Indian Classical Music: Soumik Datta

Soumik Datta

Soumik Datta is a British composer and sarod maestro (the sarod is a 19-stringed fretless lute, as opposed to the more traditional sitar.) Soumik Datta is more than a sarod virtuoso though. A polymath composer, producer, bandleader, TV presenter and Artistic Director of the Soumik Datta Arts charity, his work embraces traditional and contemporary art forms to address the urgent issues of our times. Soumik is best known for his creative collaborations with Beyonce, Jay-Z, Bill Bailey, Nitin Sawhney, Anoushka Shankar, Arijit Singh, Akram Khan, Javed Akhtar, London Philharmonic Orchestra and City of London Sinfonia amongst others. As a fervent champion of the preservation of Indian arts, Datta strives to bring this ancient Indian stringed instrument to new audiences on a global scale. While contributing to the preservation and ongoing development of musical heritage, Soumik believes that music can serve as a cultural anchor, deepening a sense of community, identity and heritage, while simultaneously reaching out in powerful ways to people of different backgrounds.

Mone Rekho

What is the cost of forgetting? What is created when we misremember? Mone Rekho (or ‘Remember’ in Bengali) is an immersive concert that explores how the beauty and complexity of Indian music shifts and changes through the prism of memory. Born from Soumik’s conversations with elderly people in care homes, facilitated by University College of London and the Alzheimer’s Society, Mone Rekho weaves Indian music with electronic hybrids, visual collages, cinematic scenes, personal anecdotes and bursts of comedy. Accompanied by Gurdain Singh Rayatt on tabla and Camilo Tirado on live effects, Soumik moves between the roles of student, storyteller and master musician in a space that shifts from concert hall to classroom; from care homes to the streets of Kolkata. Everyone is left with something to think about - from remembering lost memories to learning something new. Intimate yet expansive, ‘Mone Rekho’ stretches your imagination.