London Ragas: The Story and the Steps

London Ragas is KalaSudha's monthly baithak of Indian classical music in London. A baithak is a small concert where the audience sits close to the musicians. The venue can change from month to month, and KalaSudha plans to add more baithaks in other parts of London.

The 2026 series has brought Shakir Khan and Ustad Shahbaz Hussain, Pandit Debasis Chakroborty with Ustad Akram Khan, and the Kathak dancer Alokparna Guha in The Story and the Steps.

The KalaSudha London page lists upcoming London Ragas dates and venues, each with its own Book Tickets button.

No. Alokparna Guha opens London Ragas: The Story and the Steps, our October Kathak evening in London, with two short lecture-demonstrations. The first covers where Kathak comes from, the second covers tabla, and then she dances.

By the interval you will know what the footwork is doing and what her hands and face are telling you. The second half is the dance itself. For the terms you will hear, read what Kathak is, and check the start and finish times.

You can hear Hindustani (North Indian) classical music live in London at London Ragas, KalaSudha's monthly baithak. At 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.

KalaSudha is also launching a streaming player on its own platform soon, with live concerts and edited recordings of past concerts in up to 4K. See how to book tickets for a London concert and how to get to the venues.

Alokparna Guha dances and teaches Kathak in Kolkata. She began at five with Pradipta Neogi and later trained under Malabika Mitra. Her Jaipur training shows in her chakkars, her Lucknow training in her abhinaya. She holds a Senior Diploma from Prayag Sangeet Siksha Samiti in Allahabad and a Gold Medal from Rabindra Bharati University. She founded PUSHPAK Academy of Dance, which teaches in Kolkata and Toronto, and she directs group productions.

Kathak is a classical dance from north India, one of the eight forms the Sangeet Natak Akademi recognises as classical. A Kathak dancer works with two tools: chakkars, fast spins often taken on the heel, and abhinaya, the storytelling carried in the face and hands.

Ankle bells (ghungroo) mark the footwork, so the Kathak dancer plays as a percussionist too, trading rhythmic patterns with the tabla in the same rhythmic cycle.

A tabla is a pair of hand drums. The smaller drum, the dayan, is wooden, sits under the right hand and carries the pitch. The larger drum, the bayan, sits under the left hand and gives the bass. The bayan is most often copper, sometimes clay or wood, and the player bends its bass by pressing the heel of the palm into the head while striking.

Each head carries a black circle of tuning paste. The paste weights the skin and adds overtones. The dayan rings at a clear pitch, and the bayan gives a deep bass with a looser pitch that the palm can shift.

A baithak is a small, seated gathering for Indian classical music, with the audience close to the musicians. The word means "sitting".

KalaSudha builds its concerts on the baithak model. At short range you hear the detail of a raga: the finger on the string and the fingertip on the tabla skin.

For seating, see Is seating allocated? To hear one, see where to hear a baithak in London.