Niel Golden

Toronto-born Niel Golden is a talented percussionist specializing in the subtle yet powerful, tuned, paired, hand drums called tabla. Niel played guitar as a teen, hauling it along on an overland trek from Europe to India in 1972. Whetting his appetite for exotic music, he began his studies in world music and attended York University upon his return to Canada. While at York, he first studied mrdangam with Trichy Sankaran, and then tabla with Bob Becker of the world renowned percussion ensemble, Nexus. Niel received his honours B.A., specializing in ethnomusicology, and soon after became the disciple of the tabla master, Pandit Sharda Sahai, the fifth generation leader of the Benares style of playing. Pandit Sahai taught regular two month intensive summer tabla classes in Toronto throughout the 1980's and Niel spent as much time he could learning from his Guru during those months. In 1986 he became a resident of Victoria. Diving into the vibrant music scene, he helped form the world, folk fusion trio, New Earth. Their self-titled CD took them to Seville, Spain where they represented Canada for 6 weeks at Expo '92. Moving in a new direction, 1993 saw the creation of Djole. Blending ... more...