ADELAIDE FRINGE FESTIVAL 2011

Josh will be performing with BluGuru, Sadhana, and Sunny Singh at this year's Fringe Festival. Check out the Fringe Guide or online at FringeTIX.

Frances Folk Gathering Feb 25-27 - with BluGuru

Port Fairy Festival Mar 11-13 - with Bombay Royale

FESTIVAL SEASON!

The festival circuit is starting to ramp up again. Here's where you'll find Josh in the coming months:

Bellingen Global Carnival Oct 1-3 - with Bombay Royale

Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival Oct 22-24 - with Parvyn Singh

Australasian World Music Expo Nov 18-21 - with Bombay Royale

Adelaide Guitar Festival Nov 26-27 - Solo

Woodford Folk Festival Dec 26 - Jan 1 - with BluGuru

Cygnet Folk Festival Jan 14-16 - with Jay Dabgar

Tamworth Country Music Festival Jan 17-23 - with BluGuru

Frances Folk Gathering Feb 25-27 - with BluGuru

Adelaide Fringe Festival Mar 1-4 - with BluGuru

Port Fairy Festival Mar 11-13 - with Bombay Royale

SUFI SOUL - 31 July 7:30pm

Artbeat Management and Silk Road Music Project present SUFI SOUL!
Join Adelaide’s foremost performers in an ecstatic concert of mystical, music, song & dance from Afghanistan, North India and the Middle East. The Silk Road Music Project comprises an ensemble of talented Adelaide performers working together to present this important cultural tradition to the South Australian public and is first in a series of Sufi music concerts to be staged in 2010.

‘Sufi Soul’ features three inspirational singers, all now resident in Adelaide…. Inderjit ‘Sunny’ Singh a superb and highly acclaimed young Punjabi vocalist with many years experience as a vocalist and composer in the Bombay music industry. Farid Drokshan, formerly from Kabul in Afghanistan is a powerful exponent of the timeless folk material from the region and Shetal Dabgar a fine singer from Gujarat. They are supported by Jay Dabgar one of Australia’s top Tabla players who comes from one of Ahmadabad’s main musical families . He also runs Adelaide’s only school of Tabla percussion
Other artists supporting the singers are world music virtuoso Josh Bennett (Sitar, Dilruba and Electric Guitar), Keith Preston (Kashmiri Santoor and Bouzouki) and Quentin Eyers (Mandolin, Didgeridoo and Guitar). Each of these have performed overseas and recorded for many years with leading Indian and Afghan artists.

 

RAGAS 2 BLUE RICHES & BEYOND

The first half of the Ragas2BlueRiches&Beyond tour is now complete, and saw us on a lap around the East Coast from the National Folk festival in Canberra, via house concerts to Melbourne for gigs with Boite and Bar 303, then back up the coast to Congo, Tomerong, Bedalla, Newcastle, Karuah, Wauchope, Dorrigo... a fantastic fun musical voyage. Here's a clip from Wauchope Arts Centre:

Planning for the next tour is well underway, with some repeat visits to Dorrigo and Uralla, and many new places too.

ISTANDBUL THROUGH INDIA - 18 June 8PM

JOSH NOMINATED FOR FRINGE AWARD FOR BEST MUSIC

The 2010 Fringe season was an awesome success. Thanks to everyone who came out, bought CDs and reviewed the show.

 

SILK ROAD - SUNNY SINGH'S CD LAUNCH
MARCH 25 - NEXUS ARTS CENTRE 8 PM
Inderjit "Sunny" Singh is an accomplished Punjabi musician and singer able to perform in many styles. He has created a beautiful album of North Indian devotional music inspired by the sufi traditions and the music and songs of the Sikh faith. The album will be released in Australia and also India, where there has been considerable interest.

To celebrate the release of the CD we invite you to enjoy a concert of sufi ghazals (love poetry songs) with Inderjit accompanied by fellow musicians:-
Jay Dabgar - tabla
Josh Bennett - sitar, guitar & dilruba
Keith Preston - santoor

NEW ALBUM "ECHOES OF YOU" TO BE LAUNCHED AT FRINGE 2010

Josh's latest release, "Echoes of You" is available now on this website, and will be officially launched at the 2010 Adelaide Fringe Festival. Three shows only:

March 9 - Church of Trinity (Goodwood Rd) – 8pm

March 11 – Wheatsheaf Hotel – 8pm

March 12 – Café Komodo – 7pm

Bookings thru FringeTIX

THE GRIND SHOW
MARCH 6 AND MARCH 13 - NEXUS CABARET FROM 11PM
Adelaide Fringe audiences are invited to take a late-night journey through the looking glass into the dark retreat that is The Grind Show – a musical mash-up of Gypsy, Klezmer, Tango, Samba and Ska, only at Nexus Cabaret each Friday and Saturday night during the 2010 Fringe. Saturdays 6 and 13 March will also feature Josh Bennett versus Sen Bednikov in a wild, trans-continental music bout.

MUSIC OF THE SILK ROAD
FEBRUARY 20 - SA FOLK CENTRE 7:30PM
A sublime concert of traditional, devotional, classical and popular sufi-style music from the ancient silk trade routes of Afghanistan, India and the Middle East, featuring vocalists Sunny Singh, Shetal Dabgar and Farid Drokhshan, Jay Dabgar on tabla, Keith Preston on santoor and bazouki, and yours truly on sitar, guitar and dilruba.

BLUES TO BESERK TOUR 2010
I'll be back on the road launching the new CD and generally having a wild musical adventure (if last year is anything to go by) with Andrew Clermont and the lovely Parvyn from March 16, with gigs lined up thus far until June. Many dates still available, and we're keen to perform for willing friends if they want to host a House Concert. These are a lot of fun - just invite 30 or so of your friends around for a party, everyone chips in to cover expenses, and we are your entertainment! It's the new (and my favourite) way to tour. Shoot me an email if you're keen or want more info on how to host a concert. If you're in VIC, NSW or QLD and have a venue nearby that you think we should play at, let me know that too.
Dates and Venues to be announced in the coming weeks.

SAPTAK MUSIC FESTIVAL

Josh will be performing on 8th January at the 30th Annual Saptak Festival in Ahmedabad, India. This festival is one of the most prestigious programs for Indian Classical Music, with 13 nights of music showcasing the best artists from India and abroad. This year, Josh is the only non-Indian to perform, and will be representing the Saptak School of Music on Sitar, with fellow Saptak student Jay Dabgar on tabla. Other artists to be performing this year include Shahid Parvez, Zakir Hussain, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Kumar Bose, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Sultan Khan and Pandit Jasraj.

Click here for the full program.