We completed a successful tour of the USA with Roopa Panesar in September 2017. A full house at the opening concert at New York’s iconic Lincoln Center was a great way to start the tour.

Roopa once again collaborated with percussionist Pirashanna Thevaraja and tabla player Nitin Mitta.

Visit the Roopa Panesar USA tour page.

Here’s a few images from the opening night:

 PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW AT LINCOLN CENTER

To see our full photo album from the show at Lincoln Center, visit our Facebook page.

AUDIENCE REACTIONS AND COMMENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Check out what people said about the tour on our STORIFY page.

ROOPA PANESAR USA TOUR SUCCESS – DATES:

7 September: Lincoln Center, New York City
8 September: World Music Festival, Chicago
9 September: World Festival Festival, Chicago
10 September: Private Event
13 September: Landfall Festival, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
16 September: Ramapo College, Mahwah, New Jersey
17 September: Storm King Museum, New Windsor

INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASING PROGRAMME

This tour continued our international showcasing programme for 2017, exporting and exposing British-Asian artists to new international markets. This tour follows the successful showcasing of British band The Dhol Foundation in January 2016, followed by an 8-date North American tour in September 2016.

CULTURE flash sale – save money on thousands of tickets across Bristol and Bath on Thursday 14 September in a 24-hour flash sale.

The 24-hour sale starts at 10am on Thursday and includes arts organisations across Bristol and Bath.

Asian Arts Agency’s two concerts at St George’s Bristol this autumn are both included in the 24-hour flash sale, so grab yourself a discount with 25% off tickets for 24 hours only.

DEBASMITA BHATTACHARYA CONCERT TICKETS

Join us for an evening of exquisite Indian classical music with Debasmita Bhattacharya on Sunday 22 October  – BOOK TICKETS HERE from 10am on Thursday 14 September – 25% discount for 24-hours only.

MALKIT SINGH CONCERT TICKETS

Living bhangra legend Malkit Singh pays a special visit to Bristol on Sunday 3 December – BOOK TICKETS HERE from 10am on Thursday 14 September – 25% discount for 24-hours only.

Alternatively visit the St George’s Flash Sale web page for a full list of concerts and discounts.

ABOUT BRISTOL AND BATH CULTURE FLASH SALE

Music, theatre, contemporary circus, exhibitions, art installations, opera, cinema, children’s literature events, and a walking tour, are included, as well as money off shop items and interval drinks.

Venues and organisations participating include:

St George’s Bristol, Colston Hall, Bristol Jazz & Blues Festival, Bristol Old Vic, Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol Hippodrome, Spike Island, Arnolfini, Situations and Circus City 17, The Bath Festival, Bristol Cathedral, Churches Conservation Trust, Bristol Museums, Watershed, Bath Children’s Literature Festival, Fashion Museum Bath, The Edge, Wiltshire Live Music Centre and Bath Camerata Chamber Choir.

It is the seventh 24-hour culture sale in Bristol, and the second in Bath. To see what’s on offer, search on Twitter with hashtag #CultureFlashSale or head to the Visit Bristol website for a full list of events.

Ahead of our USA tour with Roopa Panesar in September, we thought we would share a selection of her wonderful performances for you to enjoy!

Raag Kausi-Kanada | Roopa Panesar | Music of India

Ragas are time-specific, they correspond to the morning, the afternoon or the evening. In this raga, “Raag Kausi-Kanada” the mood is of late night. Sophisticated and mesmerising, this raga is said to evoke deep emotions.

Aurat – Roopa Panesar Sitar Concert – Raag Bageshree

The Raag Bageshree holds a late night mood and is believed to depict a woman waiting reunion with her lover. Legend has it that this Raag was first sung by Mian Tansen, a prominent court singer for the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the 16^th century.

Amazing Sitar by Roopa Panesar | Raga Puriya Jhalla | Music of India

The ideal time for the Raga Puriya is at Sunset. In this recording Roopa performs Jhalla in Raga Puriya during the Darbar Festival 2011, Kings Place, London.

