Archive for May, 2010

We do music because we believe in it, its what keeps us going, and sometimes, a situation arises that requires you to really really question your belief and then jump .. and fly!

As nice as things sound and as great as it is to follow your passions and other good stuff that comes with it, all of us know that for every one that makes it in the music business, there are a million in the wings, ready to jump in! But you can never stop believing that you will be that one and relentlessly pursue the dream till one day, your reality was one day your dream!

When we went on tour to the UK last time, it was a series of fortunate accidents that magically fell together. When we sit back and think about it, its right out of a fairy tale how things worked out. The tour though led to great things including a longer tour this year and most importantly, our relationship with the Jenral Group and Sound Advice. It was through them that we planned this tour and put together a plan to break into the UK market. The great thing for us was that it involved us doing a lot of what we do best - go out on stage and have a blast!

A fitting opener to the tour was our gig in Caceres, Spain, a place we din’t even know existed! and it was for the biggest world music festival, WOMAD where we were essentially headlining the 2nd stage! Nothing could excite us more and as if to test just that, our Schengen visas took till the last day to arrive and involved me going to Bombay and waiting at the embassy just hours before we were to take off, getting the visas, heading back to Bangalore and heading out to Europe, all in less than 24 hours! But then, anything less would not be as much fun!

Following Spain we headed back to London where we met our tour manager Gary and our Tech on Tour, Ron. Two people that made this whole trip completely stress free as far as getting up on stage and playing went. More about them later and you must definitely get to know them. You will be hearing a lot about them from here on methinks :)

The first leg of the tour was mainly to drive some press our way and get the band’s name heard in the music circles and so it involved a lot of showcases and meetings with people and impromptu jams and acoustic performances and the result of all that effort was quite phenomenal. We couldn’t have expected a better reception, and right at the bottom of this post are some testimonials for you to see what we mean!

The shows we played in the last couple of weeks have been special ones for us, right from the small showcases, to the ones where we ended up on stage without a PA, to the show for the Kannadiga community in the UK to everything in between. Each of them have stories I can tell you for hours on end! but I will not drag this on for much longer.

This was a quick update to let you know that we have taken our biggest leap of faith yet, and we are hoping to land on solid ground!

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Following are some excerpts of feedback we received for our shows in the UK so far

Feedback following the gig at City Showcase (09/05/10)

“I thought that the band were fantastic.” – Nanette Rigg (City Showcase)

“Raghu was amazing.” – Jon Graves

Feedback following the gig at the Nehru Centre (10/05/10)

“Really impressed by Raghu, such a powerful voice.” – Alex Lloyd (Mainstream Artists)
“Just wanted to say good work on tonight - thought you did really well and thought Raghu - as always - was excellent and the Q&A was great.” – Andy Edwards (Connected Artists)

On Twitter: “Raghu Dixit was pretty amazing, great singer blending Hindu folk with western instrumentation. Biggest selling non Bollywood star in India.” – Neil McCormick (Freelance journalist)

“Thanks again for a great show last night. Jakomi and I are listening to Raghu’s CD in the Music Void office right now.” – Chris McLellan (The Music Void)
“Cheers for the invite last night mate! Really enjoyed it.” – Jules Parker (PRS)
“What a huge voice Raghu has!

As you know we don’t have artist interviews per se in the magazine, but perhaps there’s an angle for a music export-type story, or given Gurrumul’s success, perhaps a Sound Advice catch up piece with Raghu as the latest overseas project you’re backing.” – Greg Parmley (IQ Magazine)

“I thought Raghu was incredible … absolutely incredible.

I can see this perfectly - even though I may not have understood what he was singing,  it worked for me melodically and dynamically. The cross-over opportunities must be endless and there will be a cue of UK based artists wanting to work with him, no doubt.

Jools Holland / Mark Cooper will love him.

