AnodetoRaghu Dixit

Voice fragrantwith the earth, rumbling W<e rivers in spate, soft as flowers,loudas thundersinging of people, villages,cities of India, highs and lows, of the ordinary andthe exalted,a voice like none other.

\Xfhen I first heard the earthy, powerful voice of Raghu Dixit,I was in delighted shock. This happens tOme when I come across rare phenomena like RD,which is what I will call him the restofthe way for ease. Another such voice is Kailash Kher. Butmore on that some other time.

Raghupati Dwarakanath Dixit, was born on 11November,1974. His music is a mix of ethnic Indian folk and styles from aU over the world. The main artist of die Raghu Dixie Project,he is married coMayuri Upadbya,artistic direcror ofa contemporary dance group, ritarutya.

Ihave heard his music for the past six years or sowith an almostdesperate dream cosomehow watch him perform live along with his troupe. I tried to dothis more than a couple of times in Bangalore,which is where he performs quite often.lewasn't tobe.

Finally, thanks tothe Confluence Festival of India in Australia, I witnessedit all, jumping andsingingalongwiththe crowd, andmy littledaughter next to me, atthe large open-air stage at Elder Park.

'Lokada Kalaji'had everyone memorising tl1e chorus at the behest of

RD,while 'Jag Changa'badmost of us gettingwobbly-kneed from all the jumping up and down. 'Anuna' tugged at the heart strings while 'Para Shivana', 'Mysore se aayi'and others had everyone asking for more.

Cladin ethnic shirrs ofthin handloom cotton, lungis and dancing bells,in the case ofRD,the bandappeals toevery sense.

\Y/e gotpies and bought CDs andeven now our daily music fixin the car is his.

The neJ(tday saw me back at the Ukiyo Tent to watch andcover the Piya Behrupia Hindi play, a translation of Shakespeare's T1JJelftbNight, again a part of the Confluence festival.

I tl1oughtI saw RD sittingand looking at his mobile phone, and before I was sure,he lookedstraight at me and beckoned, asking me tositnext tohim, with his wholetroupe.

With a slightly raisedheartbeat, Iwent and sat with them!

This took the e."Xperiencehigher by many norcbes,since Icould see how impressed be was with the music, hilarious dialogue and the whole play itself

As bonus, I gotto char with him in the breaks. I came to learn he is working on the music of six Indian films, two of them for Bollywood.

His journey tomusic was different from most. He was a sciemistin Belgium and atthe behest of friends,and, forsure, an inner calling,he madehis way backto India. He rooksometime togethis first break in Mumbai. Just when he began to think he hadmade a big mistake, following his passion for music,he hit the big time. There has been nolooking back after the release ofhis fine album by VishalShekhar in 2010, which reachednumber one onthe iTunes worldmusiccharts in the UK.

TheRaghu DixitProjecttravels incessantly and along with Raghu Dixit's foray into the film worlds ofvarious stares of India,his band now playsregularly, rouring India and theglobe.

SunilaVig