Roopa Panesar: Bhairavi Dhun

This performance was filmed in Budapest. Roopa Panesar is accompanied by Bhupinder Chaggar on tabla. Did you know that in Western musical terms, Raag Bhairavi employs the notes of the Phyrgian mode, one of the traditional European church modes?

Roopa Panesar with Bhupinder Singh | St George’s Bristol

Finally, Roopa Panesar and Bhupinder Singh’s excellent performance at St George’s Bristol in 2016 gave the audience an uplifting sample of Indian music.

Roopa Panesar will tour the USA with percussionist Pirashanna Thevaraja and tabla player Nitin Mitta from 7 – 17 September 2017, on a tour produced and managed by Asian Arts Agency. For details, visit the event page.

We are excited to be touring British-Asian sitarist Roopa Panesar in the USA this September, as part of our international showcasing programme.

Following the success of Roopa’s showcasing concerts in New York in January 2017, we have been busy planning this international tour, introducing her incredible talent to music fans across the USA.

For this tour, Roopa will be collaborating with British percussionist Pirashanna Thevaraja and tabla player Nitin Mitta.

Jaswinder Singh, Director of Asian Arts Agency said:

“We are very excited to be producing this North American international music tour with Roopa Panesar. This tour is a direct result of our showcasing activity in New York in January 2017. I am pleased that we have secured performances at some of the world class venues and festivals, including Lincoln Center in New York, Chicago World Music festival and Landfall Festival, Cedar Rapids.

The tour strengthens our export programme to international markets and will create further opportunities for future international touring and increased PR opportunities for our artists.”

For tour dates, visit our Roopa Panesar USA tour page.

INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASING WORK

This showcasing tour continues the Agency’s international touring programme, exporting and introducing British-Asian artists to new international markets.

As a result of the International Showcasing Grant awarded to Asian Arts Agency in July 2015, the Agency has embarked on a three-year plan of showcasing British-Asian talent across Europe, the US and India.

This tour follows the successful showcasing of British-Asian band The Dhol Foundation in January 2016, and the resulting 8-date North American tour, which the Agency produced and managed in September 2016. You can read more about this tour here.

For more information, please download the full press release here.

Our new project PunjabTronix brought together some of the finest musicians from the Punjab with established UK DJ and Producer, DJ Swami, and toured to 7 different UK venues in July 2017, including London’s Rich Mix and Bristol’s Arnolfini.

Through Storify we bring you some highlights from the special debut UK tour along with your experiences and words of support.

PUNJABTRONIX STORIFY

Check out the story now.

 Check out the GO SOLO series of films

During the UK tour we spent a day filming with Canvas Arts at their studios in London. Every week the GO SOLO video series has been zoning in on each artist and highlighting their special talents.

PunjabTronix featured  unique instruments such as the “Algoza”, a double flute and the UK stages shimmered with a bit of the real Punjab. The five artists, you could say, were each like a finger to a hand. Together, they created an unstoppable team!

Get to know Vijay Yamla, Naresh Kukki, Dheera Singh, Gurtej Singh and DJ Swami up close in these five films highlighting their talents.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for notifications as each new video comes available: http://bit.ly/2wJ5nLS

Our new project PunjabTronix completed a successful debut tour around the UK to 7 venues in July 2017.

We have been overwhelmed by the wonderful feedback and audience reactions we have received so far for this new project by audiences around the country.

The collaboration between the electronic music of DJ Swami, the musicianship of the Punjabi folk musicians and the evocative imagery and live visuals of John Minton, combined to produce an incredibly powerful show.

Some of the audience responses received so far:

“One of the best gigs I’ve ever been to! Thank you guys so much!”

“I honestly believe this is going to be the next big thing! Electronica and folk…taste makers!”

“Mind blowing gig at the Arnolfini Bristol. Wow Wow and super WOW.”

