Antidote at the Victoria Theatre: July 2025

Ibantuta is an Oud player from the Basque Country in France, who trained with an Iraqi Oud master in the Middle East. After five years under his tutorage, Ibantuta embarked on a year-long journey along the Silk Roads, collaborating with traditional string musicians. Over the course of his travels, he met over 40 musicians and recorded a track in each of the 12 countries he visited.

The album entitled ‘The Musical Threads of the Silk Roads’ was released in October 2023 under the label homerecords.be. It reached 11th on the World Music Chart.

The live performance for this album is presented in the format of a ‘film-concert’, whereby Ibantuta plays the Oud live against a backdrop of music videos from the journey. It is an intimate show that celebrates our profound connection in a richly diverse world, reminding us that we are all profoundly connected by the common thread of humanity. It is a truly immersive musical experience that is deeply moving and uplifting.

Bradford group Hameed Brothers Qawwal are one of the UK’s leading and first performers of Islamic Sufi devotional music since 1987. They have performed all over the world for weddings, functions as well as at new and experimental music festivals including, Bradford Threadfest (with Richard Dawson), Tusk festival and, for Recon Festival, as part of a special collaboration with The Family Elan and Dean McPhee.Hameed Brothers Qawwal are the UK’s leading Qawwali Group, established under the Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and sabri brothers Memorial Academy. Led by singer and harmonium player Abdul Hameed and Umar Hameed qawwal, Hameed Brothers Qawwal and Party have been mainstays on Bradford’s South Asian music scene for over three decades.Abdul Hameed’s father Ustad Mursalin (dhol) began visiting the UK in the late 1960s, having worked as a backing musician alongside his brother Ustad Maskeen (shenhai) in the Indian film industry and performing with legendary tabla master Alla Rakha. During the 1980s, he became involved in the UK’s qawwali revival, the group connecting more deeply with their Sufi heritage and becoming key players in the UK’s qawwali scene, also performing across Europe, in the US and back in Pakistan, expanding their repertoire through the decades to become the vital live force they are today.