Southbank Centre — South Asian Sounds
Queen Elizabeth Hall & Foyer, Southbank Centre, London
Heritage and future, under one iconic roof.
Presented by - Dialled In × Southbank Centre
Key Artists - Ustad Noor Bakhsh, Pritt, Anu, Kiss Nuka
Sound - Vedic Roots Sound System
Archive Partner - True Form Archive (Unbound Archives)
Twenty-four hours inside one of the world’s great cultural institutions.
A 24-hour takeover of the Southbank Centre, spread across three sold-out events that proved South Asian music belongs on the most prestigious stages in the country — and that the audience is already there, waiting. The centrepiece was Ustad Noor Bakhsh’s UK debut. The 79-year-old benju master from Balochistan — the same artist who had captivated a global audience through the Boiler Room Pakistan broadcast two years earlier — brought the ancient, hypnotic sound of his instrument to the Queen Elizabeth Hall for the very first time. Supported by Pritt, the performance was a masterclass in deep listening: still, reverent, overwhelming.
From crate-digging to the dancefloor.
By day, Unbound Archives unveiled the largest collection of South Asian vinyl records ever assembled in a public programme — DJ sets, crate-digging sessions and a film showcase of contemporary South Asian stories curated in partnership with True Form Archive. The foyer hummed with the sound of needles on wax and conversations between collectors, archivists and casual visitors discovering sounds they’d never heard before. By night, everything shifted. Concrete Lates transformed the Queen Elizabeth Hall into a high-energy club night featuring Anu, Kiss Nuka and the Vedic Roots sound system — heavy bass reverberating through a space more accustomed to chamber orchestras. The juxtaposition was the point. Heritage and future, daytime contemplation and late-night release, all under one iconic roof.
What it proved.
The Southbank Centre programme demonstrated something essential about Dialled In’s curatorial vision: the ability to hold multiple registers simultaneously. Folk, archival, experimental, club — not as separate strands but as interconnected expressions of the same culture. All three events sold out. The institution took notice. The audience already knew.
