All along, I’ve been posting here telling you guys how it went and things we did at each show. But this time I thought I would do it a little differently!

Here is a short report of our show at the London Mela by Ashanti Omkar, London based journalist extraordinaire who quickly packed up her job of curating and presenting the classical stage at the Mela and came running along to watch our set!

“Bangalore superstar Raghu Dixit and his talented ‘Project’ of musicians like Gaurav Vaz, Vijay Joseph, Willy Demoz and Karthik Iyer, set the main stage at the London Mela on fire. Screaming fans flocked to buy tee-shirts and get autographs at the end and the crowds swayed to the strong voice of the formidable man and his energetic musicians, who have toured all around the UK and many major European cities.

The young people at the O2 London Mela tuned into the new sound, a change from the R&B and Bhangra infused main stage, which blends Indian folk music with funky beats and guitars, which the older people would have understood and appreciated the humanitarian lyrics.

A rare fully live act, which is the obvious appeal of RDP, it is encouraging to see songwriting in a blend of Indian languages, some of the less known ones in the UK, like Tamil and Kannada, which are sung in, showcasing Incredible India and it’s heritage, to the large diaspora and new audiences from all over London.

Spreading joy, smiles and good vibes, the UK welcomes RDP again and again, after this hugely successful 92,000 people, record-breaking London Mela.”

- Ashanti OMkar

And to add to the experience - some of the best footage of us playing a live concert EVER has been shot and uploaded by the BBC in its entirety! Click and Enjoy! - http://www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork/events/melas/2010/londonmela/videos/raghu-dixit.shtml

Photograph taken by the incredible Jeremy Llewelyn Jones - check some of his other photographs of the band - http://www.jljphotography.co.uk/gallery_357227.html

Now that we’ve been around the world and stayed abroad for sometime as well, we can well and truly say how wonderful our country is! true, we have our problems and so does every single country in the world, we just need to step and give our country a reason to be proud of us!

Today we release a song that was made quite a while back, but it was always on the back of our minds to put it out for all of you, and what better day to release this! The song is called ‘Chala Hai Tiranga’ and it is an ode to our motherland in our own unique way!

Head to Artist Aloud to get the song for yourself and if you want to set it as your caller back tune, here is how you can do it -

For Airtel and DoCoMo - SMS “TIRANGA” to 54646

Or

For Airtel - Dial 5432111913103

For Vodafone - SMS “CT 10609909″ to 56789

For Tata DoCoMo - SMS “SET 444208″ to 543211

For LOOP - SMS “SET 0020023852″ to 55666

For Reliance - SMS “CT   62011036″ to 51234

There will be a direct to Internet concert with Artist Aloud on the 25th of October in Bangalore. Details will arrive in time! keep watching :)

And - HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! Do something today to make India proud :)

Photo Credit - Nitin Joshi

Download Link - August 2010 Calendar

The August Calendar is ready to take away! We’re at the fag end of our tour - http://raghudixit.com/tour - and we still have a couple of dates to play here before we head back home sweet home for a much needed break and some shows in the motherland :) - Have you told someone about the band yet?

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

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

Meet Gary Galaxi Lee.

Gary is our Tour Manager Extraordinaire, our Front of House (FOH) Engineer, for some of the gigs we’re playing, he is also chief of production. He is our resident music expert, has worked with everyone and I mean EVERYONE in the touring circuit, gets us the best gear at the cheapest rates, is a master chef, one who cracks the whip, drives us to each venue and makes sure we reach on time, sound good and get off stage in one piece.

There are many more roles he has not yes started to play when on tour with us, but one quality of Gary that stands out from all of this is that he is the MOST practical person I have ever met. EVER.

He has practical advice for any situation. There is nothing you can tell him that he wouldn’t know how to do. Right from what mic to use for an amp, to where you should go for the best sushi (in different parts of the world mind you) to how to remove your tonsils (this is a story for another day), he is the man with the plan!

And now, in an exclusive feature on our website, Gary has kindly consented to give his advice out to many of our fans who are faced with situations where they need a new perspective and some great practical tips.

If you have a situation where you think you would need some advice, post it in the comments section and I will pick the best questions and get Gary to answer them in a video reply. Your time starts …. NOW!

Each tour brings with itself a whole bunch of “firsts” for the band. And at the Larmer tree festival, it was the first time we had to play 3 gigs in a day, and believe it or not, the first time we played a proper acoustic show in a LONG LONG time!

