UK tour announced for Aakash Odedra's Songs of the Bulbul

“A work of exquisite beauty and sadness, Aakash Odedra’s Songs of the Bulbul is the kind of theatrical moment that stays with you forever” Kelly Apter, The Scotsman, August 2024

Songs of the Bulbul is a transcendent solo for the virtuoso performer Aakash Odedra created in collaboration with revered Delhi-based Kathak choreographer Rani Khanam. It had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival last year where it received a swathe of 4 and 5-star reviews and was named Edinburgh International Festival’s Best Show by The List.

Songs of the Bulbul has been developed with London-based, genre-defying composer Rushil Ranjan. Renowned for his distinctive ability to seamlessly bring together Indian classical and Western classical traditions, his original score is written for orchestra, Qawwali singers and other Indian classical musicians, played by the pioneering Manchester Camerata. At Lowry, Salford the score will be played live by the orchestra’s 35 players with singers Abi Sampa and Sarthak Kalyani.

Songs of the Bulbul lays bare Odedra’s personal and spiritual dance landscape on stage. Rani Khanam’s exquisite storytelling choreography features expressive hand gestures and flowing lines through space. Khanam is renowned for her intimate knowledge of Islamic and Sufi texts and she has worked widely with Sufi musicians, singers and dancers from across the Islamic world.

Together, Odedra, Ranjan and Khanam tell an ancient Sufi myth about the bulbul, a Persian nightingale, a symbol of the beauty of the natural world and the pursuit of religious enlightenment, which, when captured, sings a glorious tune. The song reaches an inexpressibly beautiful pitch in the moments before it perishes from despair.