Norway is a beautiful place and everywhere you look could be your desktop wallpaper or some post card you are sending back home! And after a really long journey, where we did Bangalore – Bombay (layover) – London (layover) – Oslo – Alesund and that was close to 24 hours of sitting in planes and airports, we stepped out into the crisp cold air of the Alesund airport and it was like magic! We snapped out of whatever jetlag and tiredness there was and there was even a spring in our step.

A short ride to our hotel, the Quality Waterfront, by the bay where there was possibly the biggest ship we have seen in our lives, the MS Queen Elizabeth parked right outside. And that, I think was a sure sign of how much fun we were to have and how much of our time would be in or beside the water!

We had just about enough time to put our bags into the room when Kristin, our hostess for the trip was all set to take us on our first boat trip of the weekend. A short trip to the Alnes lighthouse where there was dinner arranged for us, which was a healthy mix of Norwegian, Spanish and Japanese food, with an extra emphasis on sea food caught from the Norwegian seas, and a healthy overdose of beer and wine, which was served in a boat!

All the artists playing at the festival were at the lighthouse and it was the perfect way to break the ice (pardon the pun) and set the perfect vibe for the festival. The festival is about a bunch of friends / volunteers that come and hold a free music festival for over 30,000 people, where the artists go and play for free, and everyone does their bit for free. And the ‘bunch of friends’ vibe was set beautifully at the dinner and it also, in my opinion, set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

After chatting with almost everyone there, eating some fantastic seafood, drinking a LOT of beer, and then at one point, even climbing the light house, we were all whisked off in our van to the hotel to retire for the night!

The next morning was when we went and checked out Ocean Sound Recordings, one of the coolest places we have seen EVER! and it was a studio, like their website says, at the end of the world, in an absolute stunning location and had some of the most fantastic equipment available and a kickass room to record in!

We had lunch there and it was then a nice long walk along the Norwegian coastline for us to head to the festival. Now, let me put this in perspective for you. All of Giske, the town the festival happens in, has about 7000 people, thats an average housing complex in India now a days, and in that town of Giske, there is an island of population about, 700 people, where the actual site of the festival is. This island is so small, that there are no shops on the island. You have beautiful landscape and houses with incredible views.

So considering this, you must know that Norwegians are not really used to crowds. So when 35,000 people turn up for a free festival, on this island, it is a sight to be seen! And this year, they did!

The music started by 2 in the afternoon, and when we reached there, after our long walk, it was time for the memorial. There was a really touching memorial organized at the festival for all the victims of the horrid things that had just rocked Norway a week back. All artists at the festival contributed in some way, and the memorial was closed by Fran Healy, of Travis, singing ‘Sing’ with the entire crowd holding up red heart banners to show their solidarity. For each Norwegian there, considering it is a small place, where everyone we met knew someone or atleast someone who knew someone who was affected by the blasts, it was a special and touching moment.

We got on stage without wasting too much time and after a quick set up, it was time for us to launch into our music and like someone told us after our set, our ‘happy’ music was the best thing to go on after the memorial.

Raghu started with Hey Bhagwan, dedicating it to Norway, with a little prayer to the powers above to help Norway carry on through the tough time and for everyone affected, a second lease of life. We were to only play 4 more, so we breezed through Gudugudiya, and then dropped it down a bit for ‘No Man will ever love you, Like I do’ dedicated to our lovely hostess, Kristin who was seen jumping around making sure everyone she knows (and she knows a LOT of people) know that it was her we were referring to.

We then played ‘Kodagana Koli Nungitha’ before we ended with the “party song”, Mysore se Aayi, where we had everyone on their feet dancing to their heart’s content. A sight to be seen, and hopefully, we will have video evidence of it to show!

We were overwhelmed at the fantastic response and a huge thanks to everyone who came to watch and for everyone who made this trip possible!

The rest of the festival was quite amazing, with some of the best talent in Norway on display including Lars Vaular, Nils Petter Molvær, Susanne Sundfør and Morten Abel. And people stayed back, till 2 in the morning to listen, and enjoy themselves thoroughly.

