Asha Puthli to Headline Bradford 2025's Summer Sounds Festival

As part of its landmark year as UK City of Culture, Bradford 2025 has teamed up with Dialled In and Serious to launch Summer Sounds, a vibrant new two-day music festival taking place in the lush surroundings of Cliffe Castle Park, Keighley, on Saturday 2 August and Sunday 3 August 2025. 

Co-produced by Dialled In, Bradford 2025 and Serious, Summer Sounds celebrates international pioneers, boundary-pushing talent, and local heroes, bridging generations, genres and continents across two days of live music, community, and culture. Tickets are available now here.

Saturday 2 August - curated with Dialled In

Saturday, 2 August, curated in collaboration with the South Asian culture and arts platform Dialled In, will be headlined by the inimitable Asha Puthli – the pioneering Indian-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress with a blend of jazz, disco, soul, and Indian classical music. After relocating to New York in the early ‘70s, she successfully auditioned to sing for free jazz visionary Ornette Coleman, went on to appear in films by Merchant Ivory and Louis Malle, and soon became a fixture of the Studio 54 scene – rubbing shoulders with NYC art and culture titans including Warhol, Blahnik and the downtown avant-garde.

Puthli’s fluid, honeyed voice and fearless experimentation helped define a series of dazzling solo albums that still ripple through modern music, having been sampled by the likes of The Notorious B.I.G., 50 Cent, and The Neptunes, and revered by diggers and DJs alike. Puthli’s cult reputation continues to grow - don’t miss this unmissable UK set.

She’s joined by the mystical improvisations of legendary Balochi Benju instrumentalist Ustad Noor Bakhsh, and pioneers of the contemporary British Asian music scene - Metz n Trix.

ganavya brings her transcendental melding of South Asian classical music with spiritual jazz, Fun'Da'Mental’s Inder Goldfinger will present a back-to-back set with Silverfinger Singh, and BBC Asian Network DJs Manara and Kizzi are also set to bring the vibes. Expect an immersive day of rhythm, energy and radical connection through sound.

Sunday 3 August - curated by Bradford 2025 and SERIOUS

On Sunday, multi-award-winning musician, composer and producer Nitin Sawhney takes the stage, along with pop-soul singer Poppy Ajudha and spoken word powerhouse Joshua Idehen. Mighty Leeds 10-piece TC & the Groove Family blend afrobeat, breakbeat, jazz, highlife and hip hop, as well as Bradford-born singer and rapper Kenzo Jae, mixing indie and punk with old-school hip hop.

Soul singer and superstar-in-waiting Summer Pearl performs, and there’ll be music from the likes of Indo-jazz pioneer Sarathy Korwar and alt-soul singer Tawiah, as well as DJ sets from MUSYS and DJ Lubi. A celebration of sound system culture, creative resistance and local pride.

About Dialled In

Dialled In is an artist-led platform showcasing the depths of South Asian creativity. Founded in 2021, it has quickly become a staple in the UK’s cultural calendar, renowned for its bold, joyful programming and deep commitment to the community. With a team made up of some of the brightest minds in the South Asian diaspora, Dialled In exists as both a celebration and a movement: a coming together of collectives, artists, crews, venues, performers, staff, volunteers and food vendors who make each event more than just a party - they make it a living archive of shared culture, sound and care.

From their flagship festivals to artist residencies in Nepal, Printworks and Southbank Centre takeovers, and industry development projects like Dialled Industries and Resonate, Dialled In has cemented its role as a vital cultural curator. They’ve programmed classical concerts at the esteemed Union Chapel, hosted stages at underground festival and field Maneuvers, and built spaces that centre South Asian voices in both world-renowned venues and grassroots environments, connecting communities across continents and generations through music and art.

About Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture

Bradford 2025 takes place throughout Bradford District, which covers 141 square miles across West Yorkshire. It features performances, exhibitions, events and activities inspired by the extraordinary variety of this landscape, from the city’s historic centre to the breathtaking countryside that surrounds it. It pays homage to Bradford’s potent heritage as everything from a former industrial powerhouse to the world’s first UNESCO City of Film. Most of all, it celebrates the people of Bradford, from local artists and creative organisations to the diverse communities who call Bradford home.

Bradford 2025 is created for, with and by the people of Bradford – and it has young people at its heart. With more than a quarter of its population aged under 20, Bradford is one of the UK’s youngest cities. Bradford 2025 is proudly reflecting this youth across all aspects of its programme, from education, skills and training projects to new artistic commissions centred on the lives, concerns and ambitions of young people today.