Welcome to Darbar Festival 2022
8-16 October at the Barbican Centre

I am absolutely delighted to share the Darbar Festival 2022 programme with you. This celebrates our long-awaited return to live performances after the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Now in its 17th year, the Darbar Festival returns to the Barbican Centre, with a magical mix of emerging raw young talent from India and the UK, master performers making their UK debuts and performances featuring world class legends, maestros and maestras. 
  
Darbar was set up in memory of Gurmit Singh Ji Virdee, an inspirational tabla player and teacher, the Festival continues to be the perfect place to discover an enchanting world of melody and rhythm. A world to help you find your inner rhythm, once again, and feel at one with the universe ‘in ecstatic motion’.  
 
India’s classical music DNA structure is rooted in nature, and the ragas and talas are closely associated with animals, birds, weather and seasons, delivering a wholesome and holistic experience to enhance ones wellbeing.  And what could be a greater need of the hour—or, indeed, the year—after our experience of the pandemic and its impact on people’s health, anxiety and depression? Let Darbar take you on a journey to lose yourself in the music, and, in so doing, find yourself once again.  
 
Indulge your senses in this emotive music, yoga with live music, breathwork sessions and our Indian music appreciation course, which will leave you with a nuanced appreciation of the form.  
 
Visit darbar.org for more details and explore the finest Indian classical music festival right here in London. 

Sandeep Virdee OBE
Artistic Director