My Mixtape: Baluji Shrivastav’s 10 favourite collaborations

An incredibly versatile musician – able to play sitar, surbahar, dilruba, pakhavaj and tabla – for more than four decades he’s performed all over the world, collaborating with an incredible range of artists.

Though his roots are in the Hindustani classical tradition, Shrivastav’s music embraces a huge breadth of styles; in 1990 he co-founded the jazz ensemble Jazz Orient/Re-Orient with Linda Sanovitch and Chris Conway and in 2012 founded the Inner Vision Orchestra – comprising 14 blind musicians. His collaborations are a virtual who’s who of contemporary music, including Annie Lennox, Kylie Minogue, Stevie Wonder, Massive Attack, Oasis, Guy Barker, Andy Sheppard, the Paraorchestra and many many more.

Shrivastav has also made many appearances here at the Southbank Centre over the years, and he added to that list in May 2025, performing here twice – with Re-Orient and an Inner Visions Quartet – as part of our South Asian Sounds series.

Ahead of those appearances, Shirvastav looked back at his incredible collection of collaborations and kindly whittled it down to ten of his favourites for a specially selected playlist, which he explains below.

‘Antardrishti: VIII. Revelation’, from Indian Classical Interactions

This track was part of an international music, dance, and visual performance project featuring the Inner Vision Orchestra of blind musicians, Indian dancers, and Addictive TV. The project, inspired by chapter 11 of the Hindu philosophical epic Bhagavad Gita, was staged at prestigious venues including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Norwich Art Centre, British Council Theatre, New Delhi, and Mumbai Opera House. It was an Unlimited international commission.

‘Fruit’ – Baluji Shrivastav and Re-Orient

Composed by my wife Linda Shanovitch, this uplifting piece is a crowd favourite that we often perform as an encore with Re-Orient/Jazz Orient. It never fails to get people dancing and leave our gigs with smiles on their faces.

‘Walking Through the Streets’ – Baluji Shrivastav

This movement is part of my composition for sitar and string orchestra, expressing the experience of migrating from India to London. Collaborating with Orchestra Catalonia XXI, it’s been performed throughout Catalonia, in Tel Aviv, and in the Purcell Room with Charles Hazelwood conducting the National Youth Orchestra. My dream is to perform this at the Proms one day.

‘Ciudad De Papel’ – Malú

I was invited to Madrid to work with Malú, a renowned Spanish singer with numerous platinum and gold-certified albums. They specifically requested me for the sound of my dilruba. It was a joy to work with Malú and experience her beautiful voice first hand.

‘Teardrop’ – Massive Attack

Massive Attack arranged for a taxi to bring me from London to their studio in Bristol for this recording. I brought along my sitar, tablas, dilruba, and tanpura, deciding which to use once I arrived. After our session, we enjoyed some time at the pub before I headed home. In a funny turn of events, I forgot my white stick, leaving it at the studio; they kindly sent it back to me by taxi the next day.

‘Love Enuff’ – Soul II Soul

Performing this live on Top of the Pops was an exhilarating experience. Later, while on holiday in Greece, I was swimming in the pool when the poolside bar started playing the song. I was so surprised I nearly drowned!

‘Divinity’ – Amorphous Androgynous

Working with Gary Cobain of Amorphous Androgynous was a fantastic experience; his creativity and support were truly inspiring. We toured the UK, Russia, Germany, and Australia together. I contributed to several of his albums and enjoyed collaborating with Gary Lucas, known for co-writing Grace with Jeff Buckley and for his work with Captain Beefheart.

‘Birds Flew Backwards’ – Doves

I played dilruba on Doves’ album Kingdom of Rust, and we performed it at the BBC Electric Proms alongside the London Bulgarian Choir. Doves’ drummer Andy Williams later collaborated with me, playing on my composition for the West African Goddess Yemanja on my Goddess album.

‘A Dream of Andalucia’, from Indian Classical Interactions

This piece celebrates the relationship between Indian and Flamenco music and was created in collaboration with the incredibly talented flamenco guitarist Ignacio Monteverde. We’ve had the pleasure of performing this fusion across the UK.

‘Visions of You’ – by Jah Wobble

Playing the tabla on Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart was another great opportunity to explore a different musical style. The versatility of the tabla has allowed me to collaborate with amazing artists, including a memorable performance with Stevie Wonder at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park.