“Thank you all so much. That was amazing! Still buzzing from all that dancing!”

“I would like to say that it (PunjabTronix) was such a memorable experience. I loved it from the beginning to the end. I have never danced so much before (I was the crazy girl dancing at the front of the stage)  – enjoyed the Dhol played by Naresh the most and the mixes by DJ Swami were amazing. Everyone is so talented and it was like taking a trip back to India making me miss my home country more! It was absolutely amazing and hope you guys come back soon because I wouldn’t miss it.  Thank you again for this awesome memorable performance. Had the time of my life!!!”

To see more photos from PunjabTronix at Rich Mix, London, check out the photo album on our Facebook page.

Part of Reimagine India 2017

The tour was commissioned and produced by Asian Arts Agency to respond to Reimagine India, a cultural exchange programme designed to develop creative collaborations between artists from England and India, supported by Arts Council England and British Council. Following two intensive residencies in India and a further week residency in Bristol, PunjabTronix embarked on its premier tour.

For full details on PunjabTronix and all UK tour dates, visit the PunjabTronix microsite.

India tour – the next phase of PunjabTronix

The next phase for PunjabTronix will be a tour to India in early 2018. Make sure you are signed up to our email list and social channels (Facebook | Twitter) to receive news as it’s announced.

We will be releasing live videos and other digital content over the coming months. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel to be the first to see new content as it’s released.

We are excited to announce we will be touring British-Indian sitar player Roopa Panesar in the US this September.

Following the success of her showcasing concerts in New York in January as part of APAP 2017, we have been busy planning her debut US tour.

Roopa Panesar will embark on her debut US tour on 7 September at the Lincoln Centre in New York City.

US Tour dates:

7 September: Lincoln Center, New York City
8 September: World Music Festival, Chicago
9 September: World Festival Festival, Chicago
10 September: Private Event
13 September: Landfall Festival, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
16 September: Ramapo College, Mahwah, New Jersey
17 September: Storm King Museum, New Windsor

Workshops:

12 September: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
15 September: New York City
16 September: New York City

Considered one of the finest sitar players on the Indian music scene, UK based Roopa Panesar is emerging as one of the most exciting young sitar players in the world. Her outstanding musical ability, along with her soulful and unique style of playing, has left listeners captivated, and has been receiving accolades from audiences and peers alike.

For this tour, Roopa will once again be collaborating with percussionist Pirashanna Thevaraja and tabla player Nitin Mitta.

International Showcasing Programme:

This tour continues our international showcasing programme for 2017, exporting and exposing British-Asian artists to new international markets. This tour follows the successful showcasing of British band The Dhol Foundation in January 2016, followed by an 8-date North American tour in September 2016.

For more information on this tour, booking additional dates (if you are a US promoter) or details on our international showcasing programme, get in touch via our contact us page.

Asian Arts Agency is pleased to offer bursary places for this year’s WOMEX which is due to be held in Katowice, Poland from 25 – 29 October.

ABOUT WOMEX

WOMEX is an international networking event for the world music industry. The annual five-day event comprises a bustling trade fair, showcase festival, conference and film programme as well as festive opening and award ceremonies.

ABOUT THE BURSARIES

The bursaries are part of the Agency’s growing international work, which includes development work for artists.

We are offering the bursaries to emerging England based artists in the ‘South Asian music’ sector who have an interesting project to promote that is ready for international markets and are able to demonstrate regional and national success in the UK. Preference will be given to artists who have not attended WOMEX before. The bursary is open to musicians, producers and artists in the South Asian music sector.

AMOUNT

The bursary will be for a maximum sum of £800 which will go towards the costs of your flights, PD’s and delegate pass. Asian Arts Agency will purchase the delegate pass on your behalf and deduct the cost from the bursary amount.

HOW TO APPLY

For more details  and to apply, download the following two documents and return your completed application to Steve Hunt by midday on 24 July:

WOMEX Bursary Application Information 2017

Womex Bursary Application Form 2017