Biography
Sarathy Korwar works as a percussionist, composer, field recordist, and musicologist. Although his birthplace was the United States, he grew up in India before establishing his base in London, England. His cross-cultural approach fuses East Indian classical folk musics, post-bop, modal jazz, and electronics. Long embedded in the London scene, he gained entry to the Steve Reid Foundation. He journeyed to rural Gujarat, where he captured field recordings of the Sidi Troupe of Ratanpur, then supplemented the material with a studio session in Pune alongside jazz and electronic musicians. Those efforts yielded his 2016 debut, Day to Day. My East Is Your West arrived in 2017 and introduced his ten-piece Upaj Collective, split evenly between Indian and jazz musicians. More Arriving, released in 2019, brought together rappers, DJs, producers, singers, and players. That same summer the Upaj Collective tracked Night Dreamer: Direct-To-Disc Sessions in one day, issuing the results in 2020. Ahead of Kalak, the EP Shruti Dances surfaced in 2022 through a partnership with Auntie Flo (Brian d'Souza). Korwar then delivered the Photay-produced Kalak. KAL, issued in 2023 as a companion piece, originated from an improvised session at Real World Studios in late 2020.
Parents who were trained Indian classical singers raised him in Ahmedabad and Chennai. Korwar launched his own musical training on the tabla at age eight. Jazz had taken hold by the time he turned 15, with John Coltrane and Ahmad Jamal serving as cited early influences. At 17 he enrolled in an environmental science program in Pune, yet continued tabla studies under Rajeev Devasthali while adapting his rhythmic approach to a standard Western drum kit. After completing those primary studies he chose a music career, immigrated to London, and trained with master classical tabla player Pandit Sanju Sahai, ultimately earning a Master of Music Performance from the School of Oriental and African Studies. His thesis examined the adaptation of the Indian classical rhythmic canon to non-Indian percussion instruments.
Once school concluded he became a regular presence on the London scene, accumulating experience as a drummer and percussionist across varied contexts. Jazz and improvised settings paired him with Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso, clarinetist Arun Ghosh, saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, and South African composer, multi-instrumentalist, and researcher Cara Stacey, while Indian classical work included Padmashri Pandit Pratap Pawar.
Korwar advanced a long-held concept for a solo project by traveling to India to field-record the music of the Sidis, descendants of African tribes who arrived in the seventh century C.E. as merchants, sailors, slaves, and mercenaries. Their rhythms, vocal styles, and dances constitute the sole surviving connections to their culture of origin. While active across London’s music scenes he learned of the Steve Reid Foundation, a nonprofit established by Gilles Peterson to honor the late jazz drummer. The organization’s dual aims of assisting musicians in crisis and nurturing emerging talent supplied the necessary impetus. Korwar submitted a three-minute video application, secured acceptance into its development program, and received mentorship from Peterson along with foundation patrons Four Tet (Kieran Hebden), Floating Points, Koreless, and Emanative.
He proceeded to rural Gujarat to document the Sidi Troupe of Ratanpur on location, later adding a professional studio session in Pune. Jazz and electronic musicians, among them Hutchings, joined the project. “Indefinite Leave to Remain” appeared as a digital single in April 2016. Ninja Tune issued Korwar’s debut album, Day to Day, that July, after which he toured with Kamasi Washington. Critics worldwide praised the record, which also achieved sufficient sales to chart. The following year Korwar appeared alongside saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and electronic musician Hieroglyphic Being on the Association for Research & Enlightenment Project EP.
Two years afterward, following international touring, Gearbox Records released the live My East Is Your West by Sarathy Korwar and UPAJ Collective, captured at the sold-out Church of Sound. The performance united a contemporary, handpicked, all-star London jazz quintet with five Indian classical musicians. A single 45-minute rehearsal preceded the three-hour concert, and the Guardian named the resulting album Contemporary Album of the Month. In July 2019 Korwar issued his sophomore studio album, More Arriving, via the Leaf Label. The set centered on candid reflections of his experience as an Indian in Britain and addressed confrontational times with a confrontational stance, incorporating rappers from Mumbai and New Delhi, English spoken word, and his own Indian classical and jazz performances. Later that July he and the Upaj Collective recorded Night Dreamer: Direct-To-Disc Sessions at a Netherlands studio, with the album appearing in 2020.
In August 2020 Korwar gathered a supergroup featuring Bex Burch, Al MacSween, Tamar Osborn, and Dan Leavers (aka “Danalogue”) at The Fish Factory in London for an improvised session. They used cursory texts by Burch as loose guides before embarking on a 14-hour musical exploration. Strut released the self-titled Flock album that May. February 2022 brought a collaboration with Auntie Flo (electronic musician Brian d'Souza), issued as the Shruti Dances EP on ManMakeMusic that June. November saw the release of Kalak. Produced by Photay with the core band from More Arriving, the album functions as both sequel and aural South Indian manifesto, juxtaposing and recombining India’s rich musical, cultural, and spiritual histories with their evolutionary reflections in the twenty-first century.
