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About Us Introduction The Asian Music Circuit (AMC) was created in 1989 by the Arts Council of Great Britain and has been run as an independent company regularly funded by The Arts Council of England since 1991. It is a registered charity. Since 1991, the AMC has developed as the leading promoter of Asian music in the UK. It has established a privileged reputation for the variety and high calibre of its concerts , the high quality and innovative nature of its education programme, its fascinating collection of audio-visual recordings. The AMC is one of the important companies in Europe providing access to the full range of music of Asia through promoting, producing and managing high quality tours and educational activities. This is complimented by the development of an Asian Music Centre – a resource centre to house a collection of musical instruments, digital audio-visual archives and interactive multi-media facilities both on and offline. The AMC provides a wide VARIETY of music celebrating CULTURAL IDENTITY by focussing on TRADITIONAL music of EXCELLENCE , developing a NEW GENERATION of talent , ENTERTAINING the public and aiming to inform and EDUCATE through seminars, lectures , recordings , videos and exhibitions. The AMC has been privileged to have worked with and promoted a wide variety of artists from Central Asia to Indonesia but especially from South Asia. Its promotions have included folk music such as that of the Manganiyars and Langas from Rajasthan, puppetry and gamelan from Indonesia , the Kamkars of Iran , devotional and mystic music such as the great qawwali singers Sabri brothers of Pakistan and the Nizami brothers from India, Baul singers of Bengal , the Naxi musicians of China ; the great classical traditions with vocal as well as instrumental performances such as the sitar maestro Pt. Ravi Shankar, the great khyal singers Pts Rajan and Sajan Mishra, santoor maestro Pt Shivkumar Sharma, flautist Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia – the guqin player Li Xiang Ting of China to name but a few ; Indian film and popular music including the legendary Asha Bhosle and Jagjit Singh ; contemporary music including SHAKTI with John Mclaughlin and Zakir Hussain, Sainkho Namchylak and Yat-Kha from Tuva, Fun-Da-Mental, Sitarfunk and SomaSonic from the UK , Orange Street from India and the wonderful concerts of LES DANGEREUSES – a collaboration featuring Shubha Mudgal (India), Kandya Kouyate (Mali) and Juliet Roberts (UK). The AMC regularly works with UK based artists both as concert artists and in the education field. Through its own promotions as well as partnerships the AMC has been able to help in making the wonderful music of Asia accessible to audiences all over the UK through productions in a wide variety of venues all around the country – and more recently in Europe too. The AMC has a free membership scheme with approximately 10,000 members who regularly receive information about our events and activities. Our website generates A substantial number of visitors daily and this is set to increase once our new centre goes on-line. Since 1991, the AMC's achievements have been very significant even though it has often had to work in a difficult environment .However, the AMC can take pride in the fact that it has substantially increased awareness and audiences for Asian music all over the UK and raised the standards of production through its professionalism as well as the status of artists ; above all the AMC has generated a much greater awareness and appreciation of the excellence , the great traditions and beauty of Asian music. BOARD OF TRUSTEESALEXANDER JAMES PARKIN James Parkin is a multi-award winning radio producer at BBC Radio 3 and BBC World Service. In the past seven years, he has produced ground-breaking documentaries on the subject of world music, visiting nearly forty countries on behalf of the BBC. Of note, he has produced the first radio documentary ever made inside North Korea – part of series on music in the so-called "Axis of Evil". He has also worked on critically acclaimed music documentaries from Turkmenistan, Iran and Algeria: and has recorded music from all over Africa, Asia and Latin America. Recording and transmitting little-heard and often dying traditions has become the focus of his work at the BBC. Before joining the BBC he worked in commercial television and radio. He read history at Balliol College Oxford where he was also the organ scholar. SIMON MUNDY Simon Mundy is a poet and novelist, festival director, broadcaster and cultural policy adviser. He is Senior Associate Fellow in the Conflict, Security and Development Group at King's College London. He has worked as an adviser for UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the UN Mission in Kosovo as well as many non-governmental organisations like the Ford Foundation, the European Cultural