We are delighted that venues are now able to open their doors to safely welcome audiences in accordance with COVID-19 regulations. We are currently working on a number of projects. Stay tuned for further announcements.
Stay Connected Digitally
Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Watch our selected footage from our live music events. Our performance footage includes high calibre artists such as Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Sain Zahoor, Debashish Bhattacharya, Harshdeep Kaur, Malkit Singh, PunjabTronix and more. We will be releasing content from our upcoming projects soon.
Asian Arts Agency is a non-profit making organisation. We rely on events, grants, donations and ticket sales to deliver our work. We have lost the majority of our events income for this year. We are requesting our supporters for their contributions to support our work so we can carry on developing new ideas and presenting the best of South Asian music when we are able to do so.
If you would like to consider a donation please click here.
We would like to thank our audience and our friends for all the support shown through donations and engagement on our digital channels.
First of all we are sending lots of good wishes for everyone. These are tough and unchartered times and it’s important more than ever that we all stick together and support each other to get through these difficult times.
We want the best for our staff, artists, our audiences and wider society which is at the core of our work. As per the Government’s advice our team is now working remotely.
With the majority of public venues now closed, we have cancelled all our events until the end of May. We will keep monitoring the situation and provide an update on our events and tours from June 2020 onwards both in the UK and internationally from our website, newsletter and our social media channels.
The safety and well-being of everyone involved with our work is our utmost priority.
Wishing you all the best with getting through these challenging times.
We presented two concerts with esteemed Carnatic musicians Shreya Devnath & Praveen Sparsh in March 2020 at the Assembly Rooms of Glastonbury and the Glass Studio, St George’s Bristol.
The artists presented their project AAVAM, a musical journey through Indian classical and folk cultures.
THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS OF GLASTONBURY
The first concert took place at the Assembly Rooms of Glastonbury. The audience reaction was superb:
“This was deeply moving, inspiring an nourishing for the soul. I’m very grateful to have experienced this.”
“Special music and great venue”.
Watch the encore below:
We are looking forward to presenting #Carnatic music in the Glass Studio @stgeorgesbris this afternoon – with the incredible artists 🎻 Shreya Devnath & Praveen Sparsh 🎫 https://t.co/XDU6CSdvaU
The concert in the new Glass Studio at St George’s Bristol was part of a new series curated by Asian Arts Agency, inviting the audience to explore and learn more about Indian music in an intimate setting.
The inspiring performance was followed by an inquisitive questions and answers session with the musicians. The session encouraged the audience to get to know Carnatic music and the instruments, particularly the traditional mrdangam.
We produced a successful 6 date UK Tour with Hashmat Sultana in Feb – March 2020.
Hashmat Sultana are the most exciting contemporary Sufi and punjabi artists to emerge from India in the last two years. The debut UK tour followed their acclaimed WOMAD appearance in 2018. Presented with a live band consisting of 5 top UK musicians, the tour provided an excellent opportunity for collaboration between UK and Indian artists.
INCREDIBLE AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
The audience feedback during the tour has been incredible. Here is a selection:
“Absolutely brilliant, they had me crying tears of joy.”
“Wasn’t expecting to dance tonight thank you to the brilliant Hashmat Sultana and the great people we met afterwards.”
“Brilliant evening had by all – Thank you to Asian arts for hosting such a fabulous evening- great energy and diversity! More please!”
“Really good evening. Great voices and energy. Loved the band. Hope they return to Bristol.”
“Absolutely fantastic and an excellent evening with Hashmat Sultana and Asian Arts.The voice of two sisters kept the hall warm all the way to the end.Just loved the way sang and deliver the vibes.Hope to see live and more like these shows from Asian arts agency.”
NEW VENUES
Venues included Norden Farm Centre for the Arts in Maidenhead, Folkestone Quarterhouse, Bridport Arts Centre, Arnolfini in Bristol, AT7 Centre in Coventry and Sage Gateshead.
We were delighted to take our work to venues in parts of Britain we had not been to before including Norden Farm, Folkestone Quarterhouse and Bridport Arts Centre. The response was highly encouraging. Bridport Arts Centre stated on Twitter:
— Asian Arts Agency (@AsianArtsAgency) March 3, 2020
In our home city ,Bristol, the concert took place at the Arnolfini and was sold out.
