Celebrating Awaaz: Sounds from South Asia with A.R. Rahman

An evening bursting with creative energy, culture, and collaboration – Awaaz: Sounds from South Asia reflected the rich diversity of Indian classical and contemporary performance. What better way to celebrate spectacular artistry than alongside our Honorary President A.R. Rahman?

Trinity Laban students took to the stage at Blackheath Halls to perform a wide repertoire of Indian music, including “Bombay Theme” and “Raga Dance” by A.R. Rahman, and “Awaaz” by our Honorary Fellow and alum Soumik Datta. “Awaaz” was written for chamber choir, sarod and Indian percussion and in Soumik’s words “explores the event, known as Partition, through the lens of the human voice. What if language was shattered into fragmented syllables? What if words and phrases were torn up like the lands of India and Pakistan? Could a libretto be made up of shards of words from Hindi, Urdu and Bengali? Stripped of meaning and identity, what emotion would this debris of sound carry?”. Premiered at the Barbican in 2022 with the composer as soloist, this performance featured renowned sitarist Debipriya Das, tabla virtuoso Gurdain Rayatt, and internationally acclaimed percussionist Prathap Ramachandra on the mrindingam.

During the concert, Professor Nic Pendlebury conducted the Trinity Laban Strings and solo violinist Samyuktha Rajagopal, who recently won the Soloist Competition and performed at the BRIT Awards, while Sarah Latto directed the Trinity Laban Chamber Choir. Honorary President A.R. Rahman was in attendance, as was Honorary Fellow and alum Soumik Datta.