Indika Festival comes to Liverpool venues this November

Liverpool’s Indika Festival returns this autumn – and this year the event is being staged at venues across the city.

The 12-day celebration of Indian music, dance, arts and culture is organised by Milap and takes place between November 1-12.

This year’s headliner is giant of British-Asian music, percussionist, producer and composer Talvin Singh, who will appear in a concert at the Tung Auditorium on November 5 to exclusively share material from his long-awaited new album.

Over his career the Mercury Music Prize winner has collaborated with and written for artists like Yoko Ono, Madonna, Sun Ra, the late Ustad Sultan Khan and Björk.

The festival opens on November 1 when Shakir Khan and Shahbaz Hussain perform in the Music Room at the Philharmonic Hall. Khan is a master of the sitar while Hussain is a leading table player.

The Music Room also hosts the Sarod Sisters, making their UK debut, and Milap artist-in-residence, and renowned table player, Kousic Sen, who appear on November 2.

And November 2 also sees two performances of Sita’s Magic Forest at the Unity Theatre.

Above: Sita's Magic Forest.

The Ramayana, an epic celebrated across Asia, tells the trials and triumphs of Rama and Sita. In this storytelling dance production from Asparas Arts, the couple are exiled in the woods where they encounter enchanting creatures along the way.

And in the evening, the Unity hosts Parama Padam by Mohanapriyan Thavarajah.

Parama Padam was crated by followers of the Vaishnavite faith to both entertain and teach the moral values of human life. This production takes the form of a game of snakes and ladders, with ladders representing virtues while the snakes bring you down to a cycle of re-births.

The Unity Theatre is also the setting for Harinie Jeevitha’s Varadarājam Upāsmahē on November 3.

Singer and composer Swati Naketar returns to Liverpool for the first time in 15 years to present and evening of Bollywood Classics, Indian Ragas, Ghazals and contemporary music at the Music Room on November 8, and The Moore, Modarelli and Rayatt trio come to the Tung Auditorium on the same day for a lunchtime concert.

Both eastern and western music styles are explored in Milap X Mellowtone, featuring Vedanth Bharadwaj, SJ Downes & Richie Vegas, and taking place Downstairs at the Everyman on November 9.

Above: Talvin Singh comes to the Tung Auditorium as part of Indika.

And Payal Ramchandani and ensemble present The Forest Dream at the Capstone Theatre in Everton on November 10, promising a breathtaking fusion of dance styles in a powerful exploration of the climate crisis.

Then the festival returns to the Tung Auditorium on November 11 with the Indika Collective – a specially-created festival band playing new arrangements of folk and traditional repertoire.

More artists are still to be announced.

The festival will also include a variety of literary and mindfulness events, with dedicated family-friendly activities, at The Reader at Calderstones Park, including an early morning yoga session with Indian music followed by chai.

The Indika Festival takes place from November 1-12. More details HERE