Sarathy Korwar

Did You Know?

• Korwar began studying tabla aged 10.
• He studied Geology at Fergusson College in Pune before dedicating himself to music.
• He continued tabla studies with Sanju Sahai at SOAS after moving to London.

Career

Korwar released his debut album Day To Day in 2016 on the Ninja Tune label, blending field recordings of the Siddi people of Southern India with his own compositions drawing from contemporary jazz and electronic music. He leads the UPAJ Collective, a group of Eastern and Western musicians formed for a residency at London's Jazz Cafe. In 2016 Korwar was selected for the Steve Reid Foundation's mentorship programme, a charitable foundation set up by Gilles Peterson.

His second studio album, More Arriving, was released on 26 July 2019 through The Leaf Label, recorded over three years in Mumbai and London. The album incorporates rappers from Mumbai and New Delhi with spoken word, Indian classical influence and jazz instrumentation, featuring the Jamaican-Indian rapper Delhi Sultanate, London poet Zia Ahmed and Abu Dhabi writer Deepak Unnikrishnan among others. Korwar described the album as a protest record, stating that it represents what Indian music sounds like to him at that time by incorporating multiple brown voices.

More Arriving won Best Independent Album at The AIM Awards in 2020. The EP Otherland was released for Record Store Day 2020, limited to 1,000 copies on transparent green vinyl, featuring Kushal Gaya (Melt Yourself Down), Zia Ahmed, Mirande and Mumbai hip-hop collective Swadesi, continuing the theme of Indian diaspora. In August 2022 Korwar announced his third studio album KALAK and released the single "Utopia Is A Colonial Project", a polyrhythmic anthem accompanied by a music video choreographed by Elliott Gonzo and starring dancer Botis Seva.

Korwar stated that ideas of utopia are intrinsically linked to settler colonialism and that people need to imagine futures different from the utopias sold by right-wing populist politicians in South Asia and beyond.