In the Indian musical tradition, ragas — the frameworks used to compose melodies — are associated with different times of the day.

Yesterday, at 10.30am, sarangi player Pandit Ram Narayan and some of India’s best classical artists came together to celebrate the morning.

Performed for the most part in the north Indian khyal style, the three-hour concert ushered in the Indian Voices Day at the Proms.

The complex brilliance of the music and extraordinary technical prowess of the musicians underlined the fact that India’s centuries-old traditions are alive and well; for classical purists it served as a buffer against the shock of what was to come.

Bathed in pink and red light, seated cross-legged on a raised platform, 82-year-old Narayan drew soulful, shimmering notes from his ancient lute and showed exactly why the likes of western maestro Sir Yehudi Menuhin have rated him so highly.

More impressive still were silver-haired brothers Rajan and Sajan Mishra from Varanasi on the Ganges.

Accompanied by harmonium, tanbura drones and dancing tabla drums, their evocative and sublimely sung raga might have been a soundtrack to the dawning of the earth.

A small crowd crept in close to the platform; a few people reclined blissfully on the floor.

Asima, an all-male ensemble from Kerala in south India, performed compositions that mixed Indian rhythms and melodies with Western melodies, then performed them again outside.

A mini-mela in Kensington Gardens featured music and dance from Rajasthan: the singing, clapping, pirouetting ghoomar dance was a riot of sound and colour.

Bollywood dance lessons warmed up participants for the first Bollywood Prom, a nod to India’s all-singing, all-dancing film industry.

Despite his megastardom at home — and the presence of long-time backing band, Indo-funk outfit The Groove — entertainer and TV personality Shaan was a visibly nervous host; the largely Asian audience forgave his initial gaffes and cheered as hit followed Bollywood hit and dancers from Honey’s Dance Academy in Essex threw shapes and re-enacted scenes.

Pop, funk, hip hop and reggae were performed with multilingual aplomb, though the evening really came into its own when girlish singer June Banerjee joined Shaan after the interval and everyone leapt to their feet.

“Bollywood is India’s opera,” ventured a BBC Radio 3 commentator.

Well, not quite. But even purists would have to agree that it’s certainly a lot of fun.