April has been busy with work, which I gues is a good thing! So I haven’t had a chance till now to get this newsletter out, I’m going to use the excuse that there weren’t many gigs happening in the first half of the month!

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The second half of April is loaded with gigs…

The Warsi Brothers are touring an 11-date tour from the 15th of April to the 10th of May, so check dates and cities to experience them in concert. Mandolin player Sugato Bhaduri is in Scotland with a few dates and Devika Pandit is touring too.

4 April 2026 / 18:00
Eternal Strings of Tradition
Homayoun Sakhi – rubab
Roopa Panesar – sitar
Sukhvinder “Pinky” Singh – tabla
The Music Room, London
Book Now: £9 – £18

15 April 2026 / 19:00
Nāda Sonics—IRL: Listening Session
Lake, London
Book Now: £10.40-£50

15 April 2026 / 19:00
Qawwal Warsi Brothers – A concert of traditional Sufi Qawwali
Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS, London
Book Now: £9-£15

16 April 2026 / 19:00
An Evening with Sugato Bhaduri: Indian Mandolin Concert
Sugato Bhaduri – mandolin
SHAPE by Narture, South Ayrshire
Book Now: £Sold Out

17 April 2026 / 19:00
Qawwal Warsi Brothers – A concert of traditional Sufi Qawwali
West Bromwich Town Hall, West Bromwich
Book Now: £20-£30

18 April 2026 / 19:00
Qawwal Warsi Brothers – A concert of traditional Sufi Qawwali
Nottingham Arts Theatre, Nottingham
Book Now: £10-£15

18 April 2026 / 18:00
Misra Creatives presents The Raga Experience
1st Half
Sandip Bhattacharjee – vocal
Rohan Jhalla – tabla
Vishwa Prakash – harmonium
2nd Half
Abhishek Borkar – sarod
Rajkumar Misra – tabla
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London
Book Now: £9 – £18

18 April 2026 / 16:30
Devaki Pandit Live in Concert
Davaki Pandit – vocal
Winston Churchill Theatre, London
Book Now: £16 – £39

18 April 2026 / 19:30
Qawwal Warsi Brothers – A concert of traditional Sufi Qawwali
Howard Assembly Room, Leeds
Book Now: £11.50-£26.50

18 April 2026 / 11:30
Peace Worshippers: Celebrating Mahatma Gandhi
Amjad Ali Khan – sarod
Amaan Ali Bangash – sarod
Ayaan Ali Bangash – sarod
Tanmoy Bose – tabla
Sinfonia Verdi
David Murphy conductor
Wigmore Hall, London
Book Now: £16-£18

19 April 2026 / 17:30
Qawwal Warsi Brothers – A concert of traditional Sufi Qawwali
Howard Assembly Room, Leeds
Book Now: £11.50-£26.50

21 April 2026 / 19:00
An Evening with Sugato Bhaduri: Indian Mandolin Concert
Sugato Bhaduri – mandolin
The Victoria Institute, Arundel
Book Now: £15

23 April 2026 / 19:00
An Evening with Sugato Bhaduri: Indian Mandolin Concert
Sugato Bhaduri – mandolin
The Victoria Institute, Arundel
Book Now: £15

24 April 2026 / 18:00
Riverside Ragas: Confluence
Preetha Narayanan – violin
Giuliano Modarelli – guitar
Harkiret Singh Bahra – tabla
The Glasshouse, Gateshead
Book Now: £10 – £22.50

25 April 2026 / 15:30
Devaki Pandit Live in Concert
Davaki Pandit – vocal
The Dean, Edinburgh
Book Now: £16.25 – £36.50

25 April 2026 / 19:00
Qawwal Warsi Brothers – A concert of traditional Sufi Qawwali
Turner Sims Southampton, Southampton
Book Now: £12-£15

26 April 2026 / 17:30
Devaki Pandit Live in Concert
Davaki Pandit – vocal
The Peepul Centre, Leicester
Book Now: £15 – £36.75

27 April 2026 / 19:30
World Music Method Presents Ustad Faizan Ali Khan @ The Magic Garden
Faizan Ali Khan – vocal
The Magic Garden, London
Book Now: £Free.99

*note… I don’t make any money or anything from these listings, I don’t even get guestlist (although I wouldn’t say no to guestlist… gigging is expensive!), I’m just doing it, because people need to know where to see live music.

