The Tapi Project to Perform at Celtic Connections in Glasgow
Surat band will perform alongside Sahrawi singer on Jan. 25, 2025 as part of the Scottish music festival
The Tapi Project will perform at Celtic Connections 2025 in Glasgow. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
With folk, roots and global music festival Celtic Connections kicking off in Glasgow on Jan. 16, 2025, Surat band The Tapi Project will be representing India with a showcase set on January 25, 2025, at the historic venue Òran Mór.
The Tapi Project’s Scotland sojourn came about through the band’s advisor Aishwarya Natarajan (from the music company Indianuance), who has worked with Celtic Connections on previous projects. She says, “The festival has always had a keen eye on South Asia and encouraged music that pushes boundaries. Having been with The Tapi Project on their journey, I was very keen that they get a platform at what is one of the biggest winter festivals of the world. I am glad the festival not only saw what the project has to offer musically – a truly genre-free sound that has the potential to be one of the greatest acts to come from India.”
They are paired with Sahrawi musician Aziza Brahim for the show on Jan. 25. Guitarist, composer and songwriter Yogi Saniyawala says, “The pairing is credited to the festival programming team and we couldn’t have been happier as Azia Brahim brings the roots Saharwi sound. It would be great to meet her and listen to her incredible music.”
For their set, there’s an intention that they’ve set. Saniyawala says, “[The performance] is going to be a journey forming from a question; ‘Have we celebrated our torment?’ Which [is something] we generally run away from.” The plan is to bring audiences “a little closer to our vulnerability and go beyond it” through songs like “Mehsoos,” “Khite Hue,” and a new song called “Firdaus” which the band describes as a “celebration of the heaven within.” He adds, “It will be intense, celebratory and fragile and chaotic all at once.”
While The Tapi Project don’t really confirm any other plans they have while they’re in Scotland in terms of collaborations, they do promise more concerts, more music and “a cross-cultural, cross-boundary surprise” for listeners.
Other artists performing at Celtic Connections 2025 – which runs from Jan. 16 to Feb. 2, 2025 – include folk act The Staves, African act Femi Kuti, indie rock act The Magic Numbers, singer-songwriter KT Tunstall and soul/jazz/pop band Lake Street Dive, among others. Apart from The Tapi Project, the festival also includes a couple of other performances dedicated to music from the subcontinent, by U.K. Indian classical artist Ranjana Ghatak with Scottish folk singers Iona Lane and Hannah Rarity on Jan. 18, 2025, and the Orchestral Qawwali Project featuring composer Rushil Ranjan and singer Abi Sampa.
