My top 10 live events - Jay Visvadeva

PIONEERING British arts legend Jay Visvadeva has many impressive achievements, including curating more than 1,600 events with over 3,200 artists at hundreds of venues, across a 50-year career. During this time, he also co-produced 450 multi-genre music albums from the South Asian arts world. He is still going strong, curating events, organising festivals and giving a platform to diverse talent. Visvadeva took on the impossible task of selecting top 10 live events he has organised across his glittering career.

Morning concert of Pandit Ravi Shankar at the Centre of Indian Arts (1978): On a cool October morning of 1978, a rare concert took place when I was working with the Sanskritik Festival of Arts of India. The morning performance by Pandit Ravi Shankar was one of the finest morning concerts to ever take place in London. The raga performed was the maestro’s creation, which he named Parmeshwari. Ustad Alla Rakha was on tabla. It is etched in my memory.

Kathakali Dance Company at Logan Hall (1981): This legendary 22-member dance company from Kerala was touring Europe in early 1981, and I offered to present them in London. After scouting for venues, I finally decided to settle with the Logan Hall, University of London, where I presented a weeklong season with stories from major Indian epics. The makeup alone took several hours before each show.

Aminuddin Dagar & Zia Fariduddin Dagar at Riverside Studios (1985): During the first all-night concert presented at the London venue, I had the rare privilege of working with two of the finest Dhrupad exponents. Ustad Aminuddin Dagar’s powerful voice and Ustad Zia Mohiddin Dagar’s majestic rudra veena came together to perform one of the most judicious dhrupad music compositions of Miya Tansen, the iconic 15th century musician at the court of Akbar.

Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan at Kufa Gallery (1989): The qawwali icon lit up a cold December evening with an explosive concert that showed off his brilliance. The musical marathon that lasted nearly five hours saw the maestro sing many mystic verses (kalaams), which made up the greater part of a traditional Sufi qawwali repertoire.

The Living Music Tradition at The Royal College/Kufa Gallery (1990): This festival was part of SAMA’s autumn season, which saw us present 11 concerts at The Royal College of Music and Kufa Gallery. The festival had virtually the who’s who of the music world. But one highlight that remained etched in my memory was the concert of maestro Ustad Mehdi Hassan accompanied by two of the finest musicians, Ustads Sultan and Shaukat Hussain Khan.

Jugalbandi Festival (1994) at Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Royal Festival: The festival, which took place at the great London venues brought together magnificent talents to create something wonderful on stage through collaboration. The word jugalbandi literally means ‘entwined twins’ so had vocal and instrumental duets. The highlight of the duets was performances by Ustads Vilayat and Bismillah Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Dr Balmurali Krishna.

Festival of India at Queen Elizabeth Hall (1995): This festival brought the classical vocal styles of dhrupad, khyal, folk traditions, along with different dance styles Kathak, Odissi and Bharatanatyam over one week. The highlight of the festival was the three dance styles, a tabla solo by the renowned Pt Kishan Maharaj and the folk music from Rajasthan.

Rasyatra (1997): Some of the finest artists of the 20th century were brought together for a 50th anniversary celebration of India’s Independence at great UK venues. The artists included were Ustad Vilayat Khan, qawwals Jaffar Hussain Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Madhavi Mudgal and Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. The highlight of the celebration was the historic duet concert of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Following their sell out concert at Royal Festival Hall, a live recording entitled Rasdhara was released.

The Eternal Spirit (1998) and SAMAROH (2005): I have organised many festivals, which included the recent Shared Values and Women In The Arts. However, these two stand-out. The Eternal Spirit featured some of the greatest masters of music at the Royal Festival Hall. The festival included Pandit Ram Narayan, Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Dr L Subramanium and Ustad Shahid Parvez. The concert started at 7.30pm on Saturday night and finished at 9.30am on Sunday and the highlight no doubt was the appearance of Smt Kishori Amonkar who performed some of the most meditative morning ragas Lalit Pancham and Gurjari Todi. SAMAROH was an 18-concert series presented at various venues in London. The festival programme encompassed a wide range of styles drawn from the staggering multiplicity of forms and genres native to the subcontinent. The performances included ones by Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, Ustad Sultan Khan, Ustad Rais Khan and Ustad Fariduddin Dagar, along with dance greats like Leela Samson, Madhavi Mudgal and Arushi Mudgal.

Adi Anant - Creation Mondiale at Royal Festival Hall (2001): This was a rare and unique concert featuring one sequence from the crossover works composed by Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and Pablo Queco, leading L’Orchestre Transes Europennes. There were seven musical pieces chosen from the Indian classical raga repertoire. It feels great that I could help build cultural bridges with so many events across 50 years. I thank all, especially the artists, who have been with me on this beautiful journey.

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