Landmark concert at The Sage Gateshead is a musical-first for the Northeast 13/12/05

Pakistan Cultural Society (PCS) in partnership with The Sage Gateshead presents:

Wajahat Khan and the Medici String Quartet

On Wednesday 14th December, there will be a musical-first for a Northeast audience when Indian and Western Classical Music meet at The Sage Gateshead; the legendary Wajahat Khan will take to the stage with the Medici String Quartet to perform his Sarod Quintet - entitled Raag Desh - as part of a collaborative project between the Pakistan Cultural Society (PCS) and The Sage Gateshead.

The evening is a performance of two halves, where the audience will first hear ‘pure and traditional’ classical music of both traditions with Wajahat Khan playing an Evening Raag (Raga) on his sarod with tabla accompaniment, and the Medici String Quartet performing music by Beethoven. This will provide an ideal opportunity for the audience to listen to two very diverse but ‘classical’ musical vehicles – Indian and Western.

The second half will see a union of the two approaches with a fresh sounding piece spread over four movements; the Sarod Quintet has been written by Wajahat Khan using a beautiful and well-known Indian Raag (Raga) called Desh - the piece is entitled "Raag Desh". (Full concert programme is listed in Notes to Editor).

The event has been supported by: Arts Council England, North East; Newcastle City Council; the Community Foundation and the Northern Rock Foundation.

Pakistan Cultural Society (PCS): The mission statement for the PCS reads: “Changing the Image of the Arts” - that’s quite a bold statement to make but the ambitious organisation is confident it can make a big step in harnessing the relationship of arts and culture. For over 12-years the Pakistan Cultural Society has been providing a creative voice in the Northeast region for artists of Pakistani and South Asian origin.

The Newcastle-based organisation wants to transcend its current programme of arts and education, to develop milestone projects that encourage people to embrace cultural diversity. This will come in the format of landmark partnership projects like the one being staged at The Sage Gateshead and through informative creative workshops.

“The PCS is embarking on a very important journey in the organisation’s history, we are setting new goals and targets that will enable people to unify under the banner of arts and culture. Its our aim to increase the creative opportunities for Pakistani and South Asian people in the Northeast but to also promote the region’s multi-cultural communities,” said Sajjad Shah, Chair of the PCS.

The creative heartbeat of The Sage Gateshead is to provide an international home for music and musical discovery. Ros Rigby, Performance Programme Director for The Sage Gateshead, said: “We are delighted to be working with the Pakistan Cultural Society on bringing one of world’s great Indian classical musicians to The Sage Gateshead.”

Ros continued: “This project forms part of our regular programme of South Asian music on which we place great importance, reflecting our mission to present music of a wide range of genres and ethnicities to audiences from across the region.”

Ticket Details: To book tickets for Wednesday 14th December please call The Sage Gateshead ticket office by contacting (0191) 4434661, alternatively visit www.thesagegateshead.org - tickets are priced at £12 / £6.

People can also find out more information about the PCS by contacting (0191) 274 3030 (they have an office based in Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne).

Additional event information: A pre-concert talk with Wajahat Khan (Wednesday 14th December, 7pm) - free to ticket holders only – the talk will be an introduction to Indian Classical Music; and will also discuss details about the instruments and music the audience will experience during the evening’s concert.

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