SHREYA BOSE
Personally, I consider stumbling upon Red Baraat a
momentous occasion. On an afternoon that was so boring
that I needed NPR Tiny Desk Concerts on autoplay, I came
across a sound that actually lent justice to a word that has
been used to the point of exhaustion : groundbreaking.
While NPR Tiny Desk Concerts certainly feature an eclectic set
of musicians, you do not expect any of them to be playing a dhol.
Naturally, hearing the percussive beat of an instrument that I
have staunchly associated with desi life got my attention. For
the next 17 minutes and 14 seconds, I was a slave to their sound.
Now, I am aware that I sound smitten, but in my defence,
this is an ensemble that pairs a dhol with a trumpet and a
soprano sax. They combine the boisterous, rabble-rousing
vivacity of the Indian wedding band with the sweat-spilling,
breathless exaltation of jazz and the grind of hip-hop.
Fronted by Junoon drummer Sunny Jain, the band’s music
is an invasion. It is impossible to have them playing in the
background. Red Baraat’s sound commands absolute attention.
Missing a single note jars the narrative, as the sonic stories
being told are blinding in their kaleidoscopic diversity.
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The diversity of exposure, however, fermented within
Jain the anxiety that most immigrants must endure. For
diasporic populations, the question of personal identity
is fraught with tension. He admits that “I had difficulty
growing up balancing or intertwining these two sides..”.
Music became a tool for reconciliation. He sought to make
the apparently opposing sides of his childhood align.
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The New York-based octet came into being in 2008. By then,
Sunny Jain was a veteran, having spent 10 years cutting his
teeth into NYC music circles. When inspiration struck, he
already knew the right people to help him create the rampage
that is now Red Baraat’s repertoire. Their intellectual and
emotional bite emerges from Jain’s early experiences. His
father was a founding member of the Jain society of Rochester,
New York in the 70’s, and Jain spent large parts of his childhood
singing bhajans. His mother played cassette tapes and sang as
she went about her day. His father also made a habit of playing
his favourite songs on his harmonium or bulbul tarang. Their
musical diet included Bollywood tracks from the 70’s and 80’s
and Pandit Ravi Shankar’s sitar-based soliloquies. Jain’s heart
gravitated towards the Indian percussive tradition - the tabla,
dholak, dhol and nagada. But thanks to his older siblings,
he got his fill of Western music, especially classic rock.
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Picture Courtesy:Mark Jaworski