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  • Prosad

    Canadian musician Prosad is an eclectic and talented one man show. Best know for his sitar playing, he is also an masterful guitar player and soulful songwriter. Additionally, Prosad plays didgeridoo, percussion and Indian flute (often playing 2 or more instruments at one time). Performances include live looping, sitar, an upbeat fusion of world music with reggae overtones, as well as intimate acoustic songs that tell stories and carry political, environmental and spiritual messages. His unique style blends elements of acoustic/folk, reggae, roots and world music.  You can hear many influences in his playing, ranging from Ravi Shankar and George Harrison to Harry Manx and Xavier Rudd.

    Prosad has toured Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Australia performing in a music festivals (Prana, Luminate, Mariposa and others), concert halls, churches, and even a castle (Didjin'OZ festival in Italy). Prosad has played sitar for Prince Edward of the United Kingdom and been the featured soloist in an orchestral concerto. In 2011, he recorded with Australian artist Xavier Rudd on his new album, Spirit Bird. Prosad has also composed two songs for Hollywood films. One song (Byron Bay) was used in the blockbuster movie, "The Love Guru" with Mike Myers.
     
    Prosad’s first sitar teacher was Shambhu Das; Ravi Shankar’s senior disciple and George Harrison’s sitar teacher. Since then Prosad has studied sitar in Toronto and India and is currently studying Indian music with Alam Khan, son of the legendary Ali Akbar Khan Sahib.

    Prosad has recorded four albums of original music and is currently working on a fifth which is a blend of styles mixing dub/reggae with sitar and guitar based songs. He divides his time between Canada and traveling the world performing.

Prosad @ Bohemian Palace – May 17th Toronto

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https://www.facebook.com/events/298827103584435/

Prosad’s Toronto Concert Highlights

Hello Friends and Fans!

I want to say thank you to everyone who made it out to my last Toronto Concert.  In a word, it was awesome!  I had so much fun and everyone who came left in a great mood so I couldn’t be happier about it.  The night was a great mix of sitar, guitar, dancing, and soulful listening.  What an honour to meet so many new friends and share great music!  I debuted a lot of new songs that night and played a lot of guitar as well as sitar.  It was great to travel beyond any perceived musical borders and go places that I had not gone before.  Thanks for sharing the journey with me and thanks for making the night so special! Remember to follow your dreams and live life with everything you’ve got!

Here are a few highlights from the evening.  Hope you enjoy!

Best,

Prosad

Prosad and Gary Diggins

Here are a few clips from my concert with Gary Diggins in Toronto on June 29th, 2012.  It was an intimate evening of improvisational acoustic music…and an amazing way to share a summer evening in Canada.  I was so happy that we were able to make time for a show before I flew to Europe!  Thanks to everyone who came and was a part of creating the magic!  New friends were made and great music was shared.  Thanks also to Dave Boire for creating the video.

Cheers!

Prosad

India Meets Ireland

I am performing in Auckland this coming Thursday with Jon Sanders and Basant Madhur. I am very excited about this show. It is such a great mix of genres and it is so fulfilling to be playing with such great musicians. If you are in town and can make it, we would love you to be there and we guarantee to deliver some awesome musical vibes!

Here is a short clip from my performance with Jon Sanders last year:

“India meets Ireland concert featuring Jon Sanders (Irl/NZ) on bouzouki,  Prosad (Canada/NZ) on Sitar and  Basant Madhur (India/NZ) on tablas.  The trio will play a one-off concert of Indian traditional ragas, trance grooves and Irish melodies in an Ireland meets India fusion in Blockhouse Bay Boat Club next Thursday 24th.  $15 7.30pm onward.

Jon Sanders is an international multi instrumentalist known for blending world music genres from Irish to latino to balkan (as featured  on his critically acclaimed Latitudes and Twigs of the Neem Tree albums). This will be his final NZ show before heading back to Europe to tour. (www.jon-sanders.com)

Prosad is an internationally acclaimed sitar exponent known for his renditions of traditional indian ragas and his more contemporary trance grooves. He was trained by life-long Ravi Shankar student, Shanbhu Das Ji.

The two met at the Prana for the last two years and have performed a number of sell out concerts blending Irish and Indian grooves.

They are joined for this concert by leading tabla exponent Basant Madhur who teaches at the Sargam Bay School of Indian music in Auckland.

Expect a night of high reeling music….”

New Zealand Sitar Concert

Hello friends and fans!

I had a great time this weekend performing on Waiheke Island in New Zealand.  We played at the Artworks Theatre  to a capacity audience (thanks Dee for all your help in organizing the event!!!).   The first set was was mainly traditional sitar.  I was performing with one of New Zealand’s premiere tabla players, Basant Madhur.  We first played Raag Yaman, in slow, fast and very fast movements (vilambit, drut and jhala – 16 beat cycle).  We followed this by a composition in Raag Khamaj.  Raag Khamaj can be performed as a classical raga or a light classical raga.  I find the mood to be very uplifting, romantic and sweet.  The first raga (Yaman) was a more serious and deep composition while the second was very joyous and energetic.  For the finally we played a nice rendition of the famous George Harrison song, Within You Without You.

The second set was all fusion and featured electric sitar, didgeridoo, bansuri and tabla.  With most of the crowd dancing, we had a really great night!  The card on my camera become full during the first composition, but I managed to catch a nice portion of the fast composition in 16 beat cycle (Raag Yaman).  Enjoy!

Talk to you soon,

Prosad