Magda Productions teams up again with Menaka, performing songs from her recent debut album, “My Eyes Can See”. This critically acclaimed CD and her spectacular debut at BEMAC brings Menaka to the forefront of local / international creative singer-songwriting - merging myriad cultural heritages and genres. Few songwriters can seamlessly merge 3 languages into 1 song: Hindi, Tibetan and English!
A few years ago, Menaka could barely see. She couldn’t tell the difference between a knife and fork, or decipher how many fingers were held in front of her face. In her road to recover, her debut album “My Eyes Can See” was born. Her sound is a fusion of Indian classical music with contemporary influences.
The night promises to be one of soul stirring music and raw emotion. Once again, the Magda vision shows how beautifully people - no matter who they are, are making this a sweeter, richer, more elegant and harmonious land.
Saturday October 26th, 5pm. Holy Trinity Hall, Church St, Valley
Book now! Diarise now. Tix: $20 / $25.
Also on stage with Menaka will be: Darshil Shah, Tsoof Baras, Evan Osborne, Meg Burstow, Magha Maria and Shayne Cook. [C.V.'s below.]
Supper: a full meal will be lovingly prepared by The Vedanta Centre. [Refer below for further detail.]
"I experience a great sense of fulfillment and freedom in being able to express the devotion of Indian music with other world music sounds. It enables and challenges me to use my voice in different ways and explore melody and harmony with freedom and creativity."
Menaka’s sound is a fusion of musical worlds, bringing together a number of Queenslands leading multi-instrumentalists - including Darshil Shah (Bansuri flutes), Tsoof Baras (percussion), Meg Burstow (piano), Shayne Cook (guitar), Evan Osborne (bass guitar).
Menaka hails from a musical family, deeply rooted in South Indian classical music, her exploration within realms of song writing has endowed her with a unique sound, which intersects traditional and contemporary, East and West.
Menaka's story is inspirational: "I have been singing for as long as I can remember. I learned the traditional art of South Indian (Carnatic) music from a young age of 5 from my mother, Vijaya Visvanathan (Red more here.)
This concert is timed especially so all the family can be present. No one is too young or too old for a Magda concert!
Book now! Diarise now: Saturday 26th October. Holy Trinity Hall, Church St, Valley.
A glorious full vegetarian meal (rice, curry and a sweet) with all proceeds going to The Vedanta Centre: $10 for a meal .... and of course, there'll be chai. Go to the booking link to pre-book your meal.
Helping weave the magic tonight will be other performers, who we will list progressively:
First is Darshil Shah: Financial Advisor by day and Musician by heart, Darshil has been learning and playing Bansuri (Bamboo Flute) since 2002. Based in Brisbane, Australia since 2009, Darshil has a dream of passing on the legacy of Ancient Indian Classical Music to cross-cultural communities and the next generation of musicians.
Born & Brought up in Mumbai, he has had the privilege of learning music from some of the Best Bansuri Players of Malhar Gharana (Lineage). His current guru is Shri. Partha Sarkar who is a senior disciple of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Though his roots and core interest are based in exploring Hindustani (North Indian) Classical Ragas, he also has an extensive experience in playing for Live Kathak Dance Shows, Yoga, Devotional (Bhajan), Meditation, Jazz, Ghazal, Bollywood and World Music collaborations.
From Solo performance experiences to being part of a group ensemble, he is an avid listener who always welcomes new ideas to complement the genre of music being played. Darshil is ambitious and very passionate about spreading the awareness of this natural instrument. His vision is to see a lot more people play and explore the beauty and sound of Bansuri. To find out more about Darshil and the Lovely Bansuri, please visit www.bamboomagic8.com
[Followers of Magda's will remember Vinod Prassana playing beautiful Bansuri flute for us in November 2015.]
Introducing the very cool Tsoof Baras - the main percussionist for the evening: With over 17 years of performance experience and study, Tsoof is a composer, percussionist, session musician, hand drummer and graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium. He has performed as a percussionist with the Qld Pops Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Ipswich Theatre Company, Salseros and Spankinhide, Brisbane’s longest running African drumming ensemble. Tsoof is a founder and predominant composer of SOUNDSTRUCK, a Brisbane based percussion group dedicated to delivering high impact and entertaining percussion music with visual effects. He has travelled around the country with his ensemble performing at large sporting events and corporate events. Recently returning from a month-long study tour of Guinea, West Africa, he is focussing his energy on developing the ensembles he is a part of, integrating years of hand drumming experience into his projects and performing as a freelance percussionist.
Introducing the charming Evan Osborne... Evan is a trumpet player, arranger, and educator who loves sharing music. A motivated bandleader, Evan is the manager of Phat Sauce, one of Brisbane’s premiere function bands, and the founder and musical director of Brisbane’s Straight Up Jazz Collective, one of the city’s most vibrant youth big bands. Evan is a versatile session musician who currently works as a trumpet player, double bassist and keyboard player in Brisbane’s live music scene, while teaching and studying music locally. Current projects include 9-piece salsa band Salseros, New Orleans band Crescent City Players, and the Con Artists Jazz Orchestra.
lntroducing the amazing pianist, Meg Burstow... Meg Burstow is a classically trained jazz pianist with a passion for discovering and sharing new areas of music with audiences, colleagues, and students.
Skilled in a range of genres from salsa through to pop, she holds a Bachelor of Music (Performance) with Distinction from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, where she was also the recipient of the Sid SJ Bromley Jazz Award for Outstanding Student (2017), the Victoria Chalmers Education Award (2014), and the Sir Samuel Griffith Scholarship.
Her work as a composer and songwriter of jazz and pop fusion blends harmonic complexity with catchy, appealing melodies, and is available now on SoundCloud and YouTube.
Originally from rural Queensland, Meg currently works as a session musician, bandleader, accompanist, and educator around Brisbane.
You can find information on upcoming gigs, as well as watch, listen, and contact Meg at www.megburstow.com.
Megha Maria Alex, lives in Brisbane and is currently studying at a southside high school. Megha started singing when she was 2. Her first stage performance was at the age of 4. In 2012, Megha started Carnatic lessons with Menaka Thomas, who gave her confidence and support to grow in music. Megha has had the opportunity to sing with renowned singers, including Shri Unni Menon and Najim Arshad.
Megha has also been part of a liturgical album called “ Snehasparsham” by Sam Thomas from Dubai. Snehasparsham gave Megha her first experience in recording. Megha currently learns from Sunil Koshy from Bangalore, India who is founder of “From Mug To Mike”. He conducts music workshops all over India and Dubai with the legendary Playback Singers K S Chithra and Hariharan.
Megha has also participated in Key Framez International Online Music Reality Show Season 3, her first competition experience.