Congratulations on discovering such a phenomenal talent.” – Myles Keller (PRS)

“Thank you for inviting me to see Raghu Dixit last night.
I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and would love to see him with his full band. – Carrie Davies (The Half Moon Putney)
“Thanks for the invitation to a wonderful evening, found the music very fresh and different. I would like to write a blog about event.” – Rita Payne (Commonwealth Journalists Association (UK))

“Very much enjoyed seeing Raghu and best of luck in your endeavours with him….talent and great songs even if I hadn’t a clue what he was singing about!”  - Julian Wall (BPI)

“Thank you for a great night at the Nehru Centre. Raghu Dixit is an exceptional talent and a very engaging person too.” – Paul Bay (Citizen Sound)

“Thanks for the event last night, the musicians were really good, what a voice that guy has!  And brilliant guitar too.” – Sarah Wraight

“He’s a great personality and will no doubt be very successful. The evening was very enjoyable.” – Nick Cooper

“Great voice and would love to see him with the band at Bush Hall on Friday.” – Jeremy Gawade (Lee and Thompson)

“Great gig last night. Raghu is rather good, loved the second song and what a great guitarist he had.” – Harry Cowell (Mission Group)

“It was great to see you on Monday thanks once again for the invitation. We were both blown away by Raghu, what a voice. If there is anything we can do to be of service it would be a pleasure.” - Ross Gautreau (ASCAP)

“I checked him out on line prior to accepting and he is really incredible.” – Marc Marot (SEG)
“He is very talented and different so have no doubt that enough exposure will get him picked up.” – Affe Adel Demon

“Really enjoyed the show last night.” – Sonia Diwan (Sound Advice Legal)

“We met at the band’s event at The Indian High Commission on Monday night. I was impressed.” – Dennis Muirhead (Muirhead Management)

“Great night last night by the way - Raghu is awesome.” – Nick Keynes (Goldust Productions)

“Great seeing you last night and of course finally experiencing Raghu live. I can see him going down really well at festivals, together with the band.” – Anke Links (Coda Agency)

Feedback following the gig at the Water Rats (11/05/10)

“Really enjoyed the show on Tuesday.” – Dennis Collopy (Menace Music Management)

“It was a great night at the Indian High Commission. Thanks. A friend of mine, Dennis Collopy, said he went down to the Water Rats last night and enjoyed the acts. See you at the Great Escape. I will send you some Troy bar dates tomorrow for Raghu.” – Alex Kerr-Wilson (Discovery Talent)

“Sick gig last night… I have incredible footage of the hype from the front row.” – Terry Mardi (Desi Circus)

Feedback following the gig at the Great Escape (13/05/10)

“Sadly our phone system is kaput! We can’t do phoners.

I did catch a bit of the gig last night though and LOVED IT!!!” – Jo Youle (Brighton Festival Radio 87.7fm)

“Billy and I went to see Raghu at the Great Escape last week and LOVED it! So pleased to be having him [perform at Wattsfest].” – Nuala Honan (Wattsfest)

“That is one of the best performances that we’ve ever seen at The Great Escape!” – Martn Elbourne (The Great Escape)

“I heard Martin [Martin Elbourne] was raving about Raghu. Hopefully that bodes well for Glastonbury next year.” – Rob Challice (Coda Agency)

“Great to see you last week in Brighton and to see Raghu too, the whole band were awesome, we all really enjoyed it.” – Mark Debenham (Sunshine HQ)

“Great to see you. I am a huge fan, you should be very proud.” – Myles Keller (PRS)

Press article:
http://www.themusicvoid.com/2010/05/event-report-the-great-escape-brighton-uk/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=event-report-the-great-escape-brighton-uk

Feedback following the gig at Bush Hall (14/05/10)

Press article:

http://www.justonestar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=59317&sid=5cda76dfca287d383d0f9e7ea9d456dc

Our gig at the Nehru Center was the most important one of the entire tour! This is where we had invited a whole bunch of people from the music industry and we were officially going to show London’s music biz that the Raghu Dixit Project had arrived! With our tour manager and tech, Gary and Ron, we have already worked out the entire flow of events for the day we have a gig. We land up at the venue, separately, since we don’t stay together. Quickly run through the set up, sound check, chill and then the show!

This day was not much different, we pulled up at the Nehru Center, loaded in and then to our horror found that there was no PA system! So it was time to pull out our best contingency plan! Gary set up the amps we had and everything that was available to him there, and managed to put together some decent sound. The band on the other hand, took a swift decision and we were going to go on stage with only Raghu, Vijay and Karthick and doing an acoustic set.

The reception was fun, the Indian food served was the first traces of good Indian food we had in a week, so I think all of us devoured it! We then headed up quick to get ready for the big showcase.

