স্যাম ইভান্স

Dr Sam Evans is an Australian tabla player, composer and teacher based in Melbourne. He studied for a decade with Anindo Chatterjee in Kolkata and with Zakir Hussain in America. He founded the Melbourne Tabla School and is the only Australian to hold a PhD in tabla. He teaches through the vocalised rhythms, the bols, so that students take the music in before it reaches the fingers. He composes for film and documentaries and runs several contemporary ensembles.

A tabla is a pair of hand drums. The smaller drum, the dayan, is wooden, sits under the right hand and carries the pitch. The larger drum, the bayan, sits under the left hand and gives the bass. The bayan is most often copper, sometimes clay or wood, and the player bends its bass by pressing the heel of the palm into the head while striking.

Each head carries a black circle of tuning paste. The paste weights the skin and adds overtones. The dayan rings at a clear pitch, and the bayan gives a deep bass with a looser pitch that the palm can shift.

KalaSudha presents Indian classical music in Reading and lists each concert on its Reading page, with a link to book. To hear when the next Reading date is set, press Register for updates there or join the KalaSudha newsletter.

KalaSudha has presented concerts at The Great Hall on the London Road Campus, the University of Reading's original home, as part of the Kala Festival.

Pandit Debasis Chakroborty is a Hindustani slide guitarist and the senior-most disciple of Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra, and his playing reflects Kabra's style. His name is also written Debasis Chakraborty. He plays in the Senia-Maihar gharana and has taught since 1992.

He has been part of the Department of Performing Arts at Mangalayatan University since its inception, and returns to universities in Australia and the USA as a conductor-performer and artist-in-residence. He helped carry out a joint music research project between Mangalayatan University and Monash University, and has published 10 research papers.

Yes. To book Dr Sam Evans for a concert or event, email [email protected] with the date, the place and the type of event, and KalaSudha will come back to you. He plays tabla in traditional Indian music and contemporary world music, as a soloist and an accompanist.