PLAY IT BY EAR

Ahead of their Delhi performance, Anirban Ghosh of the Dilli Improvisers Orchestra, India's first free improvisation orchestra, talks about making music without rules and taking experimental sounds to new kinds of listeners

- ADITHI REENA AJITH

In an age where algorithms dictate what we listen to and how we feel, a group of Delhi musicians has carved a rebellious space with India's first free improvisation orchestra—creating spontaneous music that can't be replicated or packaged. Anirban Ghosh of the Dilli Improvisers Orchestra (DIO) says their aim is simple: to break the rules of music itself.

The ensemble took shape in 2024 after a five-day free-improvisation residency that focuses on forms that exist outside traditional structures of genre or notation in Delhi by W.I.P Labs. It was mentored by saxophonist Raymond MacDonald of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra. The workshop brought together musicians from varied traditions — classical, experimental, electronic, and folk. The residency culminated in August 2024 with a three-day debut performance at Delhi’s Khirki. “After the initial performance, we thought of turning it into an ensemble — India’s first free improvisation orchestra in South Asia,” says Ghosh.

Now, with a new core team, the group is preparing for its performance at the city’s Max Mueller Bhawan, following a residency and show in Dharamshala this November. The current lineup features Ghosh on bass and electronics, Vaibhav Batra on modular synth, Rahul Singh on noise box and sampling, Abhinay Khoparzi on code and electronics, Dhruv Samrat on synth and vocals, Agambir Singh on modular synth, and Pranay Verma on guitar and noise.

Breaking the score