Royal Birmingham Conservatoire India Through Raga

India Through Rāga is a lecture and live demonstration that takes audiences on a musical journey into the heart of India. Led by Dr Radhika Balakrishnan, the event uses Carnatic classical music as a gateway to explore the ideas, practices and cultural meanings behind Indian music.

The session introduces rāga, tāla and improvisation, while also looking at the wider philosophical and cultural worlds that have shaped musical life in India. It moves across a rich landscape of classical and folk traditions, alongside Sufi, cinema, popular and contemporary music, to show the diversity and depth of India’s musical heritage.

Rather than treating rāga simply as a scale or melody, the event presents it as a living musical language capable of expressing mood, emotion, time and experience. It is an invitation to hear India differently and to discover how music carries customs, beliefs and stories across generations.