Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Dharambir has been teaching North Indian classical music and improvisation with Western music students and students of Indian Music (both of Indian and Western backgrounds) for over three decades. As a founder of South Asian Arts UK he has created the environment for this music to flourish in many contexts, both at community and HE level including at Leeds Conservatoire, Trinity College of Music and South Asian Arts UK. His unique style of teaching to communicate the essence of Indian music performance in combination with his NESTA Fellowship work has resulted in the creation of audiovisual resources which unlock the musical and technical elements of the classical style.
In this lecture-performance Dharambir will illustrate the key differences between North Indian classical and ‘Western’ musical forms and talk about his journey as both a performer and dedicated teacher - from his studies with Ustad Vilayat Khan to his UK-wide educational projects.
The Inside Out Lecture Series at Leeds School of Arts, Leeds Beckett University is an incredible opportunity to present international cutting-edge research and arts practice innovation to our research and teaching community here and to the wider national and international public.
Dharambir Singh is one of the most prominent North Indian Classical musicians based in the U.K. A student of the legendary Ustad Vilayat Khan, he also studied for his MA at the School Of Oriental and African studies at the University of London and is a fellow of NESTA (National Endowment for Science Technology and Arts) and FTCL (Fellow Trinity College London). He has been awarded an MBE award by the Queen in 2011 and received the Guru Ratna, a life time achievement award by MilapFest in 2018.
Aside from his extensive performance career, Dharambir’s reputation as an educator is unparalleled in the UK. He worked as a tutor with Leicester Music Service, lecturer at Leeds College Of Music and an adviser at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on their BMus Degree in Indian Music in collaboration with Trinity College Of Music. He founded South Asian Arts-uk in Leeds in 1997. He was the founder and the artistic director of SAMYo the first national south Asian music youth orchestra and artistic adviser for Tarang, the UK’s first South Asian senior ensemble. He was also a trustee with Darbar Heritage.
As part of his fellowship he has been involved in pioneering work in creating technology solutions in different areas of North Indian musical training. He works as a freelance performer, tutor and consultant and has recently founded the Sitar Music Society, a non-profit organisation based in Leicester, UK.
