Celebrated sitar player Roopa Panesar performs her album ATMA at South Asian Sounds Festival.
We are delighted to be working with Southbank Centre to produce several events as part of the South Asian Sounds festival.
Celebrated UK-based Sitar player Roopa Panesar will perform music from her most recent album, ATMA, with an eight-piece group of the finest Indian classical and jazz musicians in the UK.
ATMA is a rich musical meeting ground; an enticing mix of traditional Indian and western instruments; sitar & tabla beautifully weave and interchange with Double Bass, Guitar, Tanpura & Indian Mouth Harp (Morsing), with electronic textures by Camilo Tirado, plus Kanjira, Jori and Double-Headed Barrel Drum (mridangam).
“One of the most important musicians to have emerged in the British Asian diaspora over the past few years. She expresses a profound sense of calmness laced with an inexplicable exhilaration.” (⭐⭐⭐⭐ Songlines)
Panesar’s ATMA is a journey that beautifully portrays all aspects of life – love, loss, grief, separation and ultimately the bliss of union (‘atma‘ encapsulates the concept of the eternal self – or soul – in Hinduism). After a period of personal loss, Roopa wrote the music echoing feelings associated with challenges of life, with the intention to uplift.
ATMA was recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios and was made possible as part of our ‘Breaking Barriers’ Innovate Music Commissions.
Performers
- Roopa Panesar – sitar
- Shahbaz Hussain – tabla
- RN Prakash – mridangam, ghatam, morsing (Indian jews harp)
- Giuliano Modarelli – guitar
- Kirpal Panesar – esraj
- Camilo Tirado – live electronics, textural percussion
- Surdarshan Chana – jori
- Ben Hazleton – double bass
The South Asian Sounds series takes place at London’s Southbank Centre from Wednesday 14 May – Sunday 18 May. The festival celebrates the rich, varied musical traditions of the wider Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi diaspora, as well as UK-based artists.