I did stuff last month! :)

The month started off with SUBconcious at Club Cheek, this is Mera Bhai’s new night, lots of b2bs a really nice sound system and a nice refurb of the club formerly known as Loki. Lots of energy, and a really nice crowd!

The next excursion was to the London Loft Party, I was part of the setup crew, it’s really nice to be part of the setup crew and to see a venue being transformed, the amount of care and attention everyone puts into making sure that everyone attending the night has a brilliant time and is presented with something that looks beautiful, inviting and cosy! Colleen, as always, played impeccably, wonderful selections and control of energy on the dancefloor! Make sure you get to witness and experience the Loft at least once!

Theo Croker, his band, Gary Bartz and Ego Ella May were part of the Miles Davis mixtape gig at the Southbank Centre. The experience of Theo on trumpet, his band playing and Theo then using his laptop and controllers to add extra layers of flavour on top was brilliant, to then add Gary Bartz made the night even more incredible, adding the final part of the vibe machine was Ego Ella May, contributing her mesmeric vocals, it was a beautiful night of music and exploration of Miles Davis!

Downstairs, Five Points were tearing it up in the Clore Ballroom! Max and James have been putting on events with a focus and love for jazz, hip-hop, live music, community, and it’s been a pleasure seeing them grow every year, I’m sure there will be even more amazing sessions from them this year!

Same night… I finally made it to Palais, the newly opened bar/club in Peckham. Split betweent two floors, you’ve got a bar upstairs and downstairs the club. The interior design of the venue is lovely, so much so it was featured in Dezeen! The sound system is a joy, I went to the Tectonics night, so it was given a proper workout, Roska, Pinch, Beatrice M & Mantra tearing it up all-night.

Sister Midnight had been showcasing talent with their Holding Sound series for IWD, at @thestandardlondon, this final session was an intimate music gig with @taralilymood @marysia_osu and @ma.moyo; a packed crowd sat, stood and perched to revel in the sounds from all three of these superb performers, it’s great to see the variety of gigs happening in all the different parts of London!

I spent the afternoon in Bromley playing at Downtown Retro with Sean E and Rileforce, after the broadcast, we made our way to New Cross to get to ‘Our Time is Now’, Rainer Trüby was playing alongside Dom Servini, the Handson Family and the Jazz Train Crew. Another lovely event with a wonderful crowd.

After pre-recording an interview with him a few days before, I got see Prattyush Banerjee with Sukhwinder Singh at the Southbank Centre, a double-bill gig, Shashank Subramanyam and Phalgun Parupalli performed in the second-half. It was nice to see a strong audience turnout, meet friends I haven’t seen in some time and some wonderful performances. I had run out after the end, to get to Hackney to dj, so a very nice evening indeed!

There was a wifi issue in the Sister Midnight studio so that show was cancelled! ☹

But I had a really nice chat on Voices with the brilliant producer, composer and dj Noni-Mouse, we spoke about her musical career so far, the situation of independent music in India and the album Folksoul - Sound of Women on which she has produced a track! A really nice chat and some great insight.

On NTS I spoke to musician, composer and teacher Prattyush Banerjee. It was a brilliant chat, with Prattyush talking in-depth about his musical career, the history of the sarod, how his gharana developed in Kolkatta. I also spoke to Giuliano Modarelli, his student and also co-producer of a new album out on Radio International records by Prattyush! Highly recommended listening!