But the trip din’t end there for us. We had a whole day ahead and some fantastic experiences in store. At noon, after having been given enough time to recover from the previous night, and then put on 3 big boats, and driven an hour into the fjords to the home of Severin and Lene, who stay in the most serene and picturesque surroundings I’ve ever seen.

To add to the awesomeness that was already too much to handle, our food was slow cooked in the earth! it was spiced and wrapped in the morning and was buried in the garden, with some hot stones over it it to let it slow cook in the heat and the pressure. And it tasted out of this world! And many of us were seen licking all the bowls clean and making sure all the little pieces were all wiped clean!

The place itself is an experience and it was with a heavy heart and heavier stomachs, that we headed back to our hotel, only to be promptly reminded that it was time to head for dinner. And not just any dinner, it was at the Atlanterhavsparken Aquarium where there was a special 3 course meal laid out for us, specially cooked for the occasion. And with it a Jam where most artists at the festival came on and did some special songs.

It was finally time to head back to our hotels, catch some well deserved sleep and wrap up any work we had online, and even squeeze some more sight seeing and then head to the airport for our flight back to London, where we will be based for the next 15 days.

But in the meanwhile, I don’t think any of this will be erased from our minds anytime soon.

Thanks Ante and Brent for all that you do, to Kristin and Anne May, the funnest girls we met, thanks for showing us an awesome time! and to Mette, for the fantastic person that you are!

A special thank you to Fran, Nora and to the amazing Clay, you guys are such humble people and after all that you have achieved, it is an ideal we hope to follow

And to Norway, you stole our hearts at the first glance, and now I don’t see how we can wait too long before we come back. In the words of the Terminator, “We’ll be back!”

It was a nice and easy start to the day where we finished our breakfast and reached Hitchin just after lunch. The bright sun bathed the beautiful festival grounds in the middle of the most quaint town in a warm glow and made the vibrant colours of revelry in the festival look incredible!

There were bursts of rain, but that didn’t dampen anyone’s spirit. It was fascinating to watch people just pull out their umbrellas and collectively wish the clouds away and as if they had no other option, the clouds moved along, making the vibe just … perfect!

Its not easy being a headlining act when you are sitting back stage and seeing how well each act is being received, there is that little bit of extra pressure to ensure that you live up to your slot! The same set gets elevated by a tiny notch!

The backstage crew took extra special care of us, and before we knew it, it was for us to get on stage and move an entire stage backline up there and do a line check, all in 15 mins. Please do bear in mind, this is everything from the drums to the amps to everything! For people in India, that is what our sound guys usually take a good 3 hours to do at our shows back home!

We managed some sort of a line check, and then a quick ‘hope it goes well’ wish to the powers above, and we were on! Halfway through the first song, it was just sounding magical on stage! the stage sound guys and Gary at the helm were milking every bit of juice from the sound system in place that night and I can only imagine how beautiful it was outside!

Raghu was his charming best, holding each and every audience members hand and taking them along with us on this crazy journey of a show. Gudugudiya, with Bhaskar’s touch on the violin just gently stirs your soul, just as Raghu’s heart and soul in ‘No Man will ever love you, like I do’ just tugs at the strings of your heart, the crowd joins in to make ‘Lokada Kalaji’ a beautiful experience, we all go jumping along to ‘Mumbai’, all of us rock out to ‘Kodagana Koli Nungitha’ and before you know it, we are 40 mins into our set and ready to play ‘Har Saans Mein’.

Raghu Dixit Project at Rhythms of the World!

The stage manager orchestrates an encore for us and in what must be the loudest ‘ONCE MORE!’ that we have heard in a while, we are delirious back stage! We came back out to play an insane version of ‘Mysore se Aayi’ which had the entire field jumping along and suddenly, it was done.

But I can guarantee that we haven’t felt that good after a gig in a while as well. Our first time headlining, was clearly a resounding success. Our dear friends, the Twilight Players, who run Hitchin (or so we were told) were absolute stars for coming in the most formal of attires, straight from a wedding, driving across the county and then taking us for a fantastic Indian meal!

By the time we tumbled into our van and headed back to London, there was a feeling of calm and a smile on each of our faces for another magical night on the road!

Like the good book says, ‘Heaven is a touring musician!’

PS: Thanks a ton, Srini, for all the help and for these fantastic pictures!

