Sutradhaar

This album is in many ways a story of Bobby’s musical journey — a journey that he embarked on, and which is ongoing, with the tabla as his medium of expression in various musical contexts. Along this journey, he has played with some of the finest musicians in Australia, who I have had the privilege of meeting and working with due to their close rapport with Bobby. For me, Bobby is the narrator or sutradhaar who connects all the threads in this story. Though I have composed the tracks on this album individually and at times with Sandy Evans, a musician and composer for whom I have the greatest of respect, I have sought to frame the compositions in away that would bring forth Bobby’s musical personality through the tabla. Each of the tracks on this album features various facets of his musicianship in addition to demon- strating the camaraderie he enjoys with friends on this album, I have learnt much from my interaction with the superlative musicians who have breathed life into my compositions, and I thank each of them for their creative inputs. I hope music lovers will enjoy the album as much as we did while recording it and I look forward to a time in the not too distant future when I will have the pleasure of listening to these tracks in a live concert.

I am very grateful to Aneesh and Bobby for trusting me with the role of arranging Aneesh’s compositions for this wonderful ensemble of Australian musicians. The arranging process was very collaborative. Aneesh sang his me- lodic ideas and shared them with me and Bobby on WhatsApp. Bobby then helped me understand and transcribe the melodic and rhythmic elements of Aneesh’s compositions. Bobby and Aneesh then both shared their thoughts about the musical structure, improvisatory approaches, feeling, aesthetic and orchestration for each composition. Bobby selected an extraordinary group of musicians to play the music. Each one of them is a brilliant musician with a unique voice, and a deep personal connection to Bobby’s life and music. For me, it was an absolute joy to have such a rich palette of musical sounds, languages and unique voices to play with during the arranging process. At the heart of every decision about musical choices was understanding and foregrounding the sublime, subtle, powerful and innovative tabla playing and language of Bobby as directed by a true master — Aneesh Pradhan. Nothing can describe the profound expe- rience of working with Aneesh and Bobby in the studio as they collectively expressed so much nuance, poetry, groove and inventiveness to create the heart of the very special musical dialogue that unfolded.

None of this would be possible with out the love and support of my teacher Dr Aneesh Pradhan, his insight in to my tabla playing meant he composed these pieces perfectly to suit my abilities, having his presence in the recording studio was an unreal experience that none of the musicians involved can forget, i am forever in gratitude to him. All the musicians involved in this recording are people I have had an individual relationship with over many years, they are my family. In my experience with collaborations I felt that the best connections were made on a personal level as humans and not dependent on the instrument that was played. We have toured around the world together, we have shared our food and stayed in each other’s homes, many a day has been spent talking about the meaning of life together and then the music was played and it felt like we have been playing together for lifetimes. I was fortunate to have many individuals support me in this project such as my guru-bhai Dhaivat Mehta who helped me with guidance from Aneesh ji for many months. I was meeting my dear friend and the arranger of the music Sandy Evans as many times as I could to translate the ideas that Aneesh ji had sent us, and try to imagine how they would sound in such a varied ensemble. Sandy arranged all the pieces and wrote out the harmonies and passages with Aneesh ji’s consultation, she also met and rehearsed with everyone individually in different cities and really put all the work in to create the pieces as they are in the recording. When we finally had everyone in the room for rehearsals we then decided on who would play where and what sounds would work together or apart, then it was the creativity and individual improvisations by everyone that just made it all come alive. Also one of the key collaborators, and the person who put it all together is our dearest Jordan Verzar, he did all the running around to get this project off the ground and without him none of this would have been possible, i am eternally grateful to all these amazing individuals for making a dream come true.