William Barton and Shubhendra Rao open India-Australia tour at Purana Qila, Delhi

William Barton and Shubhendra Rao opened a four-city tour at Purana Qila in Delhi with 'Sacred Pathways: Where Ragas Meet Songlines', a concert pairing the didgeridoo with the sitar. Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai are the remaining stops, according to The Hindu's report on the Delhi show.

The concert was organised by the Australian government in partnership with India's Ministry of Culture. It also served as a curtain-raiser for G'day Namaste, the Australian government's flagship festival, scheduled for December 2026 to celebrate India-Australia ties across business, education, sport, innovation and culture. Australia's High Commissioner to India, Philip Green, observed that few venues could match the fort, which was built largely under the Mughal emperor Humayun and the Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century.

Two instruments, one stage

Barton is an Australian Aboriginal multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer and producer, and one of the leading didgeridoo players. The instrument has been used in sacred ceremonies by Aboriginal Australians for generations. Rao is a disciple of Pt. Ravi Shankar and is known, like his guru, for innovative and collaborative work. The Hindu reports that the Delhi concert was his first performance with a didgeridoo player, and that he mentioned his guru behen, Anoushka Shankar, had played with Barton in Australia a few years earlier.

The Hindu's reviewer, Shailaja Khanna, wrote that the pairing was not always ideal. The didgeridoo cannot produce a sequence of distinct melodic notes, and in her view the collaboration at times felt less than seamless. Barton worked around that limit by singing alongside Rao's sitar, strumming a guitar and finally joining the rhythmic section on didgeridoo.

How the evening unfolded

Barton opened by demonstrating the instrument's range and its link with nature, from whistles and guttural tones to deep, sustained drones. Rao answered with a brief alaap followed by a brisk drut composition. The tabla player Nishit Gangani, from the Gangani gharana, known for its dance and percussion traditions, accompanied him. All three musicians then played together.

The Delhi date is part of a wider run of concerts in heritage spaces, a trend Khanna noted in the city, where several monuments now serve as stages.

This report draws on reporting by thehindu.com.