Amiruddin, from Jaipur city, is a master of the sarangi - the multihued violin of the desert. Involved with a variety of national and international collaborations and festivals, he is an All India Radio resident artist and has accompanied renowned artists such as Bhawani Shankar, Madhu Bhat Tailang, Parveen Arya, Shashi Sankhala and Bhanwari Devi. He has performed at the Scotland Fringe Festival, Trip Festival, Mondiyal Festival in Switzerland, Pushkar Festival, Rajasthan Foundation Day and features on the dance track ‘Running to the Sun’ (by Indigenous Resistance). He recently undertook a European tour with vocalist Mehtab Mehdi Hasan and Salim Hasan on tabla.
Bhutta Khan is one the finest vocalists to have emerged from the Manganiyar community in recent years. From Nimbala village of Barmer district, he maintains a rare repertoire of traditional Manganiyar songs. Since the age of five, he studied singing and also kamaicha (a small cello-like instrument from Rajasthan) with his father, as well as the late Shri Anwar Khan Jhanphali. Among Indian classical musicians, he has worked with Pundit Ramakant and Pundit Umakant Gundecha (Dhrupad), the Wadali Brothers (Sufi singers from Punjab), Pundit Krishna Mohan Bhatt (sitar) and Moinuddin Khan (sarangi) from Jaipur, Rajasthan. He has also worked with Grammy-award winning Woulter Kellerman.
Bhungar is one of the most prominent khartal performers in India and is a recipient of the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar from Delhi’s principal performing arts institution, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, in recognition of his contributions to Rajasthani folk music. Hailing from Talo Ka Gaon in Barmer district (western Rajasthan), Bhungar is a sixth generation artist. He started learning Khartal at the age of five from Ustad Gafur Khan Manganiyar of Fusad village. He can also play dholak (a twin-faced hand drum). His other main inspirations are the late Shri Chanan Khan Manganiyar and Shri Anwar Khan.
Bhungar has performed with Indian classical greats such as the Carnatic vocalist Aruna Sairam and Hindustani classical singer Shankar Mahadevan and Pundit Nayan Ghosh. He has also been part of a number of exciting international collaborations, including the Dharohar project with Jason Singh and Marutarang, Australia with saxophonist Brain Mallet. Khartals are two smooth flat oblong pieces of wood held in each hand, struck together to make intricate rhythmic patterns. They are played dramatically, sometimes above the head in dance-like movements, and form an increasingly important part of Rajasthani ensembles. Bhungar is a key proponent of the instrument and has inspired many other players with his unique style of playing.
Latif Khan is a well known master of morchang (Jew’s harp) as well as bhapang, dholak and khartal. A sixth generation artist, Latif was inspired in particularl by Bhugra Khan Manganiyar and Manzoor Khan Manganiyar. In the Indian classical world, he has worked with renowned tabla player Anuradha Pal, classical singer Shubha Mudgal and sitar player Pundit Krishna Mohan Bhatt. A veteran of world tours, he has worked with artists such as the UK drummer Pete Lockett and Shooglenifty, from Edinburgh.
Manzoor Khan is one of the finest dholak (twin-faced drum) players of the Manganiyar, a community of hereditary musicians based in Rajasthan, northeast India. He represents the 7th generation in a family of musicians and his father Bhikha Khan Manganiyar is also a well known vocalist. Manzoor Khan started learning dholak in the traditional manner at the age of five from Ustad Gaffur Khan Manganiyar. He is also greatly inspired by Ramjan Khan Manganiyar, a legendary dholak player and was the one who brought the particular style of dholak playing that we know today, from Pakistan to India. At the age of nine, Manzoor performed in Russia as part of an event organised by the ICCR (the Indian Council for Culture Relations). He has toured 65 countries and has performed at world music festivals across the globe. In the Indian Classical world, he has worked with Pundit Ram Narayan (Sarangi), Pundit Vishwa Mohan (Mohan veena), Anindu Chaterjee (Tabla), Pundit Krishna Mohan Bhatt (Sitar), Pundit Bhawani Shankar (Pakhwaj). Internationally, he has collaborated with Asel Bocohn from Mali, the Gypsy Kings from France and drummer Ben Walls from the U.K.
Nehru is one of the finest traditional singers in the Manganiyar community, as well as being a skilled player of the kamaicha, dhol, dholak, harmonium and khartals. Hailing from Jalela (Kotda) village of Barmer district, western Rajasthan, Nehru learned under his father Mishri Khan, also a kamaicha player and a vocalist as well as his Ustads, the late Shri Chanan Khan Manganiyar and Shri Rane Khan Manganiyar. Nehru has worked with Indian classical maestros like the vocalists Ustad Rashid Khan, Prashant Khaparde and Pundit Bheemsen Joshi (who was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 2009). Nehru has also worked with Bollywood music composer Ram Sampath, UK percussionist Pete Lockett, the Gypsy Kings and has toured extensively for performances worldwide.
