International composer and bassist Shri Sriram is to perform in Bradford on Sunday (8 June, 2025) as part of a festival to celebrate new music.
Brought up in Mumbai as part of a musical family, he began to play tabla at the age of four. Now he works as an award-winning composer, producer and bassist, often performing with top artists from all over the world.
Bradford isn’t new territory for Shri. He’s previously led music workshops in the city and collaborated with the Bradford Youth Brass Band. “It’s not a city I don’t know,” he said. “I like the city centre. It feels like it’s becoming a really cool place. Plus, the food is fantastic, great Pakistani and Punjabi food.”
He said he would be trying a local curry during his visit: “Absolutely. Last time I had amazing aloo paratha and chana at a place just near the centre. Maybe a curry after the performance on Sunday.”
He is performing as part of The New Music Biennial is a three-day festival celebrating the best new music across all genres from the country’s most exciting composers – and in 2025, for the first time, it’s coming to venues around Bradford as part of the City of Culture celebration.
From Bradford Cathedral to The Underground, the Biennial will take over the city centre from 6-8 June, with 20 cutting-edge performances – and every show is free. Alongside returning works and contemporary classics, Bradford will host several world premieres, all performed live before heading to London’s Southbank Centre, Sunday 6 July at 8pm. But audiences in Bradford will hear them first.
One of those new commissions is Dhamaal – Core, a fast-paced fusion of Indian classical, jazz, and electronic music by genre-defying composer and bassist Shri, who has lived in London for over three decades. But his creative roots remain deeply tied to India.
“I always think my Indian classical is a bit like I speak English, I speak it with an Indian accent,” Shri told Asian Standard. “But I’m not about bindis and Taj Mahal”.
Shri’s sound cannot be categorised. Starting out as a tabla player in his youth, his musical outlook took a sharp turn in college. “There were always tablas in the house,” he recalled. “It’s traditional to study rhythm first in Indian classical music, even if you do vocals or sitar later. So I did that for 14 years.”
Then he discovered bass and heavy metal band Black Sabbath. “That was the turning point. I suddenly realised bass was my calling. It was like wanting to be the goalkeeper instead of the forward.”
Shri’s unique style mixing Indian percussion, fretless bass, and sampling helped pioneer the Asian Underground movement in the late ’90s with Outcaste Records and projects like Badmarsh & Shri. But Dhamaal – Core marks a new evolution.
Commissioned by Serious Trust and composed especially for the Biennial, this 15-minute instrumental performance is, in Shri’s words, “a bit of an epic”. The lineup features saxophonist Pete Wareham, jazz pianist Matthew Bourne (who hails from Bradford), drummer Max Hallett (The Comet is Coming), trombonist Rosie Turton, and percussionist Pratap Ramachandra.
“It starts serious,” Shri explained, “but then it builds into this high-energy explosion. We wanted to bring joy, but in a slightly dark, fun way, not flowers and colour, but something with punch.”
Though London is his home now, Shri’s work continues to draw from his Bombay upbringing and multicultural collaborations. He believes Bradford’s rich diversity is the perfect place for Dhamaal – Core to debut.
“You can’t beat the energy of a live audience,” he said. “And if that audience reflects the music’s roots, even better.”
Catch Shri Sriram’s Dhamaal – Core at New Music Biennial on Sunday 8 June, 7:30-8:30 pm at The Loading Bay.
The event includes two performances of the same work, with a short Q&A in between.
🎟️ Entry is free, but ticketed. Seats are unallocated and ticket-holders are admitted first-come, first-served – so arrive early.
Book here: https://bradford2025.co.uk/event/dhamaal-core/
Glossary: Dhamaal – (धमाल) A Hindi/Urdu word meaning “ecstatic celebration”, “chaotic joy”, or “fun and revelry”
