Local Bands

Milun celebrates the common themes of Indian classical and Irish folk music to create a new musical expression. The band perform a mix of traditional music with new compositions.

BBC Leeds talked to Surmeet ahead of Milun's debut appearance in Leeds, in May 2009. First Surmeet explained a little about his instrument.

"The sitar is probably the most popular stringed instrument from South Asia. It has a long neck with rounded frets, and a gourd made from a hollowed out and dried pumpkin."

Milun - a meeting of musical traditions

"It has around 18 strings, there are different styles of playing with slightly different numbers of strings up to a maximum of 20. There are two separate sets of strings each with their own bridge. One set of strings go over the frets while the other strings go in the space between the neck of the instrument and the frets. There are 6 or 7 main strings and the remainder, sympathetic, strings vibrate adding to the echo and resonance of the instrument."

"If you asked someone unfamiliar with the instrument to name one sitar player… the only name that might be suggested would be Ravi Shankar. The instrument was popularised in the late 1960s, when the Beatles' George Harrison used it on various tracks. He took sitar playing quite seriously getting lessons with Shankar, his hero, in India."

Milun came into been a few years ago when for a series of concerts, called Into the Light, Surmeet and his brother Upneet Singh (tabla) were paired with Chris O’Malley (accordian) and Sam Proctor (fiddle and bodhran). As a finale the musicians came together and the resultant music got a great reaction. So why does the Indo-Irish mix work musically?

"Both tradition are oral, the music is passed down by mouth and ear." Surmeet explains. "In Indian music even if a piece is composed the players will make slight alterations as their mood takes them. Some of the musical scales are similar with Irish traditional music as are the instruments."

"Both traditions have a hammer dulcimer and an Irish drum like the Bodhran has a very similar counterpart in North India played with a stick. I don't know what can explain such similarities except perhaps a long tradition of travelling."