An Evening of Indian Classical Music

An Evening of Indian Classical Music comes to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on Tuesday 17 November, with tabla player and composer Sodhi leading the bill. The night brings together Dhrupad, Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam, pairing North and South Indian classical traditions in a programme performed by artists currently based in Scotland.

Sodhi, known as Hardeep Deerhe, is a Scotland-based tabla player, composer and educator. He produces the Glasgow Mela, lectures at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and founded Talking Tabla Scotland. Joining him is Arfan Iqbal, who specialises in the Rudra Veena, a rare instrument of the Dhrupad tradition, and is a student of the master Ustad Bahauddin Dagar. Shankari Subramaniam is an Edinburgh-based Carnatic vocalist trained by her mother, Dr Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam, and Oxana Banshikova is an Edinburgh-based Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer, a graduate of Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts in Chennai and founder of Cosmic Dance.

Between them, the four cover a broad stretch of the Indian classical tradition. Dhrupad is one of the oldest surviving forms of Hindustani classical music, while Carnatic music comes from the South. Bharatanatyam is a classical dance form from Tamil Nadu, and the evening pairs these traditions in a single programme. The whole thing is performed by musicians and dancers living and working here in Scotland, rather than brought in for a one-off.

The concert is in the Ledger Recital Room at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, Glasgow City Centre G2 3DB. It starts at 18:00 and runs for an hour and twenty-five minutes, with tickets from £5 to £13.