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Radio 3 in Concert: Indian classical music from Leicester

Music: Desi

15/11/2016

Indian classical music from Leicester

BBC Radio 3 - Radio 3 in Concert, Indian classical music from Leicester

Live from Leicester, Lopa Kothari presents a concert celebrating Indian classical music.

Live from the Peepul Centre in Leicester, Lopa Kothari presents a concert celebrating the Third Programme's promotion of Indian classical music With Soumik Datta and Roopa Panesar.

As part of Radio 3's 70th season, Leicester's Asian community celebrates the pioneering work by the Third Programme in promoting Indian classical music in the 1950s and 60s, long before The Beatles and Ravi Shankar made it fashionable. At that time, the performers had to come from India: this concert celebrates the UK's home-grown talent, with musicians born or based in this country.

Live from Leicester's Peepul Centre in Leicester, Lopa Kothari introduces a recital by sarod virtuoso Soumik Datta, with Roopa Panesar playing sitar and Shahbaz Hussain on tabla. In the interval, Viram Jasani, director of the Asian Music Circuit, recalls those early broadcasts on the Third Programme. Radio 3's 70th season celebrates seven decades of pioneering music and culture since the founding of the Third Programme.


Soumik Datta was born in Bombay, and brought up in the UK, attending Harrow School - but he learned the sarod during extended stays with his guru, Calcutta-based Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta. Soumik describes the sarod as 'a 19-stringed fretless instrument with a nomadic history spanning ancient Afghanistan, colonial India and modern day global downloads' - and his performing life frequently takes him beyond Indian classical styles, with collaborations with Jay-Z, Beyoncé and others.

Leicester-based Roopa Panesar is one of Europe's finest young sitar players. She started learning the instrument at the age of seven, and has performed throughout Europe and America, appeared with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and recorded music for the film 'West is West'. 

Shahbaz Hussain was born in Rochdale, into a musical family with strong roots in Pakistan. He travelled to the Indian subcontinent to study and was a pupil of the legendary Alla Rakha Khan, Ravi Shankar's regular accompanist. His talent has been acclaimed worldwide, and in 2008 Pakistan gave him the 'Son of Lahore' award.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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