The Indian singer-songwriter and guitarist Raghu Dixit was in town with his band the Raghu Dixit Project last week at CentralWorld, as part of the ongoing Festival of India. The Bangalore-based musician is also a well-known producer and film score composer. He was voted "Best Newcomer" in the 2011 Songline magazine music awards.
Born in then-Bombay in 1974, Dixit is a self-taught guitarist and singer, although he studied Indian classical dance in his youth. He studied microbiology to postgraduate level but as far as I'm aware has never had a career in that field. Music seems to have been an attraction and in particular the diversity of Indian traditional and folk music which turns up in his music, along with elements from different Western styles like rock and jazz. In several interviews he has said that culture, music and even food changes every 200km in India — he takes these different styles and adds them to the mix.
Listening to some of the tracks from his two albums — his self-titled debut in 2008 and Jag Changa in 2013 — you can hear all these influences coalescing into a unique sound over which Dixit's voice soars. And I have to say that it was his singing that got me interested in checking out his stage show.
The Thai indie band Cocktail took to the stage first as the support act. Dixit followed with a four-piece outfit (drums, very funky bass, flute and the main man). He jumped on stage with ankle bells as well as his guitar and proceeded to perform a set that featured some rousing singing and up-tempo foot-tapping rhythms. Dixit has such a natural and easy-going stage presence and he works the crowd as well as anyone I've seen — getting people up off their seats to dance at the front of the stage and gently admonishing those sitting down glued to their iPhones and iPads to put them away and join the party.
He played songs from his albums, some of them were clearly favourites with Indian members of the audience who all joined in with the dancing. He mentioned that several of the songs were dedicated and inspired by Shishunala Sharif, a saint and poet from Karnataka state. I was very impressed with his singing, especially when he reached the upper limits of his range, soaring over the music.
And this was all done as video screens advertising what looked like skin cream flashed behind the stage and the bumper-to-bumper traffic of Ratchaprasong throbbed in accompaniment. Playing an open-air concert in the middle of one of Bangkok's busiest intersections is tough for both performers and their audience. But artists like Raghu Dixit don't let that bother them; he was easily able to communicate everybody and he drew in a sizeable crowd by his third or fourth song. I really enjoyed the set and I would like to see him play here again in Thailand, perhaps at one of the festivals that seem to be sprouting up everywhere. Music promoters and event planners, please take note.
You can also hear Dixit's music on movie soundtracks. His debut soundtrack, in the Kannada-language for the Bangalore film industry was for the film Psycho (no, not the one by director Alfred Hitchcock) and his first Hindi-language soundtracks was for the Bollywood hit Mujhse Fraandship Karoge in 2011. You can probably find some of these hot movies down in Phahurat in Chinatown at shops like Sunny Video.
Dixit's international career took off in 2011 and since then he has played many of the world's great festivals like Glastonbury. He performed for Queen Elizabeth II as part of the Diamond Jubilee Pageant marking the 60th year since her accession to the throne in 1952. He continues to perform all over India and one hopes, after his debut in Bangkok, we'll get to see him perform here again. Visit www.raghudixit.com or more information.
This columnist can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com
