If you like my tuning, you will probably like the actual music that I will be playing tonight."
Here is GuruGanesha with his guitar tuner before the concert. He really loves to tune his guitar, and so he is very happy that Manish has helped me to see how important tuning is. I have to admit since all of this tuning fun has come upon the tour I actually really enjoy it and have become more sensitive when something is out of tune.
Here is after our very beautiful concert last night. GuruGanesha and Mahan Rishi team up to move the piano back on stage.
Here is GuruGanesha and a young man named Ravinder taking the poles out of our banner which sits behind us on stage.
Here is Ram Dass and Manish taking a moment for a samurai fight with the poles.
Ok... here is where you can insert your own imaginary samurai sound affects. Having fun.
Here is Krishan wrapping the cables. He has a special technique for wrapping the cables that actually preserves their life for alot longer then if you were to use say "my technique". He tried to show me once... but I haven't been able to retain that particular technique. Krishan is seen here wrapping cables... but he is actually in charge of both set up and break down. I wish that I had one hundred photos to show you how hard he works. I feel very blessed to have him on tour, along with the the whole crew. They work hard, but they are incredibly positive.
Here is GuruGanesha, Manish, Ravinder and Ram Dass folding the banner. There is also a special technique here as well. You have to fold it just right so that it can continue to look good concert after concert. We are actually due for a new one soon. I noticed a little tear the other night.
Here is Nirbhe Kaur and Sanela who cooked us a great meal for after the concert, and were there helping to clean up and haul things out to the van.
Here I am after the concert in Philadalphia the other day. This is my harmonium case. Fortunately it has wheels.
Here is Manish carrying microphone stands.
Here is Krishan wrapping the cables. He has a special technique for wrapping the cables that actually preserves their life for alot longer then if you were to use say "my technique". He tried to show me once... but I haven't been able to retain that particular technique. Krishan is seen here wrapping cables... but he is actually in charge of both set up and break down. I wish that I had one hundred photos to show you how hard he works. I feel very blessed to have him on tour, along with the the whole crew. They work hard, but they are incredibly positive.
Here is GuruGanesha, Manish, Ravinder and Ram Dass folding the banner. There is also a special technique here as well. You have to fold it just right so that it can continue to look good concert after concert. We are actually due for a new one soon. I noticed a little tear the other night.
Here is Nirbhe Kaur and Sanela who cooked us a great meal for after the concert, and were there helping to clean up and haul things out to the van.
Here I am after the concert in Philadalphia the other day. This is my harmonium case. Fortunately it has wheels.
Here is Manish carrying microphone stands.
Finally this is the real bliss. This morning GuruGanesha and Ravinder recited banis together in the living room of the blissful ashram that Mahan Rishi Singh and Nirbhe Kaur have. Ravinder lives in New York but because of the huge rainstorm last night we encouraged Ravinder to stay the night at the ashram.
Today is our day off. It has been raining for the past two days here in New Jersey. The rain has just stopped. There has been alot of flooding and many roads have been closed. But now that the rain has stopped things are looking up for our journey to Ithaca New York where we are going to play at Cornell University.
May we remember God's Name.
May we feel God's hand in everything.
May we take plenty of deep breaths.
May we live in the bliss of Guru's Bani.
Sat Nam.
Sat Nam!
Comments:
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Sounds like a wonderful crew to work with. That banner, what I can see of it, looks beautiful.
It's funny that you should mention Ravi Shankar. A friend of mine just yesterday loaned me one of his CDs. It's wonderful! I recognized a few of the mantras/chants, but many were new to me. Good stuff!
Namaste,
Dharmashanti
www.dharmashanti.com
It's funny that you should mention Ravi Shankar. A friend of mine just yesterday loaned me one of his CDs. It's wonderful! I recognized a few of the mantras/chants, but many were new to me. Good stuff!
Namaste,
Dharmashanti
www.dharmashanti.com
The Chinese proverb says: "A picture is worth a thousand words." I found this to be true of this blog entry. I loved seeing the different people involved in your concert. You have a great team! :)
At times we forget to recognize all the many people that work together, sometimes behind-the-scenes, to create success in any task. In this case it's your concert and in everyday life our synergy with others expands our collective efforts.