When we got the call to play at Glastonbury, and not just at any stage, but the super cool ‘John Peel Stage’, we were overjoyed. But our management in the UK did not have enough, they used that as leverage and booked us for 4 other stage performances, one audio recording and 2 TV appearances / interviews and a whole load of press and people to meet! This way, we knew for a fact that there was no boredom ever entering our minds throughout the fest.

We arrived on site by 4PM and it took us over an hour to get all our access sorted out and passes for everything and then, by the time we were done with finding our instruments and clothes a safe haven, we were asked to load stage equipment into the Glastonbury van and then walk to the venue.

The continuous rain over the entire week meant that the site was filled with sticky mud sludge, which regulars said was commonplace, but for us, was nothing like we had ever seen before. Imagine this – 200,000 people, with about 75% of them camping on site, all in their wellies, on a HUGE field that is filled with sludge. No really, imagine that. That is Glastonbury when you first step there.

For a first time visitor, it turns out, Glastonbury is as confusing as it is big, and the funny part was, no one on site seemed to know where the stage we were playing our first show was at. To cut a long story short, while all of us were running helter skelter trying to find the venue, and Gary, our tour manager trying to get our equipment to the stage Raghu was already at stage (since he arrived on site the preivous day) and had to do the show solo because we couldn’t get our equipment to the stage on time

But that running around meant that we knew every single nook and corner of the festival site and on the first night, a few of us stayed back to watch U2, while the rest of us went off site, to a dorm that we found at the last minute to crash! If you haven’t been camping before, like us, then I don’t think Glastonbury is the best place for a first time, especially if its raining!

By the next morning, we thanked our stars for choosing the dorm and headed back to the site, ready to take on a really busy day! At 9AM, the Glastonbury festival site looks like it is the set of ‘Braveheart’ – like a 100,000 soldiers just went to sleep after battle! But we had a major battle ahead – getting to our venue on time

Our first job was to record at the ‘Cowshed Studio‘ for the Cowshed Compilation album that was going to be auctioned as a limited release of a 100 box sets to raise money for charity. We did our brand new version of Gudugudiya Sedi Nodo with Bhaskar on the violin ripping it! The ‘Cowshed Studio’ was the one dry, non-muddy, quiet corner of Glastonbury and was equipped with such fancy equipment, that it was a pleasure recording there!

Following that, we just did a quick hop skip and jump to the Croissant Neuf, the solar powered tent for our show in the evening. A relaxing break and we were on stage to a sizeable crowd, and started belting our set out, when suddenly, the PA goes blank at the end of ‘Mysore se Aayi’. A short break where we engage the crowd with whatever we can, and the power comes back, and it was smooth sailing from there on.

We had finished early on Saturday and it was time to go check out the rest of the festival including Coldplay, who were headlining the Pyramid stage.

Sunday morning was the big one, our show on the ‘John Peels Stage’, our TV recording for BBC 2, and then our last set at Glastonbury at the Leftfield stage. We were at the venue well ahead of time, some of us even got massages before we were ready to go on stage, and then the moment arrived, it was time to go play on what I think is the most prestigious stage we have played on in a while.

An entire Indian indie contingent was waiting in the flanks watching us and we began on a fantastic note. But as luck would have it, half way through the first song, and in what feels like DejaVu now, the PA goes blank, and not just that, there is a massive power failure on stage and everything goes blank a second later. This certainly doesn’t happen too often at Glastonbury, so the engineers go running around to quickly bring things back to order. And after what seems like eternity, we are back!

The rest of the set went through in a daze, it was quite overwhelming to be playing there and the fantastic audience that we had at noon on a Sunday, like Vijay Nair mentions, 20 who turned into 2000 at the end of it, had a big part to play in tiding us over.

Right after our set at the John Peels Stage, it was time for Raghu, Bhaskar and Vijay to head to the BBC studio that was set up on site for a video recording, and only when they reached there and were about to start, were they told that it was going live to all of the BBC’s viewers in the UK, just a couple of million people, no pressure! But they were stunning and going by the tweets we saw after that, it made a huge impact, inspite of Raghu wearing his Kurta inside out on National TV!