Prior to tracking Kalak, Korwar assembled his musicians at Real World Studios during the pandemic’s initial lull—the first occasion any of them had played together in nearly a year. He presented the Kalak symbol he had designed and explained the rhythm’s mechanics, stating his intention was to “...imprint this knowledge in the back of everyone's head so it played out subliminally during our recordings.” The group then performed a live improvised session whose jams ultimately shaped Kalak. Original material from that session was edited into the eight selections released as KAL in April 2023.
Parents who were trained Indian classical singers raised him in Ahmedabad and Chennai. Korwar launched his own musical training on the tabla at age eight. Jazz had taken hold by the time he turned 15, with John Coltrane and Ahmad Jamal serving as cited early influences. At 17 he enrolled in an environmental science program in Pune, yet continued tabla studies under Rajeev Devasthali while adapting his rhythmic approach to a standard Western drum kit. After completing those primary studies he chose a music career, immigrated to London, and trained with master classical tabla player Pandit Sanju Sahai, ultimately earning a Master of Music Performance from the School of Oriental and African Studies. His thesis examined the adaptation of the Indian classical rhythmic canon to non-Indian percussion instruments.
Once school concluded he became a regular presence on the London scene, accumulating experience as a drummer and percussionist across varied contexts. Jazz and improvised settings paired him with Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso, clarinetist Arun Ghosh, saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, and South African composer, multi-instrumentalist, and researcher Cara Stacey, while Indian classical work included Padmashri Pandit Pratap Pawar.
Korwar advanced a long-held concept for a solo project by traveling to India to field-record the music of the Sidis, descendants of African tribes who arrived in the seventh century C.E. as merchants, sailors, slaves, and mercenaries. Their rhythms, vocal styles, and dances constitute the sole surviving connections to their culture of origin. While active across London’s music scenes he learned of the Steve Reid Foundation, a nonprofit established by Gilles Peterson to honor the late jazz drummer. The organization’s dual aims of assisting musicians in crisis and nurturing emerging talent supplied the necessary impetus. Korwar submitted a three-minute video application, secured acceptance into its development program, and received mentorship from Peterson along with foundation patrons Four Tet (Kieran Hebden), Floating Points, Koreless, and Emanative.
He proceeded to rural Gujarat to document the Sidi Troupe of Ratanpur on location, later adding a professional studio session in Pune. Jazz and electronic musicians, among them Hutchings, joined the project. “Indefinite Leave to Remain” appeared as a digital single in April 2016. Ninja Tune issued Korwar’s debut album, Day to Day, that July, after which he toured with Kamasi Washington. Critics worldwide praised the record, which also achieved sufficient sales to chart. The following year Korwar appeared alongside saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and electronic musician Hieroglyphic Being on the Association for Research & Enlightenment Project EP.
Two years afterward, following international touring, Gearbox Records released the live My East Is Your West by Sarathy Korwar and UPAJ Collective, captured at the sold-out Church of Sound. The performance united a contemporary, handpicked, all-star London jazz quintet with five Indian classical musicians. A single 45-minute rehearsal preceded the three-hour concert, and the Guardian named the resulting album Contemporary Album of the Month. In July 2019 Korwar issued his sophomore studio album, More Arriving, via the Leaf Label. The set centered on candid reflections of his experience as an Indian in Britain and addressed confrontational times with a confrontational stance, incorporating rappers from Mumbai and New Delhi, English spoken word, and his own Indian classical and jazz performances. Later that July he and the Upaj Collective recorded Night Dreamer: Direct-To-Disc Sessions at a Netherlands studio, with the album appearing in 2020.
In August 2020 Korwar gathered a supergroup featuring Bex Burch, Al MacSween, Tamar Osborn, and Dan Leavers (aka “Danalogue”) at The Fish Factory in London for an improvised session. They used cursory texts by Burch as loose guides before embarking on a 14-hour musical exploration. Strut released the self-titled Flock album that May. February 2022 brought a collaboration with Auntie Flo (electronic musician Brian d'Souza), issued as the Shruti Dances EP on ManMakeMusic that June. November saw the release of Kalak. Produced by Photay with the core band from More Arriving, the album functions as both sequel and aural South Indian manifesto, juxtaposing and recombining India’s rich musical, cultural, and spiritual histories with their evolutionary reflections in the twenty-first century.
Prior to tracking Kalak, Korwar assembled his musicians at Real World Studios during the pandemic’s initial lull—the first occasion any of them had played together in nearly a year. He presented the Kalak symbol he had designed and explained the rhythm’s mechanics, stating his intention was to “...imprint this knowledge in the back of everyone's head so it played out subliminally during our recordings.” The group then performed a live improvised session whose jams ultimately shaped Kalak. Original material from that session was edited into the eight selections released as KAL in April 2023.
Albums
There Is Beauty, There Already
2025
Flock II
2024
In C
2023
KAL (Real World)
2023
Flock
2022
Otherland
2020
More Arriving
2019
Mumbay
2019
My East Is Your West (feat. Upaj Collective) [Live]
2018
A.R.E. Project
2017
Singles
