--- url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-de/event/east-meet-west-pianist-raymond-yiu-deepak-shah-with-tabla-slide-guitar' title: 'East meet West: Pianist Raymond Yiu × Deepak Shah with Tabla & Slide Guitar, 17 Sep 2025' author: name: drupler url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-de/user/1' date: '2025-06-13T23:12:36+00:00' updated: '2026-10-18T23:33:54+00:00' type: events.event summary: 'Award-winning pianists Raymond Yiu & Deepak Shah unite East and West, joined by other maestros, Ustad Akram Khan and Pt Debasis Chakroborty.' tags: - London - In-Person - English image: 'https://files.kalasudha.com/styles/d12_standard/public/2025-06/East-meet-West-Hoxton-Hall-London-17-September-2025.jpg?h=75561c82&itok=Vs8xDobp' published: true og: site_name: KalaSudha 'image:url': 'https://files.kalasudha.com/styles/d12_standard/public/2025-06/East-meet-West-Hoxton-Hall-London-17-September-2025.jpg?h=75561c82&itok=Vs8xDobp' 'image:secure_url': 'https://files.kalasudha.com/styles/d12_standard/public/2025-06/East-meet-West-Hoxton-Hall-London-17-September-2025.jpg?h=75561c82&itok=Vs8xDobp' 'image:type': image/jpeg 'image:width': '1200' 'image:height': '675' 'image:alt': East-meet-West-Hoxton-Hall-London-17-September-2025 street_address: '130, Hoxton Street' locality: London postal_code: N16SH country_name: 'United Kingdom' --- # East meet West: Pianist Raymond Yiu × Deepak Shah with Tabla & Slide Guitar - \#London - \#In-Person SEP 17, 2025 Wednesday 7:00 PM Hoxton Hall London, United Kingdom ### Get Your Tickets Early Bird This event has ended. 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Send Save Calendar [Google](https://calendar.google.com/calendar/render?action=TEMPLATE&dates=20250917T180000/20250917T200000&ctz=UTC&text=East+meet+West%3A+Pianist+Raymond+Yiu+%C3%97+Deepak+Shah+with+Tabla+%26+Slide+Guitar&location=Hoxton+Hall%2C+130+Hoxton+Street%2C+London%2C+N1+6SH) [Outlook](https://outlook.live.com/calendar/action/compose?path=/calendar/action/compose&rru=addevent&startdt=2025-09-17T18:00:00Z&enddt=2025-09-17T20:00:00Z&subject=East%20meet%20West%3A%20Pianist%20Raymond%20Yiu%20%C3%97%20Deepak%20Shah%20with%20Tabla%20%26%20Slide%20Guitar&location=Hoxton%20Hall%2C%20130%20Hoxton%20Street%2C%20London%2C%20N1%206SH) [Office 365](https://outlook.office.com/calendar/deeplink/compose?path=/calendar/action/compose&rru=addevent&startdt=2025-09-17T18:00:00Z&enddt=2025-09-17T20:00:00Z&subject=East%20meet%20West%3A%20Pianist%20Raymond%20Yiu%20%C3%97%20Deepak%20Shah%20with%20Tabla%20%26%20Slide%20Guitar&location=Hoxton%20Hall%2C%20130%20Hoxton%20Street%2C%20London%2C%20N1%206SH) [Yahoo](https://calendar.yahoo.com/?v=60&view=d&type=20&ST=20250917T180000Z&ET=20250917T200000Z&TITLE=East%20meet%20West%3A%20Pianist%20Raymond%20Yiu%20%C3%97%20Deepak%20Shah%20with%20Tabla%20%26%20Slide%20Guitar&in_loc=Hoxton%20Hall%2C%20130%20Hoxton%20Street%2C%20London%2C%20N1%206SH) [Apple / iCal](/en-de/event/85/calendar.ics) [ Share ](/en-de/share/85) Event Tags - London - In-Person ## Event Summary Award-winning pianists Raymond Yiu & Deepak Shah unite East and West, joined by other maestros, Ustad Akram Khan and Pt Debasis Chakroborty. ## Performing Artists [ Raymond Yiu ](/en-de/artist/raymond-yiu) [ Deepak Shah ](/en-de/artist/deepak-shah) [ Debasis Chakroborty ](/en-de/artist/debasis-chakroborty) [ Akram Khan ](/en-de/artist/akram-khan) ## Performing Artists - ### Raymond Yiu 1 Events [ View Profile ](/en-de/artist/raymond-yiu) - [ ](https://www.facebook.com/deeppak.shah) [ ](https://www.instagram.com/raagapianist/) [ ](https://x.com/pianist_deepak) ### Deepak Shah 10 Events [ View Profile ](/en-de/artist/deepak-shah) - [ ](https://www.facebook.com/DebasisGuitar) [ ](https://www.instagram.com/debasis.chakroborty/) [ ](https://x.com/debasisguitar) ### Debasis Chakroborty 21 Events [ View Profile ](/en-de/artist/debasis-chakroborty) - [ ](https://www.facebook.com/mohdakramkhan) [ ](https://www.instagram.com/akramtablaofficial/) ### Akram Khan 16 Events [ View Profile ](/en-de/artist/akram-khan) ## Event Details Kala Festival’s special evening in **Hoxton Hall** invites you to hear Indian raga converse with Western harmony in real time. **Pianists Raymond Yiu** and **Deepak Shah** lead the exploration, joined by **tabla** maestro **Ustad Akram Khan** and **slide-guitar** virtuoso **Pandit Debasis Chakroborty**. Delicate microtonal phrases slip into tempered scales; tala cycles such as Teental and Rupak glide across Western metres; slow vilambit meditations blossom into brisk drut passages, their arcs carried by improvisation inspired equally by alap, jor and jazz. Western chord progressions and counterpoint shimmer beneath single-line raga melodies, while the piano is coaxed to bend notes like sitar and sarod, expanding its dynamic range from near-silent breath to stadium-filling crescendo. The result is a structural tapestry where two traditions trade ideas without surrendering identity, offering Indian-music devotees a fresh vantage and Western listeners an immediate doorway into the depth of raga. Seats are limited, and curiosity is running high across the city. **Raymond Yiu**, a Hong-Kong-born pianist now based in London, made his concerto debut with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in Edinburgh at age seventeen, won Aberdeen Young Musician of the Year and later graduated with distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, building a reputation for supple interpretations from Mozart to Prokofiev. **Deepak Shah** is celebrated as the **Raaga Pianist**. He grew up in a musical Mumbai family and reimagines Hindustani ragas on the grand piano, a project that has taken him to stages worldwide and into more than fifty commercial recordings while preserving the rhythmic discipline he first learned on tabla. **Ustad Akram Khan** represents the seventh generation of the **Ajrara gharana**; since his international debut in Norway at twenty-two, he has logged over **eleven thousand concerts**, earned top-grade status from All India Radio, and become one of the most sought-after ambassadors of the tabla tradition. **Pandit Debasis Chakroborty**, an “A”-grade Prasar Bharati artist from the Senia-Maihar lineage, wields a modified three-octave slide guitar whose **Gayaki-and-Tantrakari** phrasing bridges vocal nuance and instrumental fire; his performances and teaching posts from Monash University to Mangalayatan attest to a career devoted to widening the instrument’s expressive horizons. Show More > " > > The piano helps me speak the language of ragas in a new way. It’s where my heart finds balance between tradition and imagination. > > — Deepak Shah > > Raga Pianist ## Venue information ### Hoxton Hall 130 Hoxton Street, London, N1 6SH [ Google Maps ](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/?api=1&destination=51.531969351958%2C-0.079407003651058) [ Apple Maps ](https://maps.apple.com/directions?destination=51.531969351958%2C-0.079407003651058) [ Venue website ](https://www.hoxtonhall.co.uk) Image not available [ Open larger map ](https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=51.531969351958&mlon=-0.079407003651058#map=16/51.531969351958/-0.079407003651058) ## Event Highlights & Gallery Relive the magic - watch videos and browse photos from this event ### Video Performances (...) [ Live Performance 4:38 ### Meditative State \| Dhun \| Raag Charukeshi \| Pt. Debasis Chakroborty 5 months ago ](/en-de/video/meditative-state-dhun-raag-charukeshi-pt-debasis-chakroborty) [ Live Performance 8:08 ### Awakening \| Raag Bhairavi \| Pt. Debasis Chakroborty \| Slide Guitar Live at Hoxton \| KalaSudha 7 months ago ](/en-de/video/awakening-raag-bhairavi-pt-debasis-chakroborty-slide-guitar-live-at-hoxton-kalasudha) ## Frequently Asked Questions Where can I hear live Indian classical music in London, and which venues does KalaSudha use? You can hear Hindustani (North Indian) classical music live in London at London Ragas, KalaSudha's concert series in London. Its evenings are [baithaks](/en-de/faq/at-the-concert/what-is-a-baithak): the audience sits close to the musicians. London Ragas can take place at different venues across London, and KalaSudha plans to add more baithaks in other parts of London. KalaSudha is based in London, so every concert tour it organises also plays London once. See [how to book tickets for a London concert](/en-de/faq/how-do-i-book-tickets-for-kalasudhas-indian-classical-concerts-in-london) and [how to get to the venues](/en-de/faq/how-do-i-get-to-kalasudhas-concert-venues-in-london). Who is the pianist Raymond Yiu, and where did he train? [**Raymond Yiu**](/en-de/artist/raymond-yiu) is a classically trained [pianist](/en-de/instrument/piano) based in London, born in Hong Kong. He studied at the Aberdeen City Music School with Peter Evans, then at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Joan Havill, earning bachelor's and master's degrees with Distinction. He completed an Artist Diploma at Trinity Laban Conservatoire with Gabriele Baldocci. He won Aberdeen Young Musician of the Year and, with the Bolling Trio, the Carne Trust Chamber Music Competition. He teaches piano and researches the methods of Tobias Matthay. Who is Deepak Shah, and what is his musical background? [**Deepak Shah**](/en-de/artist/deepak-shah) is a pianist, arranger and music director from a musical family. His grandfather, Shantilal Shah, and Mohan Junior taught him classical music, and that training opened the door to arrangement and direction. Over about 25 years he has worked with leading artists from India and performed in India and abroad. He has composed music and background scores for over 30 films in Bangla, Gujarati, Punjabi and Bhojpuri, and recorded albums with T-Series, Tips and Venus. What is an Indian slide guitar, how is it played, and where can I learn it? The **Indian slide guitar** is a guitar laid flat across the lap and stopped with a steel bar instead of fingers on frets. It is an instrument of **Hindustani classical music**, the classical music of North India. Sympathetic strings ring underneath the melody unstruck, and the player plucks extra drone (chikari) strings. The bar never leaves the string, so one note travels into the next without a break. For its history and players, see the [Indian slide guitar](/en-de/instrument/indian-slide-guitar) page. You can learn it with KalaSudha in the [online academy](/en-de/courses). What is the Ajrara (Ajrada) gharana of tabla, where did it begin, and what is it known for? The [**Ajrara gharana**](/en-de/gharana/ajrara-gharana), also spelt Ajrada, is a school of [tabla](/en-de/instrumental/hindustani-classical/tabla) that arose in the late 18th or early 19th century in the village of Ajrara, in Meerut district. Most accounts trace it to two brothers, Kallu Khan and Miru Khan, who learnt in Delhi, making it an offshoot of the Delhi gharana. Its players add the ring finger to the Delhi technique. It is best known for qaidas, themes with set variations, in **aad laya**, three strokes to every two beats. [Ustad Akram Khan](/en-de/artist/akram-khan) plays in the gharana today. Have more questions? Contact our support team and we'll be happy to help!