For those of you in the UK – watch the song at 9 mins on this video on iPlayer – http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012bs4z/Glastonbury_2011_Paul_Simon

The last set of the night was at Billy Bragg’s Leftfield stage where I think we had our best set of the night. It was a perfect set, the energy, the vibe, the sound, it was all perfect! and it did help that we did not blow any fuses :p

The perfect was to end what was a fantastic festival. Our first time at Glastonbury and I don’t know how to not ramble on and on about how fantastic it was. From the brilliant artists we met to the experience itself. Nothing I say will come close to describing how cool it was, you have to have to go experience it for yourself.

Check out pictures of the festival on the official Glastonbury site – Friday | Saturday | Sunday

Also check out some of the fantastic press coverage we got, to be mentioned in a festival review that had over 200 artists performing is quite something! – Caspar Llewelyn from the Guardian | The Independent | Adam Sloan

I’ll skip all the boring details about our travel and how we got to Delhi, and go straight to about 7.30 PM on that Saturday night. We were sitting in the cafe near the IHC’s amphitheatre after having finished our sound check and were all set to go on stage after Menwhopause (who played a fantastic set!). The crowd when we were done with sound check was about 50 people that had grown to about 300 by the time the evening started.

When we came out after changing, what we saw was quite mad! I don’t know the actual count and I don’t know if I should venture a guess, but many IHC regulars tell us it was the most packed they had EVER seen the IHC … EVER!

We started with our regular set and the response we got when we just started was nothing short of incredible. The place was filled and it was as noisy as noisy can be. What was incredible to us was that everyone was singing along to our songs, and the vibe was just right.

From there we moved on to playing some of our new songs, taking everyone along for a fun ride with us, there was screaming, dancing, wild cheering and LOTS of photographers.Infact, every photographer I met was thrilled to see Mr. Raghu Rai, taking photos of the gig more than anything else!

In all, it was a magical night and I don’t think anyone who was there that night will forget it in a hurry. Thanks to EVERY SINGLE one of you who came and a special thanks to all the photographers for making sure we’ll never forget that night. And to Vimlendu and the Swecha Foundation for all that you guys do!

Please do check photos shot by Mayank Sharma, Achyut Hatimuria, Harshit Vishwakarma and everyone else on our Facebook Page. And here is a quick glimpse of how things went down that night

But today, we have some amazing news to share!

WE WON THE BEST NEWCOMER AWARD as awarded by Songlines Magazine!

And with no delays, here is the announcement video -

Its been 13 years since I started my music career and this is really my first ever award as a musician that I have won and for it to be an international award and recognition from the world’s premier music magazine, Songlines, is an amazing honour.

I thank all my fans who voted and got us into the last final nominations and then to the final jury members to have considered me worth for this award. To be counted as a winner with the likes of Afrocubism, Femi Kuti and Bellowhead is a dream come true for me.

When I started this journey to break into international music scene, a couple of years ago, I was very sure we would win over audiences no matter where we play but for us to achieve so much so soon is an incredible feat and, for that, I must thank and credit my managers Paul Knowles and Robert Horsfall. This award is a testimonial of a lot of hard work, strategic planning, execution, team work, perseverance and a lot of sacrifices.

I would like to thank Gaurav Vaz for being the pillar of strength and my manager in India and to all the amazing musicians who make me sound good whenever we get on the stage.

I also thank several evangelists who came out of nowhere and have been there for me at the right place at the right time when I needed them most. Finally I thank Vishal n Shekhar and Vijay Nair who kick started this journey for me in India.

More than a personal victory for me, I hope this award will mean a lot for the independent music scene of India, triggering an international interest towards the amazing independent music scene and the beautiful side of my country  waiting to be discovered by the world.

Thanks to Simon and everyone at Songlines for this great honour and all the support you’ve given me through this journey.

We can’t be more grateful to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU who made this happen, we always believed that we had the best fans in the world and now we have proof! A HUGE round of thanks also to EVERYONE at Songlines for the recognition, we’ve been doing this for more than a decade now, but it takes people like you guys to make all that we do worth its while!

So on the 1st of January this year, we played to about 2000 screaming fans outside the Garuda Mall in Bangalore, a place that is MOST DEFINITELY NOT meant for a live concert, but amidst all the sound glitches and everything, Jude and Gauri, who had come along, saw something they thought would work for a collaborative project at the Southbank Center. And in what I am told, is a first ever, that night, the intent to go through with this project was expressed and basic plans laid out!

