Picture Courtesy:Mark Jaworski
“Having seen brass bands in the streets of India
during childhood visits, I wanted to meld those sounds
with the American sounds of funk, jazz, go-go, hip-
hop, rock that I grew up with as well. For me, music
serves as a bridge for the two cultures I grew up with,
the Indian culture and American culture….”
Red Baarat’s music reflects the tapestry of Jain’s influences,
much of which clearly hails from the time he spent with
Junoon. He played with celebrated tabla player Pt. Samit
Chatterjee, translating Hindustani classical rhythms to the
structure and texture of a drumset. His span as a freelance
jazz musician in NYC and his role in the world’s first Indian
Broadway show, Bombay Dreams have given him with a
predilection for taking the familiar and infusing it with
unpredictable, sometimes alien flavour. For instance “Halla
Bol” and “Mast Kalandar” from their album Shruggy Ji
convert time-tested rhythms into aural carnivals worthy
of the Roaring Twenties. One could wager anything that
if he witnessed Red Baraat, F. Scott Firtzgerald would
have been reminded of the words he used to describe jazz,
“blasphemous syncopatio n issued in a delirious blend from
the trombones and saxophones” (Tales of the Jazz Age)
In spite of the apparently disparate natures of the genres that
Red Baraat chose, they mingle with the ease of old lovers. Songs
like “Sialkot”, “Zindabad” and “Bhangale” are particularly
good examples of primal melding between sounds that took
birth on opposite shores of entire oceans. Jain encapsulates this
quality, which one could accurately consider their signature,
by explaining the mindset that drives his artistic pursuit:
“Through the historical study of traditions and people
through the world, it’s easy to view culture as something
static, but it’s always fluid. If one strips away the notion
of classification or categorization, then the idea of culture
and musical genres becomes inconsequential. Things
just are. Red Baraat is simply a reflection of the world
we all live in; diverse, complex and changing daily.”
Members of Red Baarat do not have an easy life. They play
about a hundred shows a year. A glimpse at their website will
reveal concerts booked from Texas to Slovenia. At home, Jain
spends time outside Red Baarat with scores of other projects
: Resident Alien with Pakistani singer Ali Sethi and Tongues
in Trees (indie, experimental rock) with singer Samita Sinha
and guitarist Grey Mcmurray among them. Amidst days
spent composing and practicing, he also manages to run a
Picture Courtesy:Mark Jaworski
South Asian wedding booking agency (www.jainsounds.
com) which books live music for about 30 events a year.
Despite channeling the ethos and energy of the Indian wedding
party band, Red Baarat, like the architects of all good art, has
not shied away from political statement. Their latest album
South The People is a call of comfort and support to South Asian
diasporic communities. It addresses issues of migration and
exhorts listeners to remember that “despite religious, regional
or nationalistic identities, we as South Asians still share a
common thread.” In light of the charged rhetoric of the last
American presidential election, the words of their song “Sound
the People. Together we sound, together we down, together we
frown, forever we brown” becomes as relevant as every breath
taken by every immigrant in every part of this little blue dot.
“We ALL are “brown” and are immigrants to the States. We
ALL are dealing with an inept political administration. We
ALL are together in the highs and lows. Let’s move forward, not
through anger but through love and let our voices be heard.”
The boys of Red Baraat pour in their lives when they play.
They are perfect symbols for the impossible resolve with
which humans insist on continuing to live. No matter the
viciousness of circumstance that befalls it, existence refuses to
cease. Colour, life, joy and beauty refuse to disappear. Having
revealed this fact to much of the world, they are now looking
towards India. Jain minces no words in his eagerness. “NH7,
if you’re reading this, we wanna play at your festival!!!”
NPR called them the “best party band in years”. They
chose “Red” for their name to convey the characteristics
of energy, passion and rebellion, elements that inform
the very marrow of their music. They encapsulate
exuberance in way that is so uncommon that you never
expect them. No matter what platform you discover them
on for the first time, you will never see them coming.
If you have read this far, and have the time to trust the
words of a stranger, find Red Baraat, and you will invite
hope into your life. When a dhol beats to the unscripted
rhythmic beatitude of jazz, you will abandon your illusions
of separation. There is beauty in making opposites meet, and
when contrary customs fall in love, you get to bask in the
faith that drove Allen Ginsberg’s strangled plea in Howl:
““Follow your inner moonlight, don’t hide the madness.”
Lucky for us, Red Baraat’s sound is impossible to hide.
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
31