justinkagan1
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(10/10/00 8:39:54 am)
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from mini-tour
Dear All:
After returning late
last night from the West Coast venues of the AR Rahman tour, I can
say that a distorted clock is definitely overrated and am happy to
be home; don't particularly envy you CSOers at the moment, though
I'd love to visit Argentina and Brazil. We had 6 amazing Brasileras
in the concerts (ex-Stomp-ites)who wowed with their percussion
exploits and great rhythm. We were backing up the most prominent
Indian film score composer, who is positively worshiped by the
Indian community the world over (and the well-known singers who
accompanied us)...real fusion of styles, from super traditional raga
to pop-inflected new age-y material. Pretty boring on our end,
especially the sitting on stage for a total of 4 hours every
concert, but playing for 30K folks at the Skydome in Toronto was
interesting. The Indian percussionists were amazing, frankly...talk
about love of their craft! Positively unjaundiced folks, very laid
back, except at the food lines...I can take a break from the Hindu
food for a long while! Bloat city...
It was nice to share
cultures...the Indian cellist from Madras (there were 3 of us) was a
nice guy, classically-trained, from Madras, like most of the
"locals"...the real star of the event, aside from, Rahman himself,
was a percussionist named Seva, who has a real universality to his
playing, having toured with Billy Cobham and other jazz and
Afro-Cuban luminaries. Mini-highlight was meeting violinist L.
Subramaniam, who accompanied the group, though he wasn't playing.
Very humble guy, like all of the Indian musicians.
San Fran is a
great city, can't wait to return on a VACATION. Good to be
home.
justin
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