Driving to the festival itself was an experience as we went out of the concrete jungle that London is to the beautiful English countryside and past the Stonehenge as well, though we did not have the time to go up to it and see it up close. I think most of the band just caught up on sleep for the rest of the tour and each of us was up to his own thing waking up once in a while in the middle, while Gary, our tour manager was awake through it all driving us to the venue ensuring we manage to make it in time for the show. At the end of the tour, I’m sure he is just going to sleep for a week! or knowing Gary, just take on a bunch of work :p

We arrived at the Larmer Tree festival just an hour before we were scheduled to be on stage and the organizers were going into a mild panic attack, but seeing us on site seemed to calm everyone down and we did our set up and line check in record time! With that done, there was just about enough time to get back to green room, change and get back on stage for the first set of the day!

The Larmer Tree festival has been running for 20 years now and over the years, I was told it has become an institution this side of the UK and it gets hardcore regulars who come out and camp for all days of the fest. We even met food store owners who really look forward to being part of this festival, so it was a brilliant festival to be part of!

Unlike many of the afternoon slots we’ve played at different festivals, this time round, the crowd was already lounging around on the grass in front of the main stage, that made it a little easier for us because we just had to get them up to their feet ;) - And we did and how! The first song we did got a whole bunch of people up to the front of the stage joining along with us, but once we launched into ‘Mysore Se Aayi’ I think we broke the ice :)

The nice thing about playing at such a fun festival is that the audience we get are here to truly have fun and you need to just cater to their fun loving side and they will jump at the chance. Its a skill we’ve learnt through many festivals. Once we got everyone involved, the rest of the set was pure joy. The interaction with the crowd was great, the setting beautiful and Gary on the sound was really milking that PA to make sure that people were “feeling” the music ;)

We got some great feedback post the gig and it was time to grab a nice lunch before we headed to Raghu’s 2nd gig of the day - a One on One with a bunch of fans at ‘Folk in a Box’. The idea for folk in a box is as simple as it is unique. Its the world’s smallest festival - one artist, one fan in a closed box. Pitch Dark, and the most intimate musical experience you will ever have!

So we put Raghu into the box and a bunch of fans went in one by one to listen to Raghu serenade them. We have no idea what it sounded like inside, but the people who were in there were overwhelmed. A short video about the whole thing is coming up very soon! Raghu loved it and it was, according to him, one of the best gigs he has done! and he had just finished quite a smashing gig right before that :)

Once we finished Folk in a Box, it was time to get some shut eye and rest before we went out to do the last gig of the day, an acoustic set in a tent at the festival. Now, this was another first for the band, not having done a proper acoustic set before and also, for Willy, it was the first time with a Cajón. So that was always going to be interesting.

To just spice it up a bit more, we had a packed house even before we got on stage for a quick sound check / line check and while that was flattering, it meant that we couldn’t take long to set the sound and also had to get it all done very quietly, without giving away too much before the gig started. But it was another of those ‘take it as it comes moments’ and before you knew it, it was time to get going.

Raghu started with a solo version of ‘Soruthihudu Maneya Maligi’ and the rest of the band joined him on stage in parts, first Vijay for Hey Bhagwan, the duo version and then Karthick and Vijay doing ‘Ambar’ with Raghu before everyone was on stage doing a punchy acoustic version of Mysore Se Aayi, Gudugudiya and Har Saans Mein.

We then headed to the artist tent for a signing, sold out all the CDs we had carried (and we carried quite a few) - it was heartening to see everyone stand in line to meet us! so we went out and broke the line ourselves, walking up and down the line talking to them as they waited to purchase our CDs. It was also the time when the “Incident” happened with Gaurav, so it was a Rock and Roll day in all.

I know I say this quite often with the gigs we are doing here, but yet again, Larmer Tree was a festival we wont forget in a hurry! and we certainly hope to be back next year :)

See all the photos we took at the Larmer Tree festival here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=195599&id=22220507136

Its been a long long time since we did this! and in fact, this is the first time we ever did it in London and it was only apt that we did it gently! 2 shows in one day, one at Bracknell and the other at Eastleigh, both a couple of hours away from each other on a nice sunny Sunday!

The twist in the tale was the previous night when we finished playing at the Wattsfest in Devon, and decided to head back to London and then drive all the way back to Bracknell, but that would just work against us, so we let better sense prevail and booked ourselves into a hotel close to Bracknell for the night and for some much needed rest for everyone!

A short drive to Bracknell in the morning and we found ourselves at the Fusion Asia Festival where things were still being set up and like a true India festival, it was all getting started, the stalls were just being opened, the stage set up and there were a couple of kids playing cricket! But a quick set up and sound check happened and we were ready to get the party started.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon crowd that were clearly not sure of what was to come, but then once we got them up on their feet and right up in front, it was a whole different game! The crowd was a true mix of people right from kids in their cradles to some senior citizens soaking up the festival in the park. Moreover, it was a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic melting pot which was just perfect for our music.

