Indian Classical Music in Australia and especially in Melbourne

To be informed of upcoming concerts please write to Radhey Gupta radheygupta@optusnet.com.au so he and his colleagues can send you a monthly newsletter.  For instance, you will learn of local non-professional and often free-of-charge events and of tours by visiting artists, such as that of Asha Bhosle in March: http://www.ashabhosle.com.au/ .

I suggest subscribing to The Boite's mailing list, and to the announcements by Glen Kniebeiss about upcoming concerts (see below for links).  While Glen and the Boite work together, their concerts are not always mentioned on Radhey Gupta's mailing list.

2012-02-28:  The Nataraj Centre is presenting their 35th Spirit of India concerts with santoor virtuoso Shivkumar Sharma performing with Yogesh Samsi on tabla.  Concerts are in Brisbane (Monday 19 March 2012), Melbourne (Wednesday 21 March) and Sydney (Thursday 22 March).  Shvkumar Sharma is also performing at Womadelaide on in New Zealand.  The details are on a poster at: http://www.nataraj.org.au/spiritofindia .

I used to try to maintain this page with pointers to upcoming concerts, but subscribing to email newsletters is a much better approach.

Robin Whittle  rw@firstpr.com.au  28 February 2012
Back to the main First Principles web site

Local Organisations and Indian Classical Musicians

Sharda Kala Kendra Centre for Indian Arts and Culture http://www.sharda.org puts on musical and cultural events and offers lessons for a variety of instruments, for dance and for Indian culture.  Every two months they hold a free Sangeet Sandhya (musical evening) at the Waverley Meadows Primary School, Wheelers Hill.   On 9 August 2003, two of the Centre's artists played at at The Boite World Music Cafe - Radhey Shyam Gupta and  Hemanth Kumar on Sitar and Tabla respectively.   They delighted the audience with music of great vitality and delicacy.


The Nataraj Cultural Centre  http://www.nataraj.org.au has, since 1980, presented annual Spirit of India Concerts and Cultural Tours.


Mohan Ayyar's Carnatic Corner   http://www.carnaticcorner.com has a vast amount of information, images, links, interviews, and archives of discussions.  Please refer to this site for links to sites outside Australia.


The Boite - World Music Cafe and other events.  This is a fabulous part of Melbourne, and they sometimes have Indian Classical artists:  http://www.boite.asn.au .


Tabla player Glen Kniebeiss announces upcoming performances at http://www.tabla.com.au/performances.html .  This page also has information about past concerts, links to interviews etc.  A further page covers performances going back to 2005. Glen accompanied Sugato Nag in some concerts in late 2010.  Tina and I thoroughly enjoyed their performance at the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum (link). 


The Academy of Indian Music, Australia (was at: http://ravi.customer.netspace.net.au ) used to put on concerts, including the annual Tyagaraja Festival. 

Links to sites outside Australia

Please refer to Mohan Ayyar's Carnatic Corner, as linked to above, for links to other sites.


David Courtney's article comparing the construction, sonic qualities and playing style of the two most prominent drums used in Indian classical music, the Mridangam and Tabla: http://chandrakantha.com/tablasite/articles/mridanga.htm .


Two sites regarding the Santoor. Shivkumar Sharma's:  http://www.santoor.com and Sandip Chatterjee's: http://santoorplayer.tripod.com .


From the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, the history of Hindustani classical music, dating back to 2,500 BC, and a detailed listing of Ragas, their relationships and classifications by Thaat and by period of the day:   http://www.itcsra.org/sra_index/sra_index.asp .