A talented Sufi vocalist, Safi hails from a traditional singer family from Khanyani village of Barmer district in western Rajasthan. The seventh generation artist of his family, he started his lessons at the age of 5 with his father and teacher, the well-known Sufi vocalist Shri Kachra Khan Manganiyar. Safi has trained himself with the Sufi songs of saints like Bulleh Shah, Sacchal Sai, and Shah Latif. This is the first project Safi has undertaken that involves international collaboration. He once performed in China at an event organised by ICCR.
Arun Ghosh is a British-Asian clarinettist, bandleader and composer. Twice awarded 'Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year' at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, Arun leads his own ensembles, touring nationally and internationally. He has released five albums on Camoci Records: Northern Namaste, Primal Odyssey, A South Asian Suite, but where are you really from?, and Seclused in Light. Arun regularly works as a composer for theatre and film, and as a Musical Director and educator. He recently composed and toured a new work for chamber jazz ensemble and voices, a setting of St Francis of Assisi’s The Canticle of the Sun; this piece has had performances in churches, cathedrals and other sacred spaces since its premiere in May 2022. He is currently touring with sitarist and composer Anoushka Shankar, and working on his sixth album, due for release in 2024.
The trio that features on track eight studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where they met Jason Singh. Toby Comeau is a pianist and composer with international performing experience, Joe Lee is a Jazz double bass player and Floyer Sydenham plays drums in his own band ‘St. Barbe’, a jazz/prog-rock guitar lead trio, who have supported the world famous ‘Mike Stern’. All three, regularly perform on the UK jazz scene.
David is a Music Producers Guild Award winner, sound designer, engineer, composer and music producer. A London-based Australian, his career spans thirty years with accomplishments across television, cinema, theatre, dance, and music production. David co-produced Plan B’s 4 x Platinum No 1 Album ‘The Defamation of Strickland Banks’. His most recent sound design and soundscape mixing was featured on the 59 Productions ‘About Us’ projection spectacle and Sting’s ‘Message In A Bottle’ and a Kate Prince Dance show. David’s latest producer album credits include 2022’s ‘Anomaly’ by Jasdeep Singh Degun, released on Peter Gabriel’s Realworld Records. Previous collaborations include Nitin Sawhney, Cirque Du Soleil, Jason Singh, Jeff Beck, Natasha Bedingfield, Garou, Yeast Culture, The London Symphony Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Metropole Orchestra, Warner Music, Sony Music and Universal Music.
Jason Singh is a sound artist, producer and composer based in the UK. His work is an ongoing exploration of the natural world, voice and music technology and he has been referred to as “the human sampler” by Cerys Matthews (Radio 6). Nature writer Robert Macfarlane admires his “beautiful, strange, calming music” which has featured on the BBC series Wild Isles, George Ezra’s film End to End, BBC Proms, Springwatch and Countryfile. Singh has an intimate and complex relationship with India. His own family were forced to flee India during the Partition of 1947 and his grandmother, given the atrocities she had witnessed at the time, firmly warned her children and grandchildren never to return. Jason did return, accompanying his parents on the pilgrimage to Dharamsala, India at the age of five, but he didn’t fully connect to the subcontinent until he returned as an adult and encountered the Manganiyar community of Rajasthan. In the stories, rhythms and songs of these travelling pedlars of music, Singh discovered a deep commonality with the bhatra sanghat Singh is himself a part of - a community of Sikhs who migrated to the UK, who share linguistic, musical and professional links with the Manganiyars. In the dholak drums of Rajasthan, featured throughout this album, Singh heard the rhythms and touch he knew from the tabla players (the ragis) he’d encountered in the gurudwaras of East London. He has been unfolding the layers of his musical, spiritual and familial connections to the Indian subcontinent ever since, and this album, dedicated to John and Faith Singh, is a significant recognition of this continuous journey.
From Rajasthan
Amir Uddin – Sarangi (track 4)
Bhutta Khan – Vocals (features on all tracks, one of three main vocalists on track 8)
Bungar Khan – Khartal, Manjira (features on all tracks except 8)
Latif Khan – Morchang, Bhapang, Vocal Percussion (features on all tracks except 8)
Manjoor Khan – Dholak (features on all tracks except 8)
Nehru Khan – Vocals, Harmonium (features on all tracks, one of three main vocalists on track 8)
Safi Khan – Vocals, Harmonium (features on all tracks, main vocalist on track 5 and one of three main vocalists on track 8)
From the U.K.
Arun Ghosh – Clarinet, Acoustic and Electric Guitars (tracks 2 and 3)
Floyer Sydenham – Drums, Hand Percussion (track 8), Joe Lee – Bass (track 8), Toby Comeau – Piano (track 8)
David McEwan – Bass (track 2)
Jason Singh – Production, Arrangement and Field Recordings (all tracks)