MUSIC OF THE SUFIS
Presenting a refreshing and contemporary twist on traditional Punjabi folk and Sufi music from India, the performances featured Sufi poetry and songs from the great Punjabi Sufi poets, such as Baba Bulleh Shah and Shah Hussain.
With powerful Punjabi vocal performances and incredible versatility, the sisters gave electrifying performances.
Watch a short clip of Hashmat Sultana performing the Sufi classic Mast Qalandar at the Arnolfini:
We presented award-winning composer, record producer and tabla player Kuljit Bhamra with drummer Davide Giovannini and the acclaimed Villiers Quartet at St George’s Bristol in February 2020.
Bhamra’s unique multi-tabla set combined with strings to create percussion-led grooves and poly-rhythms .
Presented in association with St George’s Bristol.
This year is the 25th Birthday of The National Lottery.
We’re excited to be a part of the celebrations by joining in the #ThanksToYou campaign.
This celebrates the contribution of National Lottery players in supporting good causes over the past 25 years!
Since The National Lottery’s first draw took place on 19 November 1994, more than £40 billion has been raised for good causes in the areas of arts, sport, heritage and community. That’s £30 million a week making a difference to lives of people and communities throughout the whole of the UK.
OUR #THANKSTOYOU OFFER
To thank National Lottery players for their support, we will running a special 2-for-1 ticket offer. Purchase tickets to see Kuljit Bhamra in collaboration with Davide Giovannini at St George’s Bristol on Saturday 22nd February.
The special 2-for-1 ticket offer will be available for National Lottery ticket holders to purchase tickets from Saturday 23rd November to Sunday 1st December.
Please check our full terms and conditions below.
As a recipient of National Lottery funding, Asian Arts Agency has been able to promote and develop South Asian music in the UK, support artists and continue to produce extraordinary live experiences for audiences and venues, whilst championing the creative case for diversity.
We are one of the hundreds of participating National Lottery-funded projects across the UK who are taking part in the #ThanksToYou campaign in this special Birthday year.
Terms and conditions:
1) One National Lottery Ticket enables the holder to make one booking at the 2-for-1 offer rate, i.e. purchasing 2 tickets for the price of 1.
2) All National Lottery games qualify for the offer, including tickets from any National Lottery draw based game or National Lottery Scratchcard. Proof of purchase of a National Lottery game can be either hard copy ticket or digital.
3) If booking online or via phone, bookers must show proof of National Lottery ticket when collecting their tickets from the box office.
3) The offer is valid from Saturday 23rd November to Sunday 1st December – the duration of the #ThanksToYou campaign.
4) The concert takes place on Saturday 22nd February 2020. Refer to the St George’s Bristol website for further details about the concert.
5) We reserve the right to cap the amount of tickets available as part of this offer. The offer is available on a first come first served basis.
BOOK TICKETS NOW
Follow this link – 241 offer only available from 23 Nov – 1 Dec.
In October we produced 3 concerts with Debashish Bhattacharya and his trio at Arnolfini Bristol, Turner Sims Southampton and Royal Welsh College Cardiff.
This completed an extensive 20-date tour around the UK and Europe in 2019, following 17 concerts over the summer.
We were delighted that the concert at Arnolfini Bristol sold out in advance and we received some wonderful feedback from the event:
“Amazing and inspiring performance”
“Beautiful concert. Appropriate set and setting. Thank you”
“Wonderful evening – bought the CD”
“An absorbing, magical, warm, intimate and beguiling evening”
Debashish Bhattacharya Trio performing at Arnolfini Bristol.
Extended 20-date UK & European Tour
The tour began with a sold out performance at Norwich Playhouse on 25th May as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival.
We then toured the trio around the UK from May – August, with concerts at Subscription RoomsStroud, Kings PlaceLondon and Lakeside Arts Nottingham, to name a few.
We also presented the trio in Europe at Bimhuis Amsterdam, International Music Meeting Holland, Respect Festival Prague and Forde Festival, Norway.
The trio then returned to the UK for a number of prestigious festivals, with a headline performance at Into the Wild and performances at WOMAD and Shambala festivals.
Taste the World Stage at WOMAD – Rupert Russell Photography
Amazing audience feedback
The response from audiences throughout the tour has been excellent with a run of sold out shows and amazing feedback. Here’s a selection of audience feedback from the concerts:
From audiences at Lakeside Arts Nottingham:
“Very satisfied that the artists were just brilliant masters of their craft. Beautiful.”
