Roots Music Festival 08 - Dimapur

Yesterday was our first gig on the tour and we played to a smallish (by the standards here) crowd in Dimapur and it was a really nice gig and a completely new experience for us!

Firstly, it was our first proper gig in the North East, if you discount the Guwahati gig of course but that was in the closed confines of the IIT Guwahati, so this was certainly a first. Also, it was the first time we were playing without a drummer / percussionist since Siva is still traveling on his tour of China and will be joining us from the next show. So it was a really unfamiliar scene that we stepped into!

But the crowd made up for a lot of what we missed from the drums! they were completely brilliant, vocal and they pushed us on and on! and we went with the flow

It was a lovely gig and meeting all the people after the show was definitely one of the highlights of the gig, we managed to sell a few CDs and take lots of photographs and we ended the night with a lovely dinner and jam where some interesting things happened which I shall tell you all about later ..

But the surprise part of the whole night was that it is our guitarist Vijay’s birthday today and we din’t know at all!! but as the clock struck 12 the news leaked out and everyone joined in to sing “Happy Birthday” with Vijay himself playing guitars

The trip has just begun …

PS: All photos taken by the wonderful “Red Bantoo”. All credit to him

Back to the roots!

This is a quick blog post to let you all know that all is well and we are on ‘Roots Music Festival Tour ‘08′ and are having a total blast!

The first show was in Imphal and the tour received a tremendous response! we had about 4000 people in the audience and everyone LOVED it!

The travelling party has moved from Imphal to Dimapur but a few of us stayed back in Kohima today and I recommend this place to each and every one of you!! Atleast once in your life, head to the North East of India, its an experience you will never forget

The band landed in Dimapur a little while back and we will be playing and unplugged set tomorrow and that should be a total blast .. I will post a better update and more pics soon .. but this is to let you all know that all is well and you can expect a TON of stuff from us

Psycho - The Audio Release

The ripples have started showing on radio in Bangalore and quite a few of you have been noticing! So now its time to make it official! Raghu Dixit Productions has ventured into music for Kannada movies and the first movie ‘Psycho’ is finally done and two of the songs (the only two made public) from the soundtrack ‘Mahadeshwara’ and ‘Neene Beku’ have been creating quite a stir we hear

The music will be launched on the 3rd of May at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall at 7 PM by Shivraj Kumar, one of the biggest movie icons in the Kannada movie industry and also by our favourite Bollywood duo Vishal and Shekhar who are flying in exclusively for this launch!

Now the good part of all this … The event is free to attend and we would love it if *ALL* of you can attend this event! If you are in Bangalore on Saturday, you know where you should be … and also, this time round we have given you enough notice

Also, head to the facebook page for the event and RSVP. We are putting up our own little space on the Internet with clips of music from the movie soundtrack that you can sample. Watch of for more Psycho stuff to come

And we loved Kolkotta!

It was a really early flight that took us from our respective homes to Kolkotta and ‘The Park’ where we stayed had things completely sorted for us! everything was smooth sailing and before we could see enough of Kolkotta, we were in our hotel rooms catching up on sleep

The landscape of Kolkotta is drastically changing and there are tons of new buildings coming up all over the place! but we absolutely loved the yellow cabs and the trams that frequent the city. Also, the vintage architecture of the buildings in the heart of the city was a refreshing change to the modern complexes and malls that have sprung up.

We landed for soundcheck and saw that we were well publicized all over the place there and we were promised that playing at “Somplace Else” on a saturday night will be an experience we won’t forget and we certainly did not!

The place itself is quite small but it is a brilliant ambience and it was a series of firsts! It was the first time for us in Kolkotta, the first time in a proper club for us and it was one of the only times a vernacular band has ever played in ‘SomePlace Else’ … All this made it a really special evening in the offing!

After a nice sound check, we headed back for a snooze and then a quick shower and the show started by 10.30PM and for us who come from Bangalore, it is unbelievable that a gig (a full gig) can start at 10.30 and go on past midnight and to top that .. have another band that plays after that! But supposedly, in Kolkotta, thats the norm!!!

The place as promised was filled to the brim with people and there was hardly any space left for us to even get from the door to the stage! But the packed house made it for a very nice gig and it was filled with energy from the word go!

Huge applause to Nitin for getting the sound figured out and to the sound guy from Someplace Else for knowing his stuff when things broke down for a bit during the show.

Thanks everyone for coming in such large numbers and the Park Hotel! One of the finest experiences we’ve had … Our first time at Kolkotta was absolutely stunning and we’d love to get back!

Pictures of the actual show are coming up and if any of you were at the gig and took pics or videos, please put them up somewhere or send them to us .. let us know!

Some Place Else tomorrow

For the first time ever, ‘The Raghu Dixit Project’ will play in Kolkotta, at a venue which has become synonymous with music in India.

We