The 'Aam Aadmi' ballads

Lakshmi Ajay talks to musician Raghu Dixit on what makes him the toast of the West and why he hasn’t made any sad song yet

Yes, I do feel I have arrived,” says Raghu Dixit on his entry into Bollywood as music director with a Karan Johar caper titled Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge which releases this August. Perhaps, such brazen chutzpah comes easy to someone who was a student of microbiology, learnt Bharatnatyam, turned composer for Kannada films, averaged more than 50 gigs in the UK and US in a year, and has now landed a Bollywood film! Dixit is a man in a tearing hurry with a nonchalance that suggests otherwise.

Dixit broke into the scene with a band called Antaragini in 1998, hit the high notes with his hit song, “Mysore se aayi woh”, and later broke away to form the prodigious Raghu Dixit Project. Last year saw his album come up tops in the Apple Itunes Top 5 category, while this year his album, Raghu Dixit, has been nominated for the Songlines music awards in the debut category.

In a country where independent artists with busy work schedules and a line-up of foreign gigs are still a rarity, what is the secret of his enviable innings? Dixit responds with his trademark chuckle, “Because I haven’t made any sad song yet! Most of my songs are in Hindi and Kannada, but I spend a lot of time on stage explaining where my songs from. They are largely inspired by the ‘aam janta’. I feel that ‘The Raghu Dixit Project’ is probably the first act to really take Western instruments to audiences abroad and play them in an Indian way.”

With India playing on their minds, the band members dress up onstage in a colourful riot of tunics and lungis replete with ghungroos on their feet. “The clothes represent who we are as people and I believe we are colourful and happy people,” says Dixit. “Also this livens up the whole stage act with my South Indian lungi and ghungroos that enforce the rhythmic element. A lot of the feedback that I get from my fans in Britain is that their bands are always talking about angst, heartbreak and grief. So for them it is refreshing to hear a bunch of guys smiling and jumping on stage with their ghungroos. The joy is then reflected in the faces of the listeners and in their body and their faces. We are seen as a happy band! ”

Explaining the “project” part of his ensemble band, Dixit says, “I have an open house policy with respect to the artists I work with on stage. I do not see any reason for four or five people to stick with you throughout their lives. To keep experimenting is crucial to me. I am even open to collaborating with a graphic artist or dance company at this stage.”

But the going wasn’t always easy as the artist reminisces about his earlier trysts with the music scene at a time Indipop was on its last leg in the country. “I remember pasting my posters on walls at midnight, organising my own gigs, getting the lights and sounds in place, selling my show tickets and getting the “scene” together. So I know what a reality show means to youngsters today who are on the make.”

With a UK label backing the project, summer looks to be a promising affair. Dixit begins touring this month with Bellowhead, UK’s No 1 act with whom he is collaborating. Come August and the artist will mark his entry into Bollywood. Karan Johar’s breezy and young film Mujhse Fraandship Karoge is full of newcomers. “It is a great chance for a musician like me to bring in winds of change with independent music and change the soundscape in Bollywood. The songs will have a strong flavour of independent music with the five songs being an eclectic mix of genres such as rock and pop-rock. There’ll be an acapella-folk song, an English rhapsody, a qawwali, and a south Indian melody,” Dixit says.

Gung ho about his sojourn so far, Dixit admits to spending all his waking hours on social networking sites. “It is perhaps the biggest way I can advertise and my only way to connect with my fans. It is the reason I can release an album tomorrow and know that it will be picked up by eager hands,” he signs off saying.