“Brilliant musicians and a nice venue”
“LOVED the fusion aspect. Absolutely mesmerising. Such mastery. Just wonderful.”
From audiences at Middlesborough Town Hall:
“The whole thing was wonderful. So pleased we tried something new and fantastic it came to Middlesbrough. Thank you for that! The playing and singing were mesmerising. Please come again.”
“The Trio were excellent. Gifted performers. Masterful performance which gave an insight to a genre of music that I have not really been exposed to.”
Debashish & Anandi performing on BBC Radio 3 – Music Planet.
New venues
We worked with a number of new venues and festivals for the first time on this tour, extending our reach and bringing world-class Indian music to new communities in the UK and Europe. New partnerships were developed in Middlesborough, Peterborough, Abergavenny, Amsterdam, Prague and Norway.
We also presented a sold out concert in Glastonbury at the Town Hall. Read more more about the sold out concert in Glastonbury and the glowing audience feedback here.
Watch highlights and audience feedback from Glastonbury Town Hall:
We are delighted to have produced two concerts in the South West as part of this tour, with both concerts selling out. This demonstrates the demand for world-class Indian music concerts in the South West region.
View all tour dates and more information on our tour page.
Short films – demonstrating Debashish’s unique instruments
While on tour this summer we also produced some short films with Debashish to introduce his unique instruments. You can watch a couple of them here. Visit our YouTube channel to see all the videos we released during this tour.
Introducing Anandi | Debashish Bhattacharya
Introducing Chaturangui | Debashish Bhattacharya
For more information about Debashish Bhattacharya and his instruments, visit his website.
We are looking forward to Rhythm Utsav 2019, Bristol’s Indian classical music and dance celebration. Let’s take a closer look at this years exciting headline performance Rhythm Yatra and the artiste line up!
The word Yatra means journey. The vision Rhythm Yatra holds is to present a unique sound harnessing the power of percussion. An exciting journey indeed!
Rhythm Yatra has collaborated with music from different backgrounds and traditions. Artistes have included Tharun Bhatacharya (santoor player), Behanam Samani (Iranian multi-percussion player) and Shri, who is popularly known as Badmash & Shri (asian underground music).
Watch Rhythm Yatra in action!
https://youtu.be/U72_4OoXAtw
The ensemble of Rhythm Yatra this year will include Prathap Ramachandra, Kousic Sen and Mervin Mahendran. Read on to know more about the artistes.
Prathap Ramachandra
Rhythm Yatra is led by internationally acclaimed South Indian percussionist, Prathap Ramachandra. Prathap was born and raised in Bangalore, India. However, the artiste has resided in London for the past 12 years.
Deeply rooted in Carnatic music, Prathap has performed around the world at the biggest festivals and stages. He specialises in Mridangam, Ghatam, Khanjira and Konnakol.
Kousic Sen
Kousic Sen is one of the foremost tabla players of his generation. He was born into a musical family and represents the Banaras gharana tradition.
Kousic has accompanied many notable musicians and dancers around the world. He has toured extensively participating in major festivals globally. Kousic’s collaborations include musicians from Spain, Cuba, Indonesia and Persia.
Mervin Mahendran
Mervin Mahendran is a disciple of Shri Kandiah Anandanadesan. He was Initiated into playing the mridangam at age 9. However, Mervin also plays a range of Eastern and Western instruments including the morsing, an instrument similar to a jaw harp.
Mervin has played mridangam and morsing with renowned artists such as Shri Neyveli Santhanagopalan and Shri Sandeep Narayan.
Rhythm Utsav will also feature short performances from local community music and dance groups who support and teach Indian classical arts in Bristol.
Bristol’s Senior Artists and Art Schools will include:
Vasumathi Prasad: an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer and Guru at ‘PraNartana School of Indian Classical Dance’.
Sowmya Vipin: a professional Kuchipudi dancer and Guru at` ‘Arda Kalaa Kendra’.
Gayatri Lele: a professional Hindustani musician and teacher.
Sitara Koushik: a professional Bharatanatyam dancer and Guru at ‘Laasya Dance’.
Organised by community organisation Rhythm India and supported by Asian Arts Agency, Rhythm Utsav is open to all.
Date & Venue: 9 November – Redmaids’ High School, Bristol.
We recently presented two successful concerts with Anupama Bhagwat and Gurdain Rayatt. The concerts took place at St George’s Bristol and Glastonbury Town Hall. Read on to learn more about our Bristol & Glastonbury concert success.
