About
The Raghu Dixit Project is a multilingual contemporary folk-rock and world-music band from Bengaluru, formed by singer-composer Raghu Dixit around 2006. Often described as an open house for musicians from different genres, the band performs primarily in Kannada, Hindi and Tamil, setting the poetry of mystic and folk poets to a fluid blend of folk, rock, blues, reggae and Sufi influences.
Raghu Dixit, a microbiology gold-medallist and trained Bharatanatyam dancer turned self-taught musician, formed The Raghu Dixit Project in Bengaluru in the mid-2000s after his earlier band Antaragni. Their debut album (2007) became one of the highest-selling non-film albums of its year and topped the iTunes World Music chart in the UK, and the follow-up Jag Changa (2013) deepened their reputation. Widely regarded as a pioneer of independent and vernacular music in India, the band has performed around the world, from Glastonbury and the Cambridge Folk Festival to Windsor Castle, and Dixit is also a prominent Kannada-cinema composer.
The artistry
Fronted by Raghu Dixit, on stage in a lungi and ghungroo with a Carnatic violin on one side and an electric guitar on the other, the band turned vernacular Indian folk into joyous, danceable folk-rock. Singing in his own languages the words of mystic poets from his land, Dixit helped create a genre and a template for singing proudly in regional tongues, and the band's warm, high-energy live shows have travelled from Indian festivals to Glastonbury and Later... with Jools Holland.
[Atlas Perspective] The Raghu Dixit Project is arguably India's most internationally recognised contemporary folk act, combining artistic credibility with wide, joyful appeal. For festivals and events wanting a vernacular-rooted band with a global track record, they are a top-tier choice.
The Raghu Dixit Project helped create the space for contemporary Indian folk and vernacular-language music in the independent-music mainstream, showing that songs in Kannada and other Indian languages, drawn from mystic and folk poetry, could win national and international audiences. It inspired a generation of artists to sing proudly in their own tongues.