London International Arts Festival

Taking you from the bohemian streets of Shoreditch to Kings Cross’ finest contemporary cultural institutions, the fifth edition of the London International Arts Festival (LIAF) is a pan-London celebration of the capital’s most exciting music and culture. Running for five nights across five different venues, LIAF is a must for anyone wanting to know what London truly sounds like right now.

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Wednesday 2 November 2016: Vortex Jazz Club, Dalston.

Enjoy Jon Sterckx’s solo project ‘Drumscapes’; a whirlwind of rhythms from around the world blended with live sampling and sonic sculptures. This evening also stars pianist Rekesh Chauhan, previous collaborator with Mercury award-winner OBE Talvin Singh. Rekesh takes his Indian heritage forward into contemporary world music with creative flair.

Thursday 3 November 2016: Oslo, Hackney.

This is your chance to pay your respects to one of London’s best drum’n’bass giants, Cleve-land Watkiss and his Project 23. Watkiss is famously known for being the voice of ‘Metal-headz’ – Goldie’s’ epochal Sunday sessions at the legendary Blue Note club in Hoxton. Audi-ences will also be enthused by the spirit of pure improvisation with Black Top’s perfor-mance; magic from multi-instrumentalist duo Orphy Robinson and pianist/sound-sculptor, Pat Thomas.

Friday 4 November 2016: Rich Mix, Shoreditch.

This gig is headlined by the infectious sounds of Soom T an Indian artist born and raised in Scotland and signed to French label Chapter Two Records. Themes of liberation resonate deep within her sound which fuses elements of reggae, hip-hop, folk, dance and dub. Performance also comes from sonically gymnastic Parisian beatboxer David X accompanied by contempo-rary Indo-jazz band Bangalore Dreams. The night will be opened by Ennè a soulful singer from St Albans known for her operatic reggae and freestyle ukulele and guitar riffs.

Saturday 5 November 2016: Redbridge Town Hall, Ilford.

A Carnatic feast from eminent artists of the South Indian tradition. Full line up: Redbridge Symphony Orchestra, Classical ,Dhruv Ensemble, Contemporary Indian Music Choir , Yakshagana, Traditional dance from South India, Binal Trivedy, Folk and Contempo-rary Dance from South India, Sundaresan, Carnatic Classical Vocal Vamshikrishna Vishnudas, Carnatic Classical Vocal, Rithvik Raja from Chennai presenting Carnatic vo-cal concert

Monday 7 November 2016: King’s Place, Kings Cross.

Kings Place showcases two of India’s most sought after musicians. Hailed as a global maverick fifth generation sitar player Niladri Kumar is an unconventional rare instrumentalist. Delv-ing into the depths of North Indian Hindustani music with playful improvisation, his perfor-mances always delight with electrifying speed and agility. The night also features virtuoso vio-linist and composer Jyotsna Srikanth, Europe’s leading South Indian violinist. Jyotsna will present a recital of South Indian Carnatic music accompanied by two drummers.