FIND THIS EVENT ON FACEBOOK:

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

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

Cheers!

Prosad

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….”

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

Thanks to Michael McCarthy for the photo below.

Above Photo by Michael McCarthy.

Prosad on Sitar; Xavier Rudd on Yidaki

I recently had the great pleasure to be part of a recording session for Xavier Rudd’s new album, “Spirit Bird”

From Xavier’s Facebook Page:

“ONE day to join many peoples together in musical harmony and blissful unity to sing and share a vibration that will be felt world wide. MUSIC ~ a universal language that connects us all… truly a powerful medicine! Chi Miigwetch (thank you) to everyone who shared their beautiful voice and powerful, positive energy!”

It was an amazing and powerful day.  We were there with the Ohni:kara Singers from the Mohawk First Nation near the Niagara Region.  Actually, Ohnia:kara is a Mohawk word describing “the neck between two bodies of water” – the origin of the English word Niagara.

The day was a coming together of people from many cultures and Nations.  There was a unofficial Pow Wow and afterward we recorded vocals for Xavier’s new album, “Spirit Bird”.  It is hard to describe the atmosphere that day unless you were there, but here are a few words to start with:

“Powerful”, “Harmonious”, “Love”, “Healing”, “Indigenous”, “Earth”, “Centered”, “Moving”, “Transformation”, “Family”, “Oneness”, “One Love, One Mob”, “Stories”, “Connected”…

I could go on, but this gives you a good idea of what the vibe was.  I found Xavier to be a man on a mission. His purpose is to defend aboriginal rights, protect mother earth and bring people together with music.  I have great respect for someone who uses music as a tool to share happiness, healing and spread a worthwhile message as I am trying to do the same with my own music!

The day began with Xavier sharing the story of the Spirit Bird (the inspiration for the album title) and singing a moving song for us about the struggle and hardship that Aboriginal people have endured.  Afterward, we recorded vocals on two songs for Xavier’s new album and then had time to listen to the Ohnia:kara singers recording their powerful voices and drumming.

Check Out the Ohnia:kara Singers:

Phil Davis, one of the singers explained to me (this is my understanding of what he shared) that in the Mohawk language, there is no word for drum.  The word for drum is “heartbeat” and it represents the heartbeat of Mother Earth.  I have great respect for our First Nation People in Canada and all around the world.  They were the stewards of the earth for at least Fifty Thousand years (likely longer) and lived in harmony,  sustainability and balance.  In just a few hundred years, our Western Culture has brought the Earth to the brink of destruction.  If we are to continue to grow and survive, we must learn from each other.  We must learn from the aboriginal Elders how to live in harmony with our Mother – the Earth that gives us life.  We must blend the old ways with the modern ways and discover new methods of being – new ways of living in balance with each other and the planet.

This amazing day was full of cross-cultural exchange, music and the “one love” vibration.  This is what music and community is meant to be.

Here is a short slide show from the day:

After the recording there was food, jamming and and general good vibes.

I brought my sitar that day to play a bit for Xavier.  After hearing me, he picked up a Yidaki (didgeridoo) and we had an amazing jam session.  The Ohni:kara singers were drumming and the energy in the room was electric.  It was such an awesome moment.  My respect to Xavier Rudd, Phil Davis, Penny J. Bowers, Steven Baranyai and all the other Mohawk Singers.  Also, thanks to Rosie for organizing the day!

I look forward to jamming again soon, and hearing the new album!

Hello friends and fans,

I am happy to say that the blog is up and running again.   After an amazing 5 months overseas, I am back in Toronto and enjoying performing all over the city during this awesome summer!

I have new friends all over the world and many stories to tell from India, Australia and New Zealand.

In the coming weeks I will be posting more stories and videos from my trip.

For now I will leave you with something new and something old.

Something new:

Above is a photo of myself and Gary Diggins performing our trademarked blend of World Music for a guided Yoga class.

We played sitar, hang, didgeridoo, guitar, ngoni, bansuri, kalimba, drums and more… It was like an unplugged “Café Del Mar” -a journey around the world… to places like Africa, India and Australia.  More events like this will be coming in the near future.   Thanks to Dave Boire for taking the great photo!

Below is a photo from my trip to India – a young boy selling a pendant of Ganesh in the market.  This was in Hrishikesh – the “Yoga Capital of the World” and the place where the Beatles visited the Maharishi in the 1960’s; a visit which inspired many songs from the white album.  It was an amazing odyssey to say the least!

See you next week!!

All the best,

Prosad