Peace & blessings,
Arvind Singh
Author of "Nexus: A Neo Novel"
Nexus Novel Blog
At times we forget to recognize all the many people that work together, sometimes behind-the-scenes, to create success in any task. In this case it's your concert and in everyday life our synergy with others expands our collective efforts.
Peace & blessings,
Arvind Singh
Author of "Nexus: A Neo Novel"
Nexus Novel Blog
Deepest thanks from within my Heart. Thank you for your music and for spreading it all over the world. Let the spirit of the God guide you and protect you on your way! :)
Girts,
Eastern Europe, Latvia
Girts,
Eastern Europe, Latvia
Actually that story about tuning, is of Ustad Vilayat Khan, not Ravi Shankar. Khan Sahib's son Shujaat told this on stage and gave the date & place where he got standing ovation for tuning. Every sitarist from their gharan(school) is far better & skilled than Ravi shankar's style of playing. Mostly, hindu musicians can'r accept the fact that Ravi Ji is very metical player compared to intricate modulations of Vilayat khan. You be the judge, I'll give you link to two videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q0ql-flIy4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH0A1L0mchk
In these videos khan is older than Ravi, but plays better. Remember Darbari has a note which is "andolan", means a note in between two notes and is not on piano or harmonium. It has challege of it's own, but khan plays incredible. Their style follows singing emotions to the tee.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q0ql-flIy4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH0A1L0mchk
In these videos khan is older than Ravi, but plays better. Remember Darbari has a note which is "andolan", means a note in between two notes and is not on piano or harmonium. It has challege of it's own, but khan plays incredible. Their style follows singing emotions to the tee.
# posted by 
: 1:59 PM
: 1:59 PM
wahe guru!
Many thanks & gratitude for the honor of serving the amazing experience which is the Celebrate Peace Tour! I enjoyed meeting you all. Safe travels as you continue to touch lives!
Sat Nam
Many thanks & gratitude for the honor of serving the amazing experience which is the Celebrate Peace Tour! I enjoyed meeting you all. Safe travels as you continue to touch lives!
Sat Nam
Sat Nam! Looks like it has been awhile since anyone has posted. Hope all is well with everyone, and wishing everyone a wonderful Solstice experience.
I have been feeling waves of energy from that upcoming event and sorry I will not be there myself to enjoy it to the fullest.
Doing a little teaching now, started out well... I play your music to keep things in a delightful space. Now if the students would come back! Reminds me of a story I have heard...
Hope we get some "live music" MP3 from Solstice!
Wahe Guru!
Santokh
I have been feeling waves of energy from that upcoming event and sorry I will not be there myself to enjoy it to the fullest.
Doing a little teaching now, started out well... I play your music to keep things in a delightful space. Now if the students would come back! Reminds me of a story I have heard...
Hope we get some "live music" MP3 from Solstice!
Wahe Guru!
Santokh
# posted by : 7:47 PM
: 7:47 PM
Hi,
A month or so ago I heard you in concert at the Unity church in Sacramento. You and the band were wonderful - I hope you return to Northern California soon. I spoke to you afterwards - I was the person who had taken some classes from Yogi Bajan (sp?) in the 60's. I didn't get a chance to tell GuruGanesha how much I enjoyed his guitar playing. He reminded me of Jerry Garcia with his wonderful rhythm with fun solo 'riffs'.
Your CDs are a treat.
Kevin
A month or so ago I heard you in concert at the Unity church in Sacramento. You and the band were wonderful - I hope you return to Northern California soon. I spoke to you afterwards - I was the person who had taken some classes from Yogi Bajan (sp?) in the 60's. I didn't get a chance to tell GuruGanesha how much I enjoyed his guitar playing. He reminded me of Jerry Garcia with his wonderful rhythm with fun solo 'riffs'.
Your CDs are a treat.
Kevin
# posted by : 6:29 PM
: 6:29 PM
Snatam Kaur an Amazing pleasure to be able to be in touch with you! Please visit my createsucces site!
SATNAM
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