From being a peppy side act to becoming the biggest cultural export for India, the Raghu Dixit Project has come a long way in establishing itself as one of the country’s best contemporary folk bands and the unofficial ambassadors of Bengaluru’s music culture. Following the release of the band’s second studio album Jag Changa , the lungi-clad sonic act has traversed the globe playing on almost every imaginable stage.
Coming home following a series of international gigs abroad, their homecoming concert at Freedom Park on Sunday for the Walk of Hope morphed into a big welcome for the band. Sharing their experiences here and abroad, bass guitarist Gaurav Vaz says: “We are excited to be back in Bangalore after a long time. It felt great to return with a band and the RDP has always stood for causes we believe in so the Walk of Hope seemed ideal. We love being back home. But we are still busy and the song-writing hasn’t stopped at all.”
RDP has played in quite a few Indian festivals and gone abroad to play even for the Queen of England. “When we played in 2010 at a festival called Kala Utsava in Singapore, we were the side gig between the main shows.
From there to come to a sold out auditorium at the same venue five years later is incredible. We went on to Bangkok and played at the Festival of India and a showcase for the Indian community organised by the Indian Consulate in Jakarta. The highlight was the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta where we got the crowd singing along.”
Looking ahead, Gaurav says they plan to go to Sri Lanka and play at the Jaffna Peace Music Festival — though that has not been confirmed yet.
“We are really keen to play there since it is a peace movement through music. After that is the ambitious UK tour and we might be doing a US tour later. We’ve played in all possible places and gigs here in India. So it’s nice to take our music abroad to newer audiences and cultures.”
On the reception, Gaurav says it’s been fantastic.
“For us it was absolutely amazing. We were not the band with the most visibility but it was nice making new fans. Being a younger band playing among legends gave us an advantage since people were taken by surprise when they heard us and they soon spread the word.”
A trademark happy song for RDP is Raghu teaching the audience to sing the tongue-twisting ‘Lokada Kalaji’ chorus.
How did it go abroad? Gaurav laughs and says: “It was great! It’s part of the band’s act and charm now. Many bands keep away from lingual compositions when it’s a new crowd and a foreign country. But Raghu has his way of relentlessly ensuring people sing along. We break through all those barriers.”
Representing India, Karnataka and Bengaluru’s culture, RDP is significantly promoting a lot of what is ours to the world. “I wish the government of Karnataka and cultural departments would feel the same and work with us. We are not going to deviate from our roots. We are from Karnataka. It’s in our blood and music. But I definitely think there is a lot more we can do if we work together.”
Gaurav adds that earlier many bands were taking to the international circuit adapting Western formats, but that has changed.
“In my opinion, a lot more bands are becoming regional with their language and sound while others are playing western music influenced or infused with Indian elements.”
What’s left on their bucket list? “We have a lot more to achieve,” he points out. “We will modify our act and make our shows more holistic. Our stage shows go beyond the music and we will make it more experiential.”
The Raghu Dixit Project comprises Raghu Dixit on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Gaurav Vaz on bass, Bryden Lewis on guitars, Parth Chandiramani on flute and Joe Jacob on drums and percussion.
