THE Princess Royal has opened a major new exhibition at SOAS Brunei Gallery. The display, Celebrating Art and Music, features a rich collection of paintings, manuscripts, musical instruments, sound recordings and film. “The multi-sensory experience… evokes the full richness of Asian, African and Middle Eastern visual and sound arts,” according to the Bloomsbury university. The exhibit includes special ink rubbings of apsaras (celestial dancers) from Cambodia from the early 1960s and 12 essays exploring the context and significance of the diverse exhibits on display. The Princess Royal was greeted by Baroness Valerie Amos, director of the university, and exhibition curator Professor Anna Contadini.