Join us on Friday 8th January 2016, at the Holy Rood Family Hall,  Oxenford for a night of Inspiration, Meditation that connects us all to our Body, Mind and Soul.

This months special guests are Ganden Jangtse Monks of Tibet, and the amazing music with Tenzin Choeygal and Taro Terahara.

Connect with like minded hearts ♥ and souls from all over South East Queensland.

We ask you come a half an hour earlier at 6pm for 6.30pm start on the dot so we can get more out of the night

Tenzin Choegyal Tenzin  draws on his tradional Tribetan roots to create original compositions which uniquely express his cultural Lineage.

He was born to a nomadic family in southwest Tibet, escaped into Nepal from the Chinese occupation and was raised in the Tibetan refugee community in Dharamsala, India. It was there, where His HTashi Lhujhnpo Monoliness the Dalai Lama actively encourages his people to preserve their culture through language, religion and arts, Tenzin first began to explore his musical talents.

Over the last two decades, collaboration with numerous Australian and International performers has allowed Tenzin room to experiment with rhythm, structure and to challenge traditional Tibetan musical norms.  His award winning songs have found a place in the complex tapestry of global sounds.

Tenzin feels a particular connection to the music of the wandering people of his homeland. He recalls his father’s mastery of the lingbu (transverse bamboo flute) and his mother’s beautiful singing voice and attributes much of his passion to those early influences. His music has been described as “beautifully evocative,” “healing,” “mesmerizing,” “spine-tingling,” and “transcendent.”

Tenzin’s cantering rhythms, soaring vocals and exquisite flute solos have enchanted audiences around the globe. He regularly tours internationally to the US, Japan, New Caledonia, India and New Zealand and has touched the lives of thousands of people with his music and his concern for his fellow human beings. Tenzin is the founder, organizer and creative force behind the Brisbane Festival of Tibet.  This annual festival celebrates Tibetan culture while raising awareness of the issues that threaten the future of Tibet and funds for Tibetans in exile.

Below is a clip of Tenzin and Taro here on the Gold Coast a few years ago 

Taro Terahara is one of the leading musicians in the thriving and highly competitive Indian classical music scene in Japan. His music comfortably spans the full range from contemplative soulful alaap (slow non-rhythmic introduction) to exciting, rhythmic jhala (fast-paced finale). He has a great command of sur (tuning) and lay (timing), with the ability to compose innovative taans and tihais on the spur of the moment, yet all of this is tempered by a beautiful humility and devotion to the mood and spirit of the raga. His music both engages the mind and touches the heart.
Born in 1968 to two junior high school teachers, Terahara had a relatively free childhood.

From an early age he enjoyed playing flutes and whistles while walking home from school, and later making his own flutes and taking part in school performances. At the age of 10 he began playing trumpet in the athletics carnival brass band, having been chosen for trumpet by a game of janken (rocks-paper-scissors). He continued playing trumpet for ten years or more, joining high school and university jazz bands.

At the age of 17 his musical outlook started to change when he was “shocked” on coming into contact with Sufi music and dance such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Pakistani Qawalli singer) and the Mevlevi Dancers (Sufi Whirling Dervishes of Turkey), as well as other than non-Western music. He was also greatly influenced by Keith Jarrett’s “The Koln Concert”, and remembers being inspired that “just one person could perform such beautiful music for a full hour through pure improvisation.” While continuing in the university jazz band, he also joined the university gamelan group, “Dharma Bhudaya”, and became ryuteki (a type of Japanese flute) leader in the university Gagaku orchestra (Japanese court music).

Along with these eclectic influences, Terahara started avidly collecting and studying the CDs of Indian classical music masters such as Pt. Nikhil Banerjee (sitar), Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia (bansuri), Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma (santoor) and U. Zakir Hussain (tabla). In 1991, the world-renowned master of bansuri Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia came to Japan and performed in the All Night Concert at Xebec Hall, Kobe. Terahara “heard the voice of the bansuri calling to him” and immediately decided that “I will, without question, learn to master this flute!”

Taro Terahara has performed Indian classical music across the whole of Japan as well as in India. He has visited Australia for concerts most years since 2006, performing at Woodford Folk Festival, Festival of Tibet, and numerous concerts around the country. Moreover, he has proved his versatility by collaborating in performances with Odissi dance, Arabic and Chinese music, jazz, etc, with fabulous results. He also teaches bansuri and Indian classical vocal , as well as teaching Indian music to students of various musical instruments such as violin and bass.

The Ganden Jangtse Monks Gaden Monastery was originally founded in Tibet by Lama Tsongkhapa, the great preacher, saint and indigenous Tibetan Buddhist scholar, who also founded the Gelugpa School or “yellow hat” branch of Tibetan

Buddhism. Gaden Monastery was one of the three most renowned monasteries of Tibet. It was built on a large mountain; a calm, peaceful and highly suitable place for spiritual development. The monastery is located approximately 50 kilometres east of the city of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.

Ganden Jangtse monks of tibet with his Holiness the Dalia Lama

In the early 1900’s Gaden Monastery had a population of more than 3,300 monks. In 1950’s the population had grown to around 5,000. The Monastery housed monks of all ages with some enrolling as young as seven years old. Gaden quickly became well-known for its moral discipline and academic and spiritual values and new monks travelled from every part of Tibet, Mongolia, China, Japan and Northern India to take ordination. All monks engaged in rigorous study programs as well as training in specific vocations such as music, art, sculpture and administration.

The Monastery houses two colleges – Shartse and Jangtse. In both colleges Buddhist sutra and tantra are taught and practiced in a combined program. This contrasts with many other Gelug monas-teries, where study of sutra and tantra are conducted separately. Thus monks trained at Gaden are highly knowledgeable in both fields.

Cameron says, “Yes I have a dream”.

I dream of a wonderful community where everyone knows each others names, a community filled with amazing talents and skills where we can celebrate the diversity of being human.

Click though to read more of Camerons Vision.

Cameron Monley and Lyza Saint Ambrosena are committed to bringing quality experts from the alternative health, yoga, meditation, healthy eating, wellness and spiritual growth industries together and call these regular gatherings of like minded locals from both Gold Coast and Brisbane, The Infinite Connection –  an organisation that promotes and networks with people wanting more out of life.

Learn more about the infinite Connection Events

Phone Cameron on 0414714948 

COST: $20 Prepaid $25 at door

Location The Holy Rood Family Centre 192 Oxenford Tamborine Road Oxenford. Cross Street is Old Tamborine Road