April has been an interesting month, quite a few gigs, some exhibitions and lots of music!

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July sees festival season really come into its own, and combined with a few south asian seasons happening at the Southbank Centre and Stratford East, means there are all kinds of activities to attend!

South Asian Sounds starts at the Southbank Centre with a mixture of music and dance, featuring artists like Talvin Singh doing a homage to the illustrious Zakir Hussain, Raghu Dixit, Amrita Kaur, Tara Lily, Shalini Rani and superstar Hariharan. Check the Southbank Centre’s website for the full lineup of events.

Shakir Khan will be performing with Shahbaz Hussain in London, which should be a good gig and then the Lalgudi brother and sister will be performing at the Bhavan, it’s always a treat to see them!

1 July 2026 / 15:00
Grishma: Indian Summer Soirée
Ayan Sengupta – sitar
Srijani Sengupta – sitar
Shabaz Hussain – tabla
Spiegeltent, Crescent Gardens, Harrogate
Book Now: £22-£160

4 July 2026 / 19:30
Shradhanjali - A homage to Zakir Hussain
Talvin Singh – tabla
Marcus Gilmore – drums
Ananthan R Krishnan – mridangam
Satin Singh – multi-percussion
Tom Rogerson – piano
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Book Now: £28-£57

4 July 2026 / 19:30
Hariharan: Soul India
Royal Festival Hall, London
Book Now: £37-£152

14 July 2026 / 19:30
Masala Festival – Free Flow Classikal
Jonathan Mayer – sitar
Robin Christian – flute
James Pusey – guitar
Debasish Mukherjee – tabla
Cluny 2, Newcastle
Book Now: £13.70

17 July 2026 / 19:30
Masala Festival – The Mohan Brothers, Sanju Sahai and Jasdeep Singh
Lakshay Mohan – sitar
Aayush Mohan – sarod
Sanju Sahai – tabla
Jasdeep Singh – jorī
The Glasshouse, Newcastle
Book Now: £11.30-22.50

18 July 2026 / 13:00
Midday Mantra: Sun Raga
CBSO, Birmingham
Book Now: £Free.99-£10

19 July 2026 / 17:00
London Ragas: Shakir Khan & Shahbaz Hussain
Shakir Khan – sitar
Shahbaz Hussain – tabla
Royal Wharf Community Dock, London
Book Now: £22.38-£27.80

26 July 2026 / 17:00
The Bhavan presents Summer School Showcase 2026: Karnatic Violin duet
Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan – violin
Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi – violin
M Balachandar – mridangam
The Bhavan, London
Book Now: £15-£20

*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.

June was jam packed… I hope I remember everything, I don’t… that’s why I have photos!

Space Station Earth was really atmospheric, singers, strings, brass, keys, drums a plethora of performers in front of a large screen (although, the screen could’ve been lifted off the ground a little, to be able to see the visuals). This was a live soundtrack to visuals of the earth from the perspective of space; the visuals were a collection of footage captured aboard the ISS, and imagery filmed at various European Space Agency locations. It looked beautiful and the soundtrack live was brilliant. I’d love to go to space to see the Earth!

The first gig of the month was Excise Dept debuting their new album, the album is still being finished off, but Excise Dept used the excuse of being in London to debut this new side of their creative output, moving away from hip-hop to a more post-punk, ambient, shoegaze direction, with guitars, two drum kits, keys and vocals all going through all kinds of electronic boxes to loop and mashup sounds, a brilliant performance and I can’t wait to hear the final album when it comes out!

Groove was a dance concert, two crews - The Ruggeds and Ghetto Funk Collective, combined to create a journey through funk, soul, hip-hop, house. The dancers played instruments and the musicians danced, it was a really engaging show and the crowd were encouraged to stand up and dance too!

I always try to go to a museum on my birthday, this year my partner took me to the National Space Centre. What a treat, I didn’t realise how much research the UK undertook in the realm of space travel, so it was, as intended really educational. Also, the entire worldwide space programme has been birthed from the intention of Nazi Germany to kill people with rockets, those same scientists were then instrumental in taking people to the moon. What a complete madness. We need to be more Star Trek (original series), less killing and more exploring and bettering the human experience!

