Returning to staging its distinguished East West musical collaborations, Inner Circle Entertainment today announced two brand-new thrilling creations – Symphony of Love and Inner Circle Sessions – which will take place in Cape Town on 27 January and in Johannesburg on 29 January 2023 respectively. Both concerts will feature the sensational songstress actress Pratibha Singh Baghel, one of India’s most versatile and popular singers today.
Symphony of Love, which will be staged at the Artscape Opera House in Cape Town, features Pratibha, live in concert with Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) and backed by a 10-member international band featuring some of India’s current leading musicians.
This is a world premiere event, marking Pratibha’s first visit to South Africa, and is a confluence of the rich musical traditions of India with western classical music. The concert will present audiences with a curated collection of popular old film classics, current Bollywood hits, and ghazals, with music directed by Indian flautist Ashwin Srinivasan and the CPO conducted by Brandon Phillips.
Blessed with the ability to effortlessly sing a broad range of genres, including hits of the greats, such as Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Jagjit Singh, Mehdi Hassan, and Ghulam Ali, Pratibha will appeal to all ages and anyone who appreciates exquisite, uplifting music.
“The Cape Town Philharmonic is ‘the orchestra for all’ and we pride ourselves that we are pioneers in adapting to different genres, crossing over effortlessly to accommodate all cultures and broadening our musical horizons. This is not our first venture into Indian music, and we are looking forward to adding the music of a superstar like Pratibha Singh Baghel to our oeuvre,” says Louis Heyneman, CEO of Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.
Dr Marlene Le Roux, CEO of Artscape Theatre Centre, remarking on the upcoming performance, said: “Artscape has the pleasure of hosting Inner Circle Entertainment again – it stretches our boundaries and expands the experience of our audiences immensely.
“Inner Circle Entertainment is bringing another wonderful artist from India this time and we are excited to host them and be introduced and wowed by the quality and different productions which is synonymous with Inner Circle Entertainment. Artscape is home to everyone, and we are once again humbled and highly appreciative of the efforts made by Nisaar Pangarker and his team to host this production with us. We look forward to this experience and are excited at the prospect of embracing cultural collaborations.”
In another unique creation, Pratibha and her musicians will wing their way to Johannesburg to the Lyric Theatre, for a once-off very special performance on Sunday 29 January 2023.
Unplugged and acoustic, this intimate and cathartic experience will bring fans closer to the star, as Pratibha’s spellbinding vocals embrace and offer them an escape from the rigours of everyday life.
Nisaar Pangarker, whose creative vision is expressed in these two productions said: “From the very first moment I saw Pratibha perform, I was mesmerised and knew that one day I would bring her to South Africa so she could share her talent with appreciative audiences here. Being such a multitalented and entertaining performer, her skills deserve to be showcased to their fullest extent, so we decided to craft two different shows.
“Both performances, however, demonstrate how the universal language of music can truly connect us to our higher selves and to each other. It is an absolute pleasure to produce these shows, which I look forward to sharing with South African audiences – those who are already fans of what we do, as well as those looking to explore new experiences. I am confident that this will be the finest presentation of this genre of music that local audiences will experience. They will not be disappointed.”
The musicians accompanying Pratibha on this musical journey, are themselves, musical legends, and international stars. The band comprises Akhlak Hussain – harmonium; Arshad Khan – esraj; Ashwin Srinivasan – bamboo flute; Darshan Doshi – drums; Manoj Kumar – dholak; Ojas Adhiya – tabla; Sangeet Haldipur – piano; Sanjoy Das – guitar and Sheldon D’Silva – bass. South African multi-percussionist, John Hassan will join the band for the Cape Town performance only.
Symphony of Love and the Inner Circle Sessions are conceptualised, produced, and presented by Inner Circle Entertainment who has established a successful track record of presenting musical giants such as Zakir Hussain, Shivkumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Jagjit Singh, Maher Zain, and many more in South Africa. Inner Circle Entertainment is a pioneer in East West musical collaborations and has produced many world-first productions featuring collaborations between Indian and Middle Eastern music, jazz, and western orchestral music.
Event Details:
- Symphony of Love – Friday 27 January 2023 at Artscape Opera House, Cape Town at 8.30pm
- Inner Circle Sessions – Sunday 29 January 2023 at The Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City, Johannesburg at 5pm
Tickets for Symphony of Love and Inner Circle Sessions featuring Pratibha range in cost from R150 to R1000 per person and are available at Ticketmaster
Based in Bollywood, Pratibha is an Indian songstress and actress who has lent her voice to many songs in movies, as well the hit web series Bandish Bandits. Pratibha also acted and sung in the highly acclaimed stage production Mughal e Azam. In 2019, she played the lead role and sang in the theatrical musical play Umrao Jaan Ada that was adapted for stage by the acclaimed music duo Salim Sulaiman. In 2020, Pratibha released her first ghazal album titled ‘Bole Naina’, which featured the legendary lyricist Gulzar and tabla maestro Zakir Hussain. This video attracted 50 million views in two days. Pratibha is regularly featured on the SufiScore and Bazm-e-Khas YouTube channels. She has also performed live on stage with great music directors including AR Rahman and Salim Sulaiman. Pratibha is also the recipient of the Lata Mangeshkar Alankaran Award in 2008.
Inner Circle Entertainment has produced some of South Africa’s most compelling musical shows, including introducing Indian Classical Music to a now growing and devoted, South African audience. Inner Circle Entertainment is the premier producer of Indian Classical Music concerts in South Africa. Productions are acclaimed by local and international critics and media. Inner Circle produced the South African tours of giants of Indian Classical Music including multi-Grammy awarded Zakir Hussain, Hariprasad Chaurasia and Shivkumar Sharma.
Inner Circle’s philosophy of shifting the context of musical expression, resonates through its creation of musical collaborations. The most recent world-first production that caught the imagination of the South African public and now a growing worldwide audience, was the world’s biggest Islamic music star, Maher Zain, in concert with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra – two sell-out concerts were not nearly enough to satisfy the demand.
Inner Circle Entertainment has curated world first collaborations between Indian Classic Music, Afro-Jazz, and Western Classical Music. Its first collaboration was Raga Afrika, a fusion of Indian Classical Music and Afro-Jazz, that debuted at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Cape Town in 2004. Inner Circle has also produced and curated many performances for artists from across the world at prestigious festivals including the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. Performances presented include Rakesh Chaurasia’s RAF, Talvin Singh, George Brooks, Ranjit Barot, the Louiz Banks Quartet and Bickram Ghosh.
In 2019, Inner Circle embarked on a special project and brought together Maher Zain and acclaimed Bollywood music producer duo Salim Sulaiman. This meeting of minds resulted in the production of a beautiful single Ya Khuda that released in June 2019. The music video was shot on location in Jodhpur, India. Inner Circle’s last production was the world premiere Symphony of Santoor with the celebrated santoor player Rahul Sharma and Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra in Feb 2020.