At that point, I don’t think any of us knew what was going to happen!

We went off on our trip to America, and when we were back, had a big set back with both our violinists not being able to make the trip to the UK. Some frantic calls and ‘jugaad’ meant that we got one of the most senior Indian violinists in the UK, Violin Chandru sir to agree to perform with us.

Next step – Visas – and this time, Raghu had run out of blank pages on his passport and with 15 days left to travel, we were faced with the prospect of getting a new passport for Raghu and then apply for our visas which we were late for already! But a combination of luck, smart thinking, compassionate officers and divine intervention meant that we got a brand new passport and were set to apply 2 days later. From there, it was Tasneem who saw us through and we are eternally grateful she did!

With visas in our hand at the last possible moment, we boarded our flights and set foot once again in London.

With the amazing Judith Bowdler from the Southbank Center handling all logistics, we were promptly picked up and whisked away to a fantastic hotel in Waterloo and all set to start what would end up being the collaboration of our lives!

The first day’s meeting with members from the Southbank Center, British Council, Gauri Sharma Tripathi and Bellowhead was a good discussion that involved everything from Indian food to the London Weather and in the middle of that, how we decided to do 5 songs as collaborations 4 days later, I still don’t know!

The first day of the collaborative workshop was a total eye opener for us. We spent the first session jamming amongst ourselves to get Chandru Sir up to speed on the songs he was playing and then Andy and Brendan from Bellowhead came in and we just jammed and the first song that we did, we had goosebumps listening to how amazing the trumpet and the saxophone sounded with our music!

3 days of jamming went by in the blink of an eye and we were incredibly proud of what we came up with, and also, I don’t think we were this excited about a gig for a long time. To add to that, we got news that our album was Number 1 on the iTunes UK World music charts and was the highest climber on the Amazon Music Charts, we were just speechless.

At 8PM on that Friday night, as we walked out on to stage, we were overwhelmed to see the packed hall, for after all, it was the Queen Elizabeth Halll, one of the most prestigious halls in London! And I think we played our tightest set ever! Just like that, everything came together and it was just perfect. The Hall, the crowd, the sound, the lights, the music, the collaboration, everything was spot on!

We weaved through Raghu’s solo – Soruthihudu Maneya Maligi with Andy playing the muted Trumpet and from there into an expanded version of Hey Bhagwan with the entire horn section, and then some stuff by ourselves, to the percussionist, Pete’s solo on ‘Lokada Kalaji’ to the song of the night, Kodagana Koli Nungitha with the horn section taking it to a whole new level! Infact, at the end of 2 and a half hours of playing, we repeated that song for the encore!

After that it was just a blur of activity with everyone coming over to say how much they enjoyed themselves and how fun it was, making all of it worthwhile!

A BIG BIG thank you from all of us in the band to Tasneem and the British Council, India, to Jude Kelly and everyone at the Southbank Center, especially to Judith Bowdler for making it happen and for making it so comfortable for us. Thanks to the fantastic guys from Bellowhead, you guys were incredible! and to Chandru sir, for coming in and making it all complete!

We received some incredible reviews in the press, including Akin Aworan, who is an incredible photographer himself assuring us a Grammy very soon, to a 4 star review in the Guardian by Robin Denselow to Jane Cornwell in the Evening Standard assuring us of International stardom!

Thanks to everyone who came, who spread the word about the gig and who continue to spread the word about the band. Go on to Youtube and look for videos from this show and also please do check out some fantastic pictures of us playing at the gig by Akin Aworan.

Looking forward to meeting a whole bunch of you on the 15th!

The folks from the Kennedy Center had come to India and we were on their ‘recommended’ artist list. One night in Bangalore, we put together a hurried showcase for them and the deal was through. This was close to 2 years back.

At that time, it just seemed too distant to think about it! In the last quarter of 2009, when we were asked if we are free to perform in March 2011, in Washington DC, we did not know it would turn out to be this amazing!