Anupama Bhagwat, a leading sitar player from India performed emotive and top quality raagas. Gurdain Rayatt provided outstanding tabla accompaniment. The artistes performed to a sold-out audience at St George’s Bristol’s new addition, The Glass Studio; and we presented our second concert at Glastonbury Town Hall.
Above: Anupama Bhagwat & Gurdain Rayatt – St George’s Bristol
At St George’s Bristol, Anupama and Gurdain led a Q & A session to an eager and fascinated audience who were delighted to learn more about the traditional art form. Besides this, audience members had the opportunity to talk with the artistes after the concert. CD’s were available and were personally signed by the artistes.
The concerts were a success. They were enjoyed by captivated audience members, both new to and well versed in Indian classical music.
I was utterly transported and moved to another plain and place by what I heard, it was magnificent. Time utterly melted and I felt a deep sense of calm and peacefulness
Jeffrey Johns stated on Instagram:
“…they played hypnotic Raga’s that acted as conversation between the two instruments, building in speed and different textures building in melodies. “
Glastonbury audience members feedback included-
“Great to have world-class performers like Anupama outside of London and other major cities.”
“Lovely concert and venue. Good acoustic in Glastonbury Town Hall. Loved it! Great to see such great Indian artists in Glastonbury.”
“The interaction between the musicians was fantastic. They were both wonderful exponents who transported you. Wonderful to be in the presence of masters.”
” How the two musicians blend together into the most beautiful harmonies – absolutely incredible.”
“The performance was amazing and I’m grateful for the chance to see the artists play.”
The concerts were a special treat for Indian classical music lovers indeed!
In last week’s blog we discovered interesting musical facts about the artists. This week we explore the special bond Glastonbury town shares with live music. We are proud to bring more world class live music to audiences in Glastonbury.
Making history in 1914 |Live Classical Music at the Assembly Rooms
During 1914-1926 a series of concerts, recitals and lectures took place at the Assembly Rooms, which is off Glastonbury High Street.
This series was named the Glastonbury Festivals.
Founded by composer Rutland Boughton, the Glastonbury Festivals was England’s first national annual summer school of music. The series became an enormous national success.
Boughton produced over 350 staged works, 100 chamber concerts, a number of exhibitions and a series of lectures and recitals. Consequently, this made history as it had never been done before by anyone in England!
His composition, Symphony No 1, drew attention to his talent and gained him recognition. His most notable works include The Immortal Hour, based on Celtic mythology and The Queen of Cornwall, based on a play by Thomas Hardy.
Listen below to Symphony No 1, by Rutland Boughton.
Broughton believed in bringing local people and professional musicians together to create productions.
A non-conformist and enduring trail blazer, Boughton believed music could encourage new thinking and enlighten society. Sir Edward Elgar, the prolific English composer remarked:
“We believe that Glastonbury has in it the possible development of a movement of the greatest importance, both for British music and the regeneration of the life of the countryside.”
Glastonbury Festival | Live Music at Worthy Farm, Pilton
As you can see in the video below, Glastonbury is pretty out of the ordinary! Non-conforming attitudes and history of hippie ethics makes the Glastonbury connection evident to the now renowned Glastonbury Festival. In the words of founder, Michael Eavis:
“It’s the only place because it’s full of non-conformists you see and very anti-establishment. No where else in the country would I have got away with it….”
Based 7 miles from Glastonbury in Pilton, the name initially given to the festival was PiltonPop, Blues and Rock Festival.
Hippie values, counter culture and the free festival movement heavily inspired the festival. The Green fields area and the healing field at the festival are a connection to the roots of the festival.
Today over 200,000 live music lovers attend Glastonbury Festival. Performers over time have included Tyrannosaurus Rex, The Who, David bowie, Quintessence, The Smiths, Fat Boy Slim, Beyonce, Stormzy… to name a few!
We bring live Indian classical music to Glastonbury Town
Our upcoming concert is our second at Glastonbury Town Hall. Our first concert featured slide guitar maestro, Debashish Bhattacharya, and sold out.
We were moved by the audience feedback, some of which was recorded in the video above.
Live music in Glastonbury – book now
We are pleased to bring world class Indian classical musicians to Glastonbury for audiences in the South West to experience live in concert.
Don’t miss Anupama Bhagwat, one of the finest sitar players from India, with accompaniment by the excellent UK-based tabla player Gurdain Rayatt, on 9th September.
