About
Third Culture Collective
The Third Culture Collective is a social and musical venture, bringing together musicians from South Asian and Western cultures to share their approach to music-making.
Music, of whatever kind, is for everyone and its future is collaborative and cross-cultural.
We seek to make western classical music more accessible to the next generation of British Asians, inspiring them to take pride in their mixed musical heritage. We also aim to inspire Western musicians to experiment with South Asian sounds.
We provide equal opportunities for people of all backgrounds to engage with musical cultures from around the world. Bringing people together from all walks of life to share knowledge not only makes us better musicians but a more inclusive and tolerant society.
What we do
Collaborations
We work with organisations seeking to diversify their music-making to include South Asian music and musicians. Whether that’s advising on how to fuse cultures in a respectful manner, providing appropriate music and musicians for an event, or co-creating a large-scale program, we have worked with some of the biggest names in the Indian and western classical music industries.
Concerts & New Music
We blend music from one culture on to the instruments of another. That might be playing Beethoven on a sitar, The Beatles on a bansuri, or an Indian Raga arranged for jazz trio. We are proud to have performed at some of the leading venues in the UK and abroad. Check out our latest music releases on all streaming platforms and in our media gallery.
Workshops
We run workshops on South Asian music to inspire the next generation of western classical musicians. Our program of workshops has been well received in schools and universities across the UK and India. We have also released a series of workshop videos, exploring how musicians of all abilities and backgrounds might be inspired by South Asian sounds!
Founder & Director
Kavi Pau
Kavi Pau (b. 1996) is a British Indian music director, composer, singer and keyboardist based in London. His earliest musical experiences were in Indian music, studying the harmonium and Hindustani singing with Pravinaben Patel. Alongside his study of Indian music, Kavi developed an active interest in western classical music from a young age, taking lessons in the piano, clarinet, and voice.
After studying composition and conducting at the Purcell School of Music, Kavi won a choral scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied music. While at Cambridge, he worked regularly as a music director and répétiteur with the university’s top vocal and instrumental ensembles and toured internationally with the Choir of Gonville and Caius College.
Since graduating in 2018 with a prize-winning double-first class degree, Kavi has maintained a busy career, involving both the Indian and Western elements of his musical identity. Alongside his work as Director of the Third Culture Collective, he is also Director of Music at St Barnabas Church, Ealing and is the Founder Director of Ensemble 1517, a choir specialising in the music of the Lutheran Reformation. He combines these posts with regular freelance activities and also teaches at the University of Cambridge.
Collaborators and Influences
Regular Collaborators
Kuljit Bhamra Percussion
Teymour Housego
Bansuri
Misha Mullov-Abbado
Double Bass
John Holland-Avery Singer
Shahid Abbas Khan Singer
Rekha Sawhney Singer
Poppy Walshaw Baroque cello
Simon Purdy
Violin
Wallis Power
Cello
Anna Semple
Viola
Jordan Black
Clarinet
Influences
The Chineke! Foundation
The Chineke! Foundation provides outstanding career opportunities to established and up-and-coming Black, Asian and ethnically diverse classical musicians in the UK and Europe.
chineke.org
Nitin Sawhney
Nitin Sawhney is firmly established as a world-class producer, songwriter, DJ, multi-instrumentalist, orchestral composer and cultural pioneer.
nitinsawhney.com
A.R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman is one of the world’s most prominent and prolific film composers. His works are notable for integrating Eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres and traditional orchestral arrangements.
arrahman.com
Kuljit Bhamra
Kuljit Bhamra is a prolific composer, musician, record producer and percussionist. He is best known as one of the record producers who pioneered the British Bhangra sound and for collaborations with musicians of many different genres.
kedarecords.com/artist/kuljit-bhamra
Anoushka Shankar
Anoushka Shankar is a sitarist, composer, producer and a genre-defying figure within the classical and contemporary, acoustic and electronic world music scenes.
anoushkashankar.com