03/10/2024 Jasdeep Singh Degun (sitar)
Programme
In this performance, Jasdeep unveils the power of the Indian raga or raag, a musical form of storytelling where the performer interprets a traditional melody passed down through generations. Jasdeep will infuse his artistry and imagination through several movements while collaborating with tabla player Himmet Bahra, supported by Mehrbaan Singh on tanpura. Lasting around 80 minutes, the journey comes full circle and, according to ancient Sanskrit texts, has the ability to ‘colour’ or even open the mind along the way.
Performers
Jasdeep Singh Degun sitar
Himmet Bahra tabla
Mehrbaan Singh tanpura
About
Having been named Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2024 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, Leeds-born sitarist and composer Jasdeep Singh Degun embarks on a 14-date tour of England and Wales this September and October.
He’d never call it a victory lap: he’s clear that humility, discipline and “bowing down to the rigour of the music” is fundamental in the Indian classical tradition. But there’s a definite sense that the music of Jasdeep and his peers is now reaching a wider audience, in large part due to the phenomenal success that he has achieved over the past few years.
His debut album, 2022’s Anomaly, was recorded with the legendary Nitin Sawhney and released by Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records. It took the sitar into new territory, powered by Jasdeep’s remarkable skill and lifelong immersion in the Indian classical tradition.
Later that year, as composer and co-music director on Opera North and South Asian Arts-uk’s staging of Monteverdi’s opera Orpheus, his mesmerising tapestry of Indian and European music thrilled audiences and critics alike, and was recognised with a haul of awards from across the worlds of music and the stage.
With this year’s RPS laurels – for ‘showing us all the beauty and boundless possibilities of the sitar’ – it looks as though Jasdeep has achieved escape velocity from the confines of genre, or the ‘World Music’ catch-all. “We’re finally shifting the paradigm”, he says, anticipating forthcoming dates including Hartlepool Folk Festival and Oxford Festival of Song – more appropriate than it might seem, as his particular school of sitar virtuosity aspires to imitate the human voice with all its nuance and emotion. “It feels like British Asian musicians are being taken more seriously in the room: at last our music is being programmed alongside western classical repertoire, rather than hived off as something niche or novel.”
Apart from two dates with the Liverpool Philharmonic where he’ll be performing his astonishing sitar concerto, Arya, on this tour Jasdeep will return to his first love: the high-risk, entirely improvised Indian classical tradition, with his sitar accompanied only by the tabla, the Indian hand-drum.
So what can newcomers to the form expect? “It has all of the discipline and technical demands of western classical music”, he says, “but you won’t hear much harmony: our musical system is based on the rules of raag and taal, which are melody and rhythm. So you have to shift your focus to the complex development and embellishment of that. And it’s all unfolding in the moment, often at speed – that’s definitely something that’s exciting to experience, and maybe akin to jazz.”
The tour concludes with a concert for the Darbar Festival at London’s Barbican, a rite of passage for any Indian musician. “It’s a been a dream of mine since I was a child”, Jasdeep says. “I’ve seen all my greatest idols at Darbar: Kaushiki Chakraborty, Purbayan Chatterjee, Shahid Parvez… I’m still pinching myself and I really want to do a good job.
“Maybe I need another 10 years to prepare for it”, he laughs. “But really I think it’s a perfect time, following on from what I’ve been doing over the last few years, to return to the source and consolidate myself in the Indian classical tradition.”
“Indian classical musicians don’t write sets, so preparing for this tour is a question of mapping out what I want to say musically and then just practice, practice, practice. It’ll all just happen on the day; you can’t fix everything – and you shouldn’t, because it won’t be a good concert if it’s not spontaneous. You practice as much as you can on as many different themes as possible, but on the day all you can do is make sure that your hands are moving! You have to be in the frame of mind where you can go off on a tangent, maybe latch on to something you hear in the tabla, and not try to impose something rigid or prefabricated: you have to be completely open to whatever happens.
“You need to be thinking, all your cognitive powers are working, but it’s also very physical. It’s a beautiful system because there’s this discipline and precision, but in the end there’s your heart. The raag and taal give you that framework to open up and do whatever you want, so you’re creating and you’re pouring yourself into the music. That’s where the beauty of the music lies, and it just transcends.”
Jasdeep Singh Degun tours England and Wales from 13 September – 25 October 2024. For more information and booking, visit jasdeepsinghdegun.com
