New Date Added to Grammy Award-Winning Jacob Collier’s India Debut

Once a YouTube protege, now a world-renowned genre-breaking singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Jacob Collier is all set to play his first shows in India on September 17th and 18th. 

In My Room (2016), Collier’s debut album, won the 25-year-old two Grammys and he was eventually honored for his contributions to jazz with the PRS for Music Gold Award earlier in 2019. Known for his incredible collaborations with Pharrell Williams, Herbie Hancock, Hans Zimmer and Quincy Jones (among notable others), it’s his diverse sonic expression that is celebrated by listeners around the globe, which is now coming to India. 

Collier will bring his artistic soundscape to the shores of the city in September, courtesy of music management company Mixtape and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), to a show that’s sold out tickets in less than 24 hours. Mixtape founder and director Naveen Deshpande told Rolling Stone India that Collier’s India debut has been in the works for two years now. “In 2016, I was at the Oya Festival, Norway, doing the lighting and stage management for one of the stages. Jose Ortega was the sound engineer for the entire stage. He also happened to be Jacob’s sound engineer. He connected me with Quincy Jones’ company which manages Jacob. That’s when we started having a conversation,” he says.

A dabbler in jazz, folk, funk, a capella, disco, electronica, neo-soul, R&B, classical and more, Collier crafts an immersive interactive vocal-instrumental experience by employing a host of sounds consisting of string, key, reed, percussion and electronic instruments. With his journey having begun on YouTube, the award-winning performer sure knows how to engage a room full of listeners. Collier tends to end each show with an improv performance, leading the audience to vocalize in response to his gestures, composing to and playing them like extensions of his own instruments.”He’s been one of the top names on our list for almost two years now,” says Deshpande.

The musician will be joined by his band comprising Portuguese multi-instrumentalist and vocalist MARO, English bassist/producer Robin Mullarkey and American drummer and composer Christian Euman for his India debut. The two and a half hour concert features a set spanning across Collier’s 40-song musical project Djesse. 

Farrahnaz Irani, general manager – Western Music at NCPA, says, “For NCPA’s 50 year celebration, we’re getting all aspects of international music with versatile artists. There’ll be acts such as jazz, soul, indie, funk, pop, mo-town – everything. We’re starting with Jacob (Collier) and continuing the celebratory lineup into November with (American blues singer) Mud Morganfield and (Cuban-American jazz artist) Arturo Sandoval.”

Watch glimpses from Jacob Collier’s DJESSE World Tour below:

Jacob Collier will be performing at the Tata Theatre, NCPA in Mumbai on September 17th (tickets available) and 18th (show sold out). Book your tickets here.