Sarathy Korwar

Migrants eh? Coming over here with their delicious food and original musical hybrids. As a jazz composer, percussionist and producer born in the USA, raised in India and living in London, Sarathy Korwar knows plenty about the cultural interplay surrounding migration. The basis of his debut album Day To Day – which has caught the ears of tastemakers such as Gilles Peterson and Four Tet – couldn’t be more appropriate as a retort to the suspicious, inward-looking unease of the current climate.

Korwar spent time with the migrant Siddi people of southern India, specifically The Sidi Troupe of Ratanpur in rural Gujarat, and his field recordings of their hypnotic chants and percussive African-derived polyrhythms underpins Day To Day. Mostly Sufi Muslims, the Siddis are descended from the African Bantu, who travelled to India as merchants, sailors and slaves from the seventh century onwards. “I was fascinated by their influences,” says Korwar. “For example, some of the lyrics are in Swahili. It’s an oral tradition so they are singing words they don’t understand.”

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Korwar particularly responded to their improvisational spirit. He blends the Siddis’ repetitive, devotional style with the blissed-out astral jazz of Alice Coltrane or the languid, exploratory grooves of the Ninja Tune label. It turns out that sacred Indian folk and open-ended jazz have more in common than anyone could have imagined.

And it’s not just their style that caught Korwar’s ear, but how they play. “For the Siddi, it’s about the act of performing rather than what actually gets played,” he says. “What’s lacking in a lot of contemporary music is complete surrender. While they’re playing, they’re consumed. All performers should be looking for that, in one way or another.”



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The parallel with Korwar’s own varied heritage is obvious but a sense of common purpose is essential to dispel suggestions of cultural appropriation. One of Day To Day’s standout tracks bears the title Indefinite Leave To Remain, a bureaucratic phrase which will be tediously familiar to all emigres. “The Siddis are migrants. And migration is a key ingredient to everything I do,” says Korwar. “I liked that title because it was formal and official, and also the ring to it once you took it out of context.”

Evidently, issues surrounding multiculturalism have fed into the album’s creation. “I think any immigrant feels some pressure,” he says. “You’re aware of [racial] undertones because they crop up in everyday contexts, particularly if you’re brown or black-skinned. Words need to be re-examined. Words like terrorism. Like refugee. Meanings are always evolving It’s a difficult time.” This is unarguable but Korwar is optimistic that his album can inspire hope, or at least, open-mindedness. “I’m happy there’s a space for an Indian-jazz-folk-classical-electronic record!” he says. Prepare to have your Spotify categories cheerfully confused. - The Guardian Paper UK

This is big news.

Ninja Tune x Steve Reid Foundation have just announced that they will be releasing the debut LP of US born and currently Pune/London based composer and percussionist - Sarathy Korwar. The LP is called ‘Day To Day’ and combines the traditional sufi and African incfluenced folk music of the Sidi community in India with jazz and electronics. It really is nothing like we’ve ever heard before.

‘Day To Day’ is a collaborative release by legendary London based Ninja Tune with The Steve Reid Foundation – a charitable trust established by Brownswood / Gilles Peterson with the dual objective of helping musicians in crisis and also supporting emerging talent. Ninja Tune, as many of you would already know is home to some of the globe’s most undeniably massive talents – check their roster here because we can’t begin listing.

Sarathy is an alumnus of the Steve Reid Foundation’s development program, mentored by Four Tet, Emanative, Floating Points, Koreless and Gilles Peterson – all trustees.

“Sarathy instantly caught my attention when he said he wanted to make an album that embraced both Indian folk music and jazz - two worlds that have had a big influence on me. His album succeeds in bringing these things together in an elegant way, but it’s his own style and ideas that come through the most in the music. Refreshingly different, this is a deep and powerful listening experience.” - Four Tet

Korwar moved to Pune when he was 17 and dedicated his time practicing tabla under the tutelage of Rajeev Devasthali. He then went on to study music in London where he graduated with an MMus in Performance from SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) focusing on the adaptation of Indian classical rhythmic material to non-Indian percussion instruments.

Field recordings of The Sidi Troupe of Ratanpur, which Korwar acquired after a trip to rural Gujrat, form the foundation of the LP, which combines its polyrhythms with percussive jazz and electronics.

“The record is about how we individually and collectively live from day to day. The everyday rituals and tasks that bind us together, it’s a celebration of the trivial and mundane,” explains Sarathy. The colourful handmade rag quilts that the Sidis make using everyday fabrics serve as a perfect metaphor for the record: “The Sidi women make these amazing collages of colour using everyday rags,” he says. “That’s how I see this album”.

You can listen to the first track off the upcoming album - 'Indefinite Leave To Remain' below. Follow Sarathy on Facebook and check out his website for updates – it’s best to keep a close eye on this one - Wild City