…how do you account for a year? Well, give or take, a year. And no, this post has nothing to do with musicals; I used to be a Rent-head once upon a time, so every time I think of a length of time that constitutes a year, I think of it in minutes. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Youtube! I digress, but that song is part of musical history.
Well, since I last wrote here my guitar has seen me grow, learn, forget, and relearn, win, lose, travel, weather a storm or two, see great things, and meet the most wonderful and inspiring people. I have also faced down and fixed focal dystonia. More on that in a section that I’ll start working on soon.
So what am I saying, really, with this post? I suppose I’m writing this most of all to set the ball rolling again, but also to remind myself of all the guitaristic things I have seen, done, and experienced since last summer. A diary entry if you will. I’ll also post sundry pictures and video that I have managed to collect in due course. Briefly then, so I don’t forget what this year was filled with for me when I look back, here’s giving thanks for:
- A great concert experience playing in St Andrew’s Church, Bangalore. Thanks, IMAS! To date, that grand old church on Cubbon Road is my favourite place to have played. Hope I can be back there again soon, and production-wise, this time I’ll know what I’m getting into.
- The phenomenally good fortune of touring in the harshest of conditions last Christmas with a seasoned pro, my friend Johannes Moller, who was incredibly kind to take me along on his tour of north India. Watching Johannes function on the road was a fast-track education in the aspects of musicianship that one usually has to learn slowly, through trial and (much) error.
- The one-in-a-million coming together of a psychology degree I never thought I’d use, years of experience in sports science and the resultant kinaesthetic insight, and technical understanding as a guitarist. I now know the big, bad musician’s cramp for what it is, and more importantly, how to help people overcome it systematically, certainly, and with minimal loss of time.
- The openness, friendship, and kindness I encountered at every turn during my sojourn in Sweden, from everyone at India Unlimited, the Indian Embassy in Stockholm, and of course, the wonderful Mollers. Also, the opportunity and challenge to play in so many different, often not at all traditional classical guitar situations! Bollywood? Check. At Kungstradgarden? Double check. With a cool-as-cucumber-spritzer tabla player, and illustrious dancers of various artistic persuasions? Kathak? Modern? The style I’ll just call je ne sais quoi? Oh yes, that too. I took home two things from Stockholm. The sky is the limit, and people can be wonderful.
- Going to Bangkok for the Asia International Guitar Festival was really going home at last. I forgot how much that city means to me (I left home for university from there, and never went back), and I can’t wait to be back there again.
- And in different ways, I got to play for three people who might easily make the list of greatest Indians of the 20th Century! Learning Piya Baj Pyala from Nishant in four days to play it for an audience that included Naseeruddin Shah was a bit hair raising, but I dare say it went alright; the concerts in memory of Zohra Sehgal and Jagat Mehta were at once great honours and humbling exercises in contemplating what it means to be all that one can be.
That’s all he wrote, for now – here’s to being back in the swing of things!
The Well-Tempered Guitar 