Its a very different feeling when you know that the entire audience is there to critically look at your performance, the room is filled with nervous energy and that got to Paul Knowles, our manager who officially gave the cutest intro ever! :p

Raghu came on next, started with a solo rendition of Sorutihudu Maneya Maligi, then moved on to Hey Bhagwan with Vijay on acoustic guitars, followed by acoustic versions of other songs with Karthick and Vijay alternating through the set and closing the short set with a nice energetic version of Mysore se Aayi.

Following the show was a short interview with Neil McCormick which was targeted at getting the audience to learn about Raghu and his story so far. That was a fun short interview that brought out some really interesting stories that I will get Raghu to blog about someday!

After the interview it was time for us to wait for feedback and here is some of it

Last year, when we played WOMAD in Charlton Park, it was much too quick for us to fully savour the experience, but the gig itself was something we would never forget. WOMAD, the festival, is like that! you can’t forget your WOMAD experience in a hurry.

This time round, WOMAD Caceras, was our tour opener. And what a way to start a tour! In Spain for the first time ever, playing at one of the most beautiful concert venues in the world, to thousands of people who don’t speak our language! Perfect ;)

We landed up in Caceras after a quick flight into Madrid and a 4 hour bus journey along Spain’s scenic country side. Quickly checked into the hotel and went out exploring the town. After what must be 4 hours of walking, we ended up at the Main Stage for WOMAD Caceras to catch the local act and a electro - ska - rap - beatbox band close day 1.

It was quite a party for us, five of us in what must have been atleast 25,000 people who had come out to party on the streets of Caceras. We had a jolly good time, being the “novelty items”, the only Indians (as far as we were told) in a kilometer’s radius, we did not spare a single opportunity to tell everyone we could about coming over to our show the next day.

We had a workshop planned early in the evening on the 7th and then a couple of hours before our show at 11 PM local time! The good thing with festivals is that there is always a floating crowd and word of mouth / the sound travels quickly and people land up filling the venue before you can even think about it!

Our workshop was quite interesting because it was largely planned as a talk + explain + demonstrate session where we realized very quickly that the first two parts of the plan were not possible! We did have a translator but the crowd was clearly not in the mood to listen to us explaining things and especially not when we spoke in English!

So demonstrate it was! and we demonstrated as much as we could about our music, the culture, our influences, the arrangements, the “Indianness” of it and what made our music special. And the crowd loved it! The workshop also served as a good curtain raiser for our performance later in the night.

By the time the workshop was done, we were seeing the best of the Spanish unpredictable weather where there were rains lashing around and the production crew had to arrange a makeshift shelter on stage for the equipment and at one point, it got so bad that the workshop after us had to be cut off half way!

But all spirits were high for when we returned, after a set by a local opening band, we were on stage, making real what had been a dream till one moment before! The crowd did not disappoint either. People poured in from all corners and we had quite a few people ready to party - Indian Folk Style!

A tight one hour set in which Raghu’s guitar string snapped only once was most joyously played out by the band and we could see much dancing and revelry from on stage which made things much better for us, pushing up the performance a notch or two higher!

Like Raghu said, “We froze the clouds, stopped the rains and moved the crowd”, it was a crazy night and we loved every moment of it and with it, another WOMAD chapter is etched in our memories, not to be forgotten in a hurry!

Muchas Gracias to Team WOMAD, Caceras for getting us there and having us play. Too many to thank by name, but you know who you are!

PS: Happy Birthday to Vijay whose birthday we celebrated on stage in Spain! Don’t think we can give you a better gift ;)

See the rest of the photographs - here and here. Photos of the band on stage shot by Paul Knowles.

Download Link - May 2010 Calendar

Its a little late coming, but its time for the May 2010 calendar! Giving it out on the day we head out on our most ambitious tour yet, starting in Spain and then traveling through the UK, you will be hearing a lot more from us from here on!

For now, its time to put this on your desktops and remember your favourite band on tour and send some positive vibes our way :)

Calendar designed by - Prasad Bhat (http://graphicurry.com)

Photograph by - Ganesh Raghunathan (http://ganeshraghunathan.com)

After much drama and lots of tension, we finally got everything sorted out and we are off! First to Caceras in Spain and then to the Rest of the UK - if you know people that should watch us, please point them in our direction :)

Thats us with a tribute to the airline that is taking us to Europe!

And that is where we are playing our first gig! So wish us luck :)