Foundation and the International Music Council. He was the Director of the UK's National Campaign for the Arts from 1989 -1993 and a co-founder and first President of the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage. He has directed festivals in Scotland (Northlands Festival, Caithness 1993-5) and the Netherlands and written several books on musicians (including biographies of Elgar, Purcell and Tchaikovsky). Three books of his poems have been published and among his other books are Making It Home: Europe and the Politics of Culture , and the Council of Europe's Short Guide to Cultural Policy . His novel Silent Movements is published in June. As well as being a Trustee of AMC, he is also a Trustee of the European Baroque Orchestra and the Sidney Nolan Trust. He is Chairman of b10c, the visual arts and new media network for Wales, Vice-President of the Presteigne Festival, and on the board of the European Cultural Foundation (UK). He has broadcast on BBC Radio for more than 25 years and written on the arts for most of Britain's major newspapers. DR LUCY DURAN Lucy Duran was born in New York and was brought up in Chile, the USA, Greece, and the UK where she received most of her education. She read music at King's College, London University (BMus 1 st class honours and MMus Distinction) and received her PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies, on the music of Mali's famed women singers. She has been Lecturer in African Music at SOAS since 1991, specialising in the music of West Africa and Cuba, and is also Undergraduate Admissions Tutor for the Music Department. In addition to her academic work, Duran is the regular presenter of a weekly radio programme on BBC Radio 3 World Routes , which has been Radio 3's main World Music strand since 2000, and which has taken her to record and investigate music on location around the world, including such countries as Azerbaijan, Georgia, Peru, Cuba, Mali, Uganda, Vietnam, India and most recently, China. Duran is also an award-winning music producer, and has produced over 15 acclaimed albums of music by distinguished world music artists including New Ancient Strings (Hannibal) by Malian kora player Toumani Diabate; the Grammy-nominated album Kassi Kasse, (Corason/EMI Hemisphere) featuring the great Malian singer Kasse Mady Diabate; the Radio 3 World Music Album of the Year 2008, Segu Blue (Out Here) by Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoniba (from Mali); and most recently, Mano suave (World Village/Harmonia Mundi) by the charismatic young Israeli Sephardic singer, Yasmin Levy. P. JOHN SINGH OBE John has been recently involved with various projects: (a) Interculturalism within the Greek Education Service. (c) Executive & Advisory Committee Member of the National Literacy Trust (d) Governor Garston Manor School, Hertfordshire LEA. (e) Director/Trustee of The Asian Music Circuit (f) Trustee University of London Institute of Education Overseas Students Scholarship Fund. (g) Management Committee Flittabus Community Transport Service, Beds Previous Experience: School Teachers Review Body (1999-2006) Governing Council of The Institute of Education (1995 – 2003) Chief Educational Consultant to the British Council: (1996-7) International Education Consultant HMI Staff Inspector – Assistant Director OFSTED ) (1983-1995) HMI North Midlands – South Eastern Division (1970-1983) UK HMI Ed. Representative and educational expert to Council of Europe, European Union, OECD) Educational Adviser – Leicestershire(1967 – 1970). Teacher of English – 1962 – 1967 Leicestershire. Education: Henry Lawrence School, Sanawar, Simla Aldeman Newton's School, Leicester. University of Nottingham/Loughborough Teacher Training College. PETER KERKAR Peter A. Kerkar is the Global Chief Executive Officer of Cox & Kings Pvt. Ltd. Peter is a graduate in Economics and Anthropology from Stanford University, USA. He started his career with American Express Bank, New York, after which he joined Cox & Kings London, UK where he took over the reigns and restructured the entire organisation. Peter's vision involves being continuously sensitized to the changing consumer trends and providing world-class services to the Indian traveller. He strongly believes that consumers are of paramount importance. Peter supports a participative style of management and believes in empowering his colleagues. Currently, as the Global CEO, based in London, he is at the helm of the Cox & Kings Group activities across the world. He is a founder member of WTTC India and a Director of Asian Music Circuit. Peter is married to Emma, daughter of Mark Tully, the famed ex BBC Indophile, and has two daughters Jessica and Nayantara. He is an ardent swimmer and a voracious reader and loves travelling. Tours / Concerts / Education / Summer Schools / Artists / News / Shop / Asian Music Centre / Membership / Links
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