Sarathy Korwar Drum Ensemble brings an expansive meeting of Indian classical percussion, jazz and electronic experimentation to Fiba Salon İKSV on Tuesday 29 September, as part of the 36th Akbank Jazz Festival with the support of the Consulate General of India. Led by London-based drummer, composer and producer Sarathy Korwar, the ensemble presents music shaped by rhythmic traditions from across South Asia alongside contemporary jazz, improvisation and electronic sound. The performance follows the release of Korwar’s 2025 album There Is Beauty, There Already, a percussion-led work that treats rhythm itself as the central compositional language. Tickets are available via Passo.
Born in the United States and raised in Ahmedabad and Chennai, Korwar began studying tabla at the age of 10 before moving between Indian classical music, Western drums and jazz. After studying in Pune, he moved to London and trained in classical tabla under Sanju Sahai at SOAS, focusing on how Indian rhythmic concepts could be translated onto non-Indian percussion instruments. That interest became central to his work with the UPAJ Collective, a group of South Asian jazz and Indian classical musicians built around collaboration and improvisation. He has since worked with artists including Shabaka Hutchings, Anoushka Shankar, Kamasi Washington and Moses Boyd.
Korwar’s recordings have developed this cross-cultural approach in markedly different directions. His 2016 debut Day To Day combined field recordings of the Sidi community in India, whose musical traditions carry East African, Sufi and Indian influences, with jazz and electronic textures. More Arriving, released in 2019, incorporated rappers and spoken-word artists from India and Britain into an increasingly political exploration of diaspora and contemporary Indian identity. The album won Best Independent Album at the 2020 AIM Awards. His 2022 album KALAK moved toward an Indo-futurist vision, using South Asian musical and literary traditions as material for imagining alternative futures.
The current Drum Ensemble reflects another shift in Korwar’s practice, placing percussion firmly at the centre rather than treating it simply as a rhythmic foundation. There Is Beauty, There Already, released in 2025, was recorded with fellow percussionists including Photay, Magnus Mehta and Joost Hendrickx, combining tabla, drum kit, marimba, balafon, ghatam and other instruments with electronic textures. The resulting 40-minute suite draws on Indian folk music, jazz drum ensembles and minimalist composition, allowing repetition and gradual rhythmic change to become the main source of movement. For this performance, Korwar is joined by Magnus Mehta, Donna Thomson and Prathap Ramchandran, creating an ensemble built around the tonal and melodic possibilities of percussion itself.
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İstanbul Kültür Sanat Vakfı Nejat Eczacıbaşı Binası Bereketzade Mahallesi Sadi Konuralp Caddesi, Şişhane Sk. No:5, 34433 Beyoğlu
