Glen would like to acknowledge the lessons and support he received from fellow Australian tabla players Jeremy Tibb,

Kate Tempany and Rodney Wright during 1998-99. In 2000 Glen travelled to India for intensive tabla studies with Sri Umakanta Dash of Puri, and went on to study Delhi gharana tabla with the late Ustad Anthony Dass, who was a disciple of Delhi gharana khalifas Ustad Gameh Khan, Ustad Munnu Khan, and Ustad Inam Ali Khan.

 

More recently, Glen has studied tabla with Benaras gharana tabla players Pandit Lacchu Maharaj, and Pandit Ishwar Lal Mishra  - who is one of the foremost disciples of the legendary Pandit Anoke Lal Mishra. In 2010, Glen again received funding support from the Australia Council for the Arts to study tabla with Pandit Ishwar Lal Mishra in Varanasi.

 

Glen has also studied Lucknow and Benaras tabla with Sri Pankaj Kumar of Rishikesh, who is a disciple of Pandit Lacchu Maharaj and Pandit Kishen Maharaj. Other artists Glen has studied tabla with include Sri Akhilesh Gundecha, Sri Vibhash Maharaj, and Sri Kishore Pande.

 

In 2000/2001 Glen continued vocal studies in Chennai with Smt. Prity Chakraborty Ghose. Since that time Glen has also studied raga and vocal with famous dhrupad singers, the Gundecha Brothers.

In 2003/2004 Glen was awarded funding from the Australia Council for the Arts and the Ian Potter Cultural trust to undertake further tabla studies in India with Ustad Anthony Dass. During 2004 and 2005 Glen lived as an artist in residence at "Dunmoochin", an artists community in Melbourne's outer suburbs, which was set up by well known Australian painter Clifton Pugh in the early 1950's.  During his time at Dunmoochin, Glen devoted himself to intensive tabla riyaz.

 

Glen served for several years as a committee member of the Nataraj Cultural Centre. The Centre organizes the annual Spirit of India concerts featuring excellent artists from India. During his time with the Centre, Glen assisted in the organization of concerts featuring such luminaries as Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pandit Yogesh Samsi, Mandolin U. Srinivas, Mandolin U. Rajesh, Dr L. Subramanium, Pandit Rajendra Prasanna, Shubh Maharaj, Manjiri Kelkar, Anuradha Kuber, Dr N. Ramani, and many others.

 

Performances   

Glen has performed tabla extensively in Melbourne and throughout Australia. He has also performed in India, Japan, Holland and Denmark. His playing experience encompasses a vast range of genres including 'world music', Indian classical music, jazz, Hip- hop, rock, electronic, funk, and folk music of many styles. Bands that Glen has worked with include Disasterware, Naad, Chakradah, JuJu, Yilila, Dr Chrome, b'Borfic, Morph, Nandi, to name a few. Glen has toured with aboriginal band Yilila from Numbulwar, Arhnem land, at festivals around Australia and also joined the band for two tours to Europe. They performed at the prestigious WOMEX world music expo in Copenhagen in 2009. From 1997 to 2003 Glen performed regularly with the world music group AKIN at many festivals around Australia including:

 

• Port Fairy Folk Festival (VIC)

• Apollo Bay Music Festival (VIC)

• Maldon Folk Festival (VIC)

• Bellingen Global Carnival (NSW)

• Victor Harbour Folk Festival (SA)

• Jamberoo festival (NSW)

• Melbourne International Festival (VIC)

 

Concerts with international artists

Glen has performed tabla accompaniment in many concerts with artists from India, including Pandit Rabindra Goswami (sitar), Pandit Santosh Kumar Mishra (sarangi), Sri Sangeet Mishra (sarangi) Ustad Khalil Gudaz (sitar), Sri Vinod Prasanna (bansuri), Sugato Nag (sitar), Smt Manju Mehta (sitar), Samuel Dass (sitar), Pandit Debiprasad Chatterjee (sitar), Sabyasachi Bhattacharya (sarod), Paritosh Pohankar (vocal), and Raka Mukherjee (vocal). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Radio / TV

Glen has performed live radio broadcasts for ABC Radio National, 3PBS, 3RRR, 3MBS, 3ZZZ, and 3CR.

His music with Chris Sprague is featured on several television documentaries:

"Beyond the backyard" (ABC TV 2006), "Islam Explained" (2004), and "Hazaribag" (2002)

Glen has also recorded tabla on the soundtrack for "Taj" an Australian feature film. (2009)

 

Recordings

Glen has recorded two albums in an innovative duet with Chris Sprague:

"Resonance" (2003) and "Raga Malkauns" (2006), Both of which have received regular radio airplay. The "Resonance" album received a rave review in fRoots magazine (UK) and is rated '4 stars... highly recommended' by indie cds.com. For more information about this duet, please visit their website; www.melbournemusic.info

In February 2007 Glen recorded tabla on a track by Australian artist Michael Fein, and had the privelege of working with legendary guitarist and producer Lobby Loyde. Glen has participated in many other recording projects, please see the music page for further details.

 

Awards

2010

Australia Council for the Arts
Skills and Arts development Grant

for tabla studies with Pandit Ishwar Lal Mishra in India

 

2003 – 2004

Australia Council for the Arts
Skills and Arts development Grant

for tabla studies with Ustad Anthony Dass in India

 

2003 – 2004

Ian Potter Cultural Trust
Arts development Grant

for tabla studies with Ustad Anthony Dass in India

 

1996 – 1997

Athenaeum Award – VCA
First Year small ensemble winner 1996
Second year small ensemble second prize 1997