The show was done in an eventful fun filled hour and then we headed to the big red and yellow tent for a workshop with the audience where Raghu sang his first English song for the tour and then got them all to sing along on Lokada Kalaji. If you haven’t already, please go check the video of Raghu taking a Kannada master class here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHB4J2PtmrQ

We did not have much time to spend at Bracknell because we had to head to gig number 2 in Eastleigh for the Eastleigh Mela. The festival site for the Eastleigh Mela was mostly a HUGE tent in which there was a really nice sound system rig set up and a brilliant stage with some really nice lighting! After our drive from Bracknell, we just about managed to make it to the venue with an hour to spare and it was just enough time for us to look at everything there and take some of these photographs :p

We got on stage after a really nice Kenyan band and after sound check, we were most happy with the sound on stage and were ready to rock and roll! Since our set here was much later in the evening, we had a lot of people all eagerly waiting for us to get started and there were a bunch of Kannadigas in the audience as well which made the interaction that much more fun especially the little jokes that are mentioned in passing ;)

An energetic set followed and it felt like the point when we were on stage was the hottest the UK has ever been even through the recent heatwave that was on here! We came off stage huffing and puffing with all the sweat and met a whole bunch of people who we managed to convert to being fans of the band. It was perfect, talking with all these guys about life in the UK and the music that they like over some really nice Indian food that was set up at the stalls in the venue.

But like a true band on tour, it was time to move on, and go back for a short, well deserved break in London where we sit and work on our music before the rest of the shows in the UK - http://raghudixit.com/tour

In May, we played the Great Escape Festival in Brighton and little did we know that the organizers of Watts Fest, Devon were among the people paying close attention to us, and we got booked to headline the Outdoor stage at Watts fest right there!

Like many festivals in the country side of the UK, we drove for miles and miles and there was no sign that there was a festival happening but then we turned on small corner and there we saw it, hundreds of cars parked with trailers and camping tents and what not with a crazy bunch of fun people just walking around chilling out and having loads of fun!

Watch this video for a tour of the fest - 18 mins long, but very fun!

We had sometime to kill before we got out to play, so we went out and took a tour of the whole place, sampled the freshly cooked food and then just chilled out watching some really eclectic music including a 2 piece blues band that really rocked it and a beat boxing hip hop rap duo who were joined on stage by one of the lovely organizers as well. We met Bob Watts, the man who owns the entire farm on which the festival is held, and he just loved the whole concept of having a festival on his property as well as our show, which he told me later on after our set!

By the time we were on stage, everyone was ready and warmed up and it took little time to get them all going. From these videos you can see how they were quite kicked about the set and were having a crazy fun time! It was one of those sets where we really wished we were on stage longer, but for the time that it lasted, it was brilliant.

Like we do at all our shows, it was time to teach them some Kannada, and by the looks of it, that went well too! Well, I am fully loving the new flip cam that I got myself, was shooting from on stage when Raghu was getting started!

We absolutely loved the festival and we’re told, they loved us too :) so we’re certainly looking forward to playing there again next year round.

Catch some of the photos we took of Watts Fest here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=194018&id=22220507136

There wasn’t much time to rest as we had to head out immediately for a long long drive back to London before we set out to play 2 gigs on Sunday. That and more coming up in future updates … watch this space!

BTW - are you a friend of the band on Facebook yet? If not, http://facebook.com/theraghudixitproject - do it right now!

As a musician in London, one of the fun things to do is the “Black Cab Sessions” where you get into a traditional black cab and while it drives you around the streets of London, you sing songs in it! Making this even more special is an awesome film crew that films you doing just this and then puts it up on their website - The Black Cab Sessions

For those of you who have met us, you will know that with all our instruments, there is no possible way to fit all of us into a black cab and while I appreciate that the cabs have so much more room than our Autos back home, it was just a feat we did not want to attempt!

So Raghu and Karthick got into the cab while I stood outside and took photos of the whole thing, except for the driving around London part where, fit as I am, it was too much to ask ;)

But before you write me off for not capturing those ‘moments’, take a look at the picture below which is the expression on the face of the people recording the minute Raghu belted his first note!

The video should be out soon and when it is, we will personally let you know, in the meanwhile, check out other videos at http://blackcabsessions.com

Download Link - July 2010 Calendar

The July Calendar is here! From the lovely London where we are right now - pass this on to everyone you know in the UK and tell them to head to http://raghudixit.com/tour and get to the show closest to them (or the furthest!) and come watch us for sure!

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

Photograph by - Shiv Ahuja (http://shivahuja.com)