Nāda Sonics—IRL #5 was a really nice session at Lake. I’ve used these sessions to hone the presentation of this concept and I feel it’s ready to be taken on tour now, so I’ll be exploring how to do this, and let me know if you want to experience this live anywhere around the UK!

I spent a weekend at Sumor Festival with the OM Being crew, I played a set and also took part in the numerous workshops that were on offer all weekend. A wonderful collection of people from all corners of the UK and I think some from abroad; they’ve built a very nice community over three years, there was a lovely variety of workshops and then djs in the evening gave a much needed release of energy! I can’t wait for next years event!

I finished off the month with a session at Shai Space, Emanative, Isaac B and me put on an event called ‘Ilimitable Modulations’ a 5 hour ambient session, to allow listeners to just ‘be’. A soundtrack consisting of ambient, jazz, raga, folk and electronic music, mostly beatless allowing a soundscape of relaxation and a chance to meditate on the music. Emanative and I alternated with an hour of selections each, and Isaac layered gong, breathwork and spoken word on top, to create a beautiful experience that soothed the soul of everyone present.

I felt very happy with the event and a sense of accomplishment with my ability to curate events! I just need to get better at promotion now, I guess there’s been a lack of confidence on my side of people turning up, not wanting to do cringe talking social media videos, and I always seem to downplay anything I do for myself, I guess I need to work through this and establish a good promotion strategy to be able to start filling out venues!

I indulged my birthday month with some shows just for me… hopefully you’ll enjoy them too!

I set the mood with a 20min Jeff Parker track and meandered through some beautiful tracks in the first hour and then went into some more club oriented tracks, every month I think will get more and more experimental I think!

I’ve been instagram buddies with Nishant for a very long time, he owns a record shop in Delhi and has an archive on youtube of obscure records, we met in person for the first time at Dialled In and this was an opportunity to hang out and play some music together, we were also joined by Raissa Pardini a brilliant designer and dj!

Birthday indulgence was the theme of this show, I played a selection of tracks that I really like, no new music, all bangers and a wonderful variety of styles!

I explored the raga Kalavati this month, with some really nice recordings featuring vocal, and instrumental renditions, the jal tarang (water filled bowls) is still an instrument that fascinates me!

Tune in, get in the chatrooms, let me know you’re there and I can do shoutouts and stuff!

01°04°2026/14:00 — Sister Midnight FM: Lāykari
18°07°2026/08:00 — NTS: Nāda Sonics
21°05°2026/11:00 — Voices Radio: The World is Sound

I shall be at Twisted festival with Isaac B as part of Suns of Yoga and we’ll be doing a 2 hour ambient yoga session, the festival has a great lineup and if you can make it, definitely grab a ticket and your camping gear

As part of Stratford East’s South Asian Summer season, they have a number of theatre, comedy and music shows programmed and in their bar djs playing music! I’ll be there on the 11th from 9-12pm so come through for some relaxed vibes!

Nestled above Lisbon in the wild beauty of Serta Valley, Portugal - The Hide - a sanctuary and land inspiring reconnection and restoration to resprout.

Pause, reset, and explore sunrise nature walks, and soulful relaxation in nature’s embrace. Yoga, Sound, Poetry, Journaling, Wild swims & a Live DJ.

Sunrise Awareness Walk – Silent walk, gentle movement, meditation & journaling.

The Suns of Yoga Reset Retreat is for anyone who wants to unwind and rebalance in nature. Whether yogi, nature lover, creative or just craving something different. Rediscover your inner environment.

Register your interest now to for more information and to book!

Straight after Portugal Isaac and I will be at Camp Bestival as Suns of Yoga to deliver another ambient yoga workshop, if you’re going to this institution of a festival, we’ll see you in the Yoga Shala!

I’ve been listening to Miles Davis’ back catalogue, so I’ve not listened to loads of new music, but this album is very nice, out on the Swims (they have some beautiful releases, definitely check their back catalogue out!) label by DJ Himitsu!

Kefaya and Elaha Soroor are back with new music, I think a new album is coming out soon, this is another beautiful track from them, I don’t expect anything less!

Thank you for getting to the end, I owe you a review of May, it’s on my list! :)

Sway of the Verses