A great way to start 2026, with a visit to the Real World Studios, near Bath, as part of our Emerge 2 talent development programme, with this being the second iteration.

We were joined by the outstanding South Asian emerging musicians who have been with us for several months, learning new skills to help develop and sustain their music careers.

Emerge 2 kicked off in 2025 with a series of online sessions around music-sector knowledge, and the programme concluded with this in-person experience at Real World Studios, giving artists the opportunity to immerse themselves in a world-class creative environment.

Across the day, participants explored key aspects of the music industry, from copyright and recording techniques to marketing and career development but, above all, had the chance to experience the unique energy of a studio space where extraordinary music has been created for decades, to inspire them to take their music making and ambitions to the next stage.

A huge thank you to  the entire Real World Studios team, and especially Amanda, for supporting the session and generously sharing their expertise. Our thanks also to the wider team at Real World for their time, insight, and invaluable knowledge.

We’ll be launching Emerge 3 later this year, offering similar opportunities for emerging South Asian musicians , so watch this space.

The artists selected for our 2025 cohort were:

• Aayushi Jain – a folk singer-songwriter from Birmingham, who writes songs which blend elements from her Indian heritage with abstract symbolism to evoke a soft hypnotic atmosphere. @aayushimusic

• Ekta Rana – a London-based singer, songwriter, and composer who sings both Indian classical and modern music, including Bollywood, ghazals, and bhajans. @ektarana.singer

• Lemona Chanda – a vocalist who sings light forms of music including thumri, ghazal, devotional, folk as well as Bengali music such as Rabindra Sangeet and Nazrul Geeti. @lemonachanda

• Muhammad Hasnain Ali – a digital media producer specializing in vocal mixing, background music composition, and visual content creation. @prod_has

• Narotam Horn – a composer and pianist, whose unique contemporary classical style is infused with the improvisational spirit and storytelling of Bengali folk music. @narotamhorn

• Dr Pavithra Prathab – a Veena artist with fluency both in Carnatic and Western classical forms of music. @paviprathab

• Shivani Sen – a multi-disciplinary artist, singer-songwriter, poet and composer who currently focuses on vilambit khyal, a deep and meditative form of classical music. @shivanisenmusic

• Tejal Pankhania – player of sitar and surbahar, who has immersed herself in the rigorous study of Indian classical music, a foundation of profound taalim, developing a deep connection with the spiritual and meditative dimensions of her art. @tejalpankhania

Please show these amazing talents your support by following them on social media, listening to their music, and buying their work.

Asian Arts Agency is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Network Partner, supported by PPL UK.

#TalentDevelopment #UKMusic #ArtsEducation#SouthAsianMusic #AsianArts