Rhythms of India

Music travelogue. Composer Soumik Datta begins his exploration of India in Kolkata, revealing how the country's music can help us to understand its past and its present.

Soumik Datta continues his musical travels around India in the southern state of Kerala, home to some of the oldest religious music in the country. He visits the Panchari Melam, a spectacular Hindu festival with extraordinary displays of massed drumming. And in Maharashtra, he discovers how the brass band tradition, with its origins in the military bands of the British Raj, is falling out of favour as the staple of Indian wedding processions.

Soumik Datta's musical journey around India ends with a look at the popular music scene, discovering how Bollywood is changing, the impact of the internet and the rise of hip hop.