I hopped on the train down to Bromley to play some music at Downtown Retro, there were some usb issues, so it turned into a constricted set of music I could find and join together, but turned into a fun set! :)

I already did Sister Midnight, so you can already check that out… I think it worked out quite well… It always sounds different listening back, than when doing it in the studio, it sounded way better.

Voices will have an hour of new music from the South Asian Diaspora and an hour of Asha Bhosle bangers! I’m also doing an In Focus on NTS on Asha Bhosle, a 2 hour deep dive into her legacy… 12,000 recorded tracks in different genres, styles, languages and some tracks that have sampled her!

And then Nāda Sonics will be a chat with the brilliant dancer and choreographer Nina Rajarani, about Bharatanatyam the classical indian danceform from South India!

08°04°2026/14:00 — Sister Midnight FM: Lāykari
21°04°2026/11:00 — Voices Radio: The World is Sound
24°04°2026/Not sure of the time yet! — NTS: In Focus: Asha Bhosle
25°04°2026/08:00 — NTS: Nāda Sonics w/ Nina Rajarani

‘The Nāda Sonics—IRL: Listening Session is a chance to experience this spiritual, moving music in a collective situation, an uninterrupted listening session of 90 mins, sat on the floor on cushions, sipping tea and melting away to the vibes. In an overwhelming, discordant world of chaos, this is an oasis of calm.’

I thought I did a pretty good job of writing that! Last month’s session was wonderful, the audience were really generous with their feedback and so we’re back with the second session at Lake. The theme for this months session will be raga that everyone knows - Raga Yaman, we’ll listen to numerous movements from the raga performed by different musicians on various instruments to give you a really nice introduction to this raga!

Awaaz are taking over Club Makossa on Thursday 16 April, from 8pm-1am with eclectic rhythms, infectious grooves and experimental sounds. Awaaz (meaning 'noise' or 'sound in Punjabi/Hindi/Urdu), a collective of South Asian DJs aiming to uplift and share our love of music in all forms - be it classical Indian, jazz, funk and soul, techno, footwork, ambient and more. There will be an excellent array of djs the butcher bird, Pallavi, Ramnik and me, it’s free entry so make sure you come through and have a dance!

In May, Dialled in will be celebrating their 5th Birthday! I’ll be playing alongside Digging In India, Naya Beat and TashLC at the Total Refreshment Centre! It promises to be a wonderful celebration of Dialled In and some wonderfully talented people! Don’t miss out and get your tickets now!

Set in the serene Serta Valley of central Portugal, this retreat is a unique collaboration between Isaac B and Pritpal, bringing together embodied movement, conscious breath, and immersive sound.

Pre-Register your interest now and we’ll be making a full announcement of plans and pricing in a few days!

Some of music I’ve been listening to recently!

Baalti and Lapgan, working together for a full album… sign-me-up! Such fun release, full of energy, some delicate tracks, some absolute bangers a celebration of south asian sounds with a hip-hop/electronic music sensibility. I can’t wait to play this out on the radio and the club!

I heard a track from this album on the Spirit Blue show on NTS, it’s compiles 3 seperate releases into one single release, and contains some beautiful dubbed out, soundscapped blips and bloops. On a good sound system this must sound incredible! The original three volumes were released between 1998-2000, I had no idea… so new old music for me! :)

Shy One has been releasing tracks for quite some time, has a brilliant show on NTS and djs relentlessly. This album brings together all the different sounds associated with her into one beautiful package, dancefloor heaters, soulful softness, it really is a wonderful listen!

We discuss this album in my March NTS Show, you’ll find the link above. This release was recorded in 2019, the tabla player on this recording Subankar Banerjee passed away in 2021 and so this and the forthcoming vol2 are tributes to him. A really nice recording that explores Raga Shree with composititions in Dhamar and Teental and a Dhun at the end!

Thank you so much for reading, hopefully I’ll see you irl, or in the chat! Let me know if do you go to any gigs and if there are any gigs that need to be highlighted :)

Sway of the Verses