The last time I spoke to Jasdeep Singh Degun at Howard Assembly Room he told me that he had been invited to perform at the 2024 Darbar Festival at The Barbican in London and was hugely honoured and excited to be doing so. It is the most prestigious event in the South Asian Music calendar, comprising a combination of both classical and modern works. A kind of mash up of Glastonbury and The Proms.
It is being held at the end of this month with Jasdeep playing on Friday, 25th October. Don’t all rush at once for tickets though as, unsurprisingly, it has already sold out. Not to despair however, as you can catch his performances at Oxford’s Holywell Music Room on 15th October and Nottingham Theatre Royal on 19th. Being the consummate professional that he is, the tour was organised as a warm up to the big event at the Barbican and, if this evening’s performance was anything to go by, he will be a superstar by this time next month. Go to his website at https://www.jasdeepsinghdegun.com/ for tickets.
Kousic Sen, Jasdeep Singh Degun and Ravneet Sehra. Sorry for the quality of the photograph due to the atmospheric lighting.
The programme comprised the classical side of his playing rather than the more popular aspect as portrayed on his latest album, Anomaly. Don’t think that this means it is beyond the casual listener, as the virtuoso gave us a full breakdown of the construction and history of the works he played, proving that his sense of humour is just as sharp as his sitar playing.
There were two items in the set, both being raags, which are pieces of music beginning slowly with the main theme and then progressing through other stages until they finish in an improvised crescendo, which is well worth waiting for. I am not sure of the etiquette when watching or listening to Indian classical music, do you wait until the end before showing your appreciation, as in the western version, or does one applaud during the piece, after a particularly amazing passage, as in modern jazz. Whatever the procedure, the audience threw the rule book out of the window, going absolutely nuts in three or four occasions when the artistry, dexterity and sheer exuberance took hold of us all.
As you can see from the photographs, there were three performers: Jasdeep on sitar, Kousic Sen on tabla and Ravneet Sehra, tanpura. The latter instrument is one which provides a background drone to deepen the sound and add atmosphere. It is a smaller version of Mr Degun’s instrument and only has four strings – all together now – a baby sitar. Speaking of which, Jasdeep’s young niece was in the audience at her very first concert, nothing like starting with the best. Mr Sen has known Jasdeep for quite a few years, being his mentor when the 14 year-old first took up music and they played together during his learning process. This became apparent as the evening wore on and the tabla joined in on the improvisational parts. The chemistry was obvious, with each one knowing exactly where the other was going. Tight doesn’t go anywhere near summing the performance up. There were also the occasional smiles and knowing glances between them as they seemed even to impress themselves with their playing. At the end, the place was in uproar.
The evening ended with a couple of bonuses that not even those at the Darbar will witness. The first was a rendition by the musicians, and all of the audience, of Happy Birthday To You, in celebration of another member of Jasdeep’s family in attendance, his mother!
The second layer of icing on the birthday cake was an encore comprising Veer (meaning Brother) from Anomaly, a track dedicated to his younger brother who tragically passed away in 2021.
I realise that I have heaped more than abundant praise on Jasdeep both in this article and in previous ones, but there are times when you just cannot ignore the profound talent of an artist, in whatever field, and this is one of that very select few.
To see what other delights Howard Assembly Room has in the pipeline, please go to https://www.operanorth.co.uk/event-tag/har/
Feature image from Howard Assembly Room. Photographs by Stan Graham
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