Use the form on the right to contact us.
You can edit the text in this area, and change where the contact form on the right submits to, by entering edit mode using the modes on the bottom right.
123 Street Avenue, City Town, 99999
(123) 555-6789
email@address.com
You can set your address, phone number, email and site description in the settings tab.
Link to read me page with more information.
Praesent commodo cursus magna, vel scelerisque nisl consectetur et. Curabitur blandit tempus porttitor. Fusce dapibus, tellus ac cursus commodo, tortor mauris condimentum nibh, ut fermentum massa justo sit amet risus. Cras mattis consectetur purus sit amet fermentum. Cras mattis consectetur purus sit amet fermentum.
I miss him dearly, and am at the same time, overjoyed to have known him. What a wonderful wonderful man, and what a wonderful world his music has created, and will always create…
Read MoreMaestro sarod player and composer Steve Oda, and master tabla player and composer Ty Burhoe have been formally recognized with minor planets named in their honor. Announced June 3, 2020 in a publication by the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics, under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union, the newly-designated minor planets ‘Steveoda’ (304908), and ‘Tyburhoe’ (306479) will orbit the sun in near-perpetuity, carrying now the names of these musical masters…
Read MoreRam Dass passed just yesterday, at the age of 88 years of age. He was someone the world knew as the author of the book “Be Here Now” and a number of other best selling books on Spirituality and Human Relations & Growth. He was a being who walked his talk and really lived in the truth of his teachings.
I met him back in 1999 when I was first beginning my work with Krishna Das. As you may know…
Read MoreI just returned from a 10 day whirlwind tour of Japan. This was a special visit because it included performing in some places where I have never had a chance to perform before. I’d like to share with you some of the highlights.
I began my tour in Gotenba…
Read MoreI just spent a great week with sarangi maestro Harsh Narayan. Harsh is the grandson of the great sarangi legend Pandit Ram Narayan who basically put the sarangi on the Indian Classical music map. I have a story to tell about this unique musical collaboration…
Read MoreAlways lots of stories inside each tour, but for now, I wanted to share the over view of the journey with you and the second half of this tour is coming at the end of April 2018, so I recommend you find a way to see this All Star band if you can. A truly wonderful fusion!
Read More...now, bringing us back up to this current album release, the sweetest chapter of this journey was during the years I was living with my son Shaun up in the mountains outside Boulder Colorado in a cabin. And for his bed time stories, I would accompany them with my simple, alter tuned guitar style. And from those came the melodies that have become this album. Never intended for sharing outside of that private home setting, but now I feel have a place in other family's homes or for those who could use a bit of calm, open imagination in these busy times.
Read MoreThe tour started out at SF Jazz in San Francisco with Zakir, bass legend Dave Holland, sax virtuoso Chris Potter, drumming heroes Vinnie Colaiuta & Eric Harland, India’s Louiz Banks on piano, Sanjay Divecha on guitar and the world renowned vocalist Shankar Mahadevan. Wow, what a line up...
Read MoreI joined Krishna Das in Denver for a reunion concert along with 1000 kirtan loving Coloradans. It had been 8 years since we last played together and it was love at first beat, as usual...
Read MoreMy most recent tour was with my Tokyo based trio, YO ~ which features Yutaka Oyama (shamisen), Akihisa Kominato (shakuhachi) & myself on tabla. This was our second tour and already the music and relationships are deepening into a meaningful and sustainable collaboration...
Read MoreZakir was totally amazing on this tour (of course), in my book he just keeps getting deeper and clearer in his music. Even just being around him during a casual sound checks is like getting a lesson in creativity, power and musical grace. I am consistently in awe of his musical spirit and abundant awareness which shows up in pretty much all things surround his life.
The featured new member of the Masters of Percussion was drum set legend, Steve Smith (from the band Journey). He actually was the first westerner ever to join the group and added such a cool element, both musically and inter-personally...
Read MoreI recently returned from a great tour with my Tokyo based group, YO. It was an amazing trip which covered some of my favorite spots along the west coast. These two artists are among the top in their field of traditional art and at the very top when it comes to modern and fusion music. So together, we were able to create a show that begins and show cases each of our ancient and very traditional playing styles and then work our way into a true blending of modern styles which we all three have grown up with.
Read MoreSo from my retreat in Boulder, I jumped on a plane and made it out to Zakir's master class retreat in CA. Which, as you can imagine, is a yearly highlight for me. It is when I get to see all my weak points quite vividly, and how much I would like to keep studying all aspects of the tabla and music in general. Plus it is a chance to see my tabla family from around the world who also have been coming for some years...
Read MoreBefore leaving for Japan, I began with a visit to my dear guru bhai Michael Lewis and family out in California. Michael is one of my closest musical friends and is the person who took me into his home in 1990 when I first use to go to Zakir's classes. I generally would sleep in my car at night because I was to poor to afford a hotel room. Michael had been studying with Zakir since the early 1970s and not only shared his home with me, but his musical wisdom. We'd stay up late into the night playing tabla and he would generously guide me through my many tabla (life) questions...
Read MoreI am on the road at the moment with my teachers Ustad Zakir Hussain and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. As some of you know from my past Diary entries, we have been doing this spring tour with Shivkumar Sharma every two years since 2000. So off we go on yet another adventure.
This tour is such a highlight amongst the tour managing I do for my Guru Zakir because of the purity and intimacy of the music that these two maestros share...
I spent a couple of weeks over the holidays in Japan doing some workshops and live events which were wonderful and unique. My friend and student Mikoto Seto set up an event called JoOn (which means purifying sound) in Kobe Japan. It was intended to help us clear and clean our minds and hearts for the upcoming year. To give thanks for the blessings of this past year and of the gifts of our lives.
Read MoreIt was an interesting start to the tour because when I arrived, I cleared customs in the Gold Coast which is renowned for being strict on Quarantine. And even though I have been to Australia over a dozen times (through Sydney) without an issue, this time they confiscated my drums and said I could not bring them into the country. WHAT!??!!?? So I had no option but to leave them at the Immigration office and get on my next flight to go up to Sydney to meet Steve. I really didn't know what I would do for about 24 hours until I finally got through to an officer in Canberra who knew what the tabla drums are and said that if I can pay the fee of $300 and fax over the appropriate forms, then she will give me the permit to bring them in and promise to leave with them. So I jumped on that deal and the next morning (which was the day of the first concert) I drove up to the Gold Coast and picked up my drums. Wow - what a scare…
Read MoreIt is interesting that from the time I discovered the Native American path, I immediately was drawn to it on an almost instinctive way. When I was about 22 years old, I met my shaman teacher up in Montana (Listening Thunder of the Cree people) and spent 11 years apprenticing with him (sweat lodge, pipe ceremony, sun dance). Then, some years later, found out from my father that our family, back in the 1700s gained Algonquian blood on my grandfathers side and I am actually 1/16th Native American...
Read MoreThis year's Japan tour was an amazing experience. I made the decision to stay in Japan longer and arrange fewer concerts so that I could sink into simply being in Japan in a deeper way. Most of my time was spent in Kyoto where there are so many beautiful temples, deep green forests, mountains, rivers and fresh air. (Not to mention great food:)
Read MoreI spent the summer teaching a number of retreats around the US and actually only did a handful of performances. It has been nice to take a little break from doing so many concerts and just focus on teaching and developing projects for the future. One of the highlights of my summer months is always my Guruji's master class retreat in Northern California, so I'll try to share a little of each of these retreats.
Read More