The biggest hurdle for any artist traveling from India to anywhere in the West to perform is the visa and we had that sorted out for us because of the Kennedy Center’s prompt and efficient handling. The visas themselves were a breeze to get and by the time it was time to travel to the US, we were neck deep in so much work, that no one even realized it! In fact, we headed to the airport to catch our flights just as soon as we finished playing to about 20,000 people in Jayanagar for the Shivratri Celebrations that ended at 2 AM.

After a long long flight where we managed to get ‘some’ rest, we landed in Washington DC via London and were greeted by the very enthusiastic Ali, Girish and Vishesh who had driven down from New York and were ready for us at the airport. A scheduling problem with the cabs that were supposed to pick us up meant that we had to quickly hail cabs and head to our hotel which was a block away from the White House!

Jet Lag was a term that we had only heard in the past, but that night, our bodies were so used to the weather and the time in India, that none of us slept a wink! We woke up early the next morning and headed out on our rounds of Washington DC, where we passed the White House, which the whole band did not believe was the White House, their image of the White House largely being defined by ‘Independence Day‘

Maximum India @ The Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center’s India focus festival ‘Maximum India’ was the corner stone of our short US tour. And this was where it all began. We landed up at the Millennium stage at the Kennedy Center just after lunch on Friday and with the expert help of the technical crew and some great resourcefulness, set up sound quite quickly!

A bit of a breather and we were on, to perform for the first ever time in the US of A.

It turned out to be quite an incredible performance, with close to a 1000 people getting together, packed into the long foyer that the Millennium stage was part of. I think everyone came prepared for a prim and proper concert before we changed their plans. Raghu was at his cajoling best, getting the audience to get off their seats, loosen their ties, and jump and dance and sing and scream along with us. And as you see below, we did quite well

You can watch the whole concert in the Kennedy Center Archives – http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=M4507

We got some really nice mentions in the press and kind words by people about the performance and I think we sowed the seeds for a much bigger US tour to come in the near future.

Ali and Girish, our US Management representatives, and Vishesh, their friend who had come along from New York were completely thrilled at the CD sales we managed that night :p It was a fantastic start to what would become a really memorable tour.

It was only after lunch that the first batch of us decided to head off to Tumkur and start the set up there. And it was quite a set up. This was one hell of a HUGE stage, a 100 feet in width and 60 feet in depth, this was almost a site for an apartment to be constructed! Shiv, who was seeing all these things for the first time, had never seen a stage this big and was quite shocked!

So how do you estimate the size of a crowd? How many people is 10,000? and how many is 20,000? can you tell when you look at a crowd? I use a simple technique, of actually counting up to 10 people, seeing how much of a chunk that is, then doubling that to see how much of the crowd 20 people is, and so on to a 100. Then you double that, and go to 1000 and then you start to get a fair estimate.

That day, I’d say the crowd was anywhere between 25,000 and 30,000!

The heartening thing was this – we were scheduled to end the show, and we did, but if you know shows in Bangalore and the rest of India for that matter, live music shuts down at 10PM. So we expected to go on at about 8PM and were ready at the venue by then. But things stretched on and one thing led to another and one performance lead to another speech and a dance and a mimicry set and by the time we went on stage there it was about 11PM that night.

That was when I counted! Over 25,000 people had stayed back to watch our show and there were not going to budge till we were done! and we were not going to disappoint them!

We started with ‘Neenae Beku’, an out and out rock song that Raghu composed for one of his movies here in Karnataka and from the word go, we had Tumkur on its feet. They danced with us, jumped with us and even sang with us! We ran through most of the regular set, inserting some more of Raghu’s Kannada movie songs as the set went along and the crowd was lapping it up!

We ended way after midnight with Mr. Somashekhar, the DC, joining us on stage to do a small song and dance routine along with us on ‘Ninna Poojege Bande Mahadeshwara’ and if Raghu’s guitar string hadn’t cut mid way through that song, we might have gone on and on!

We ended the show and just barely avoided being mobbed as we went to the DC’s house for an excellent ‘plantain leaf’ dinner before we headed back to Bangalore.

What a way that was to end one of the most grueling series of gigs we’ve played in India.

Photos again by the fantastic Shiv Ahuja and if you notice this time, I insisted that he shoots and gives me atleast some pictures in colour!