223 Antrobus Road, Handsworth
B21 9NU Birmingham
United Kingdom

http://www.sayarts.com

South Asian Youth Arts (SAY Arts) is a UK-based organisation promoting International Concerts and Artists from the Indian Sub-continent. Our aim...

public contact

• phone: +44 7956 123738
• fax: +44 870 123 62 98
eMail:

business contact

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activities

• Artist
  • Agent/Booker
  • Manager
• Institution
  • Cult.Inst.
  • Educational
• Press
  • Online
• Promoter
  • Concert Promoter
  • Tour
• Services
  • Consultant
  • Publicity/PR
  • Transport

participation in

• WOMEX 2006
• WOMEX 2007
• WOMEX 2008
• WOMEX 2009

company description

SAY Arts...

SAY Arts is a UK-based organisation promoting International Concerts and Artists from the Indian Sub-continent. Our aim is to develop young audiences and nurture talent specifically in the area of Qawwali music. Our primary focus is on Sufi music, but given the immense crossover popularity of Bhangra, Bollywood , Folk and Pop music, we incorporate all thes styles in our offerings. SAY Arts have worked with schools and colleges, community groups and arts centres. We offer exciting opportunities for new and existing businesses to sponsor tours and events across the country, our sphere of activity being informed by educational, business and community agendas.

One of the principal artforms SAY Arts focuses on is the Qawwali form of devotional Sufi (mystical and spiritual) music. Qawwali is a vibrant musical tradition that stretches back more than 700 years. With its roots in 8th Century Persia and subsequent development across India, it has reached out to many different audiences and has crossed many cultural and linguistic barriers. It was identified by rock legend Peter Gabriel, who gave leading maestro Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan the breakthrough he needed in the West. Before his untimely death, there were projects with artists as diverse as Madonna and the late Luciano Pavarotti and his music was featured on the soundtracks of such Hollywood blockbusters as The Last Temptation of Christ, Natural Born Killers and Dead Man Walking, by top directors like Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone and Tim Robbins.

The late Ustad (Master) developed a warm and lasting association with Gabriel and helped make a South Asian genre of spiritual incantation into a globally recognised form. Yet it seemed there was a lot more to accomplish and look forward to from this Ustad. Tragically, a long-standing kidney ailment took its toll and we lost a colossal musical icon. So as to carry the torch for this hugely influential performer, SAY Arts currently collaborates with his nephews and other disciples of the greatest and most legendary Qawwals (singers). Just as his illustrious uncle Nusrat before him, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has found success composing and performing music in Hollywod, scoring films like Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, as well as entertaining the Bollywood élite at Abishekh and Aishwariya Rai's society wedding. Rahat's big break came with his first concert tours which were organised by SAY Arts, the driving force behind Sufi Music and Entertainment.

"In every generation there is a sound that captures the moment

The sound of a time and place that reflects the people who made it.

In our generation it is the sound of our present and out past becoming our future

It is the sound of the world coming together

SAY Passion

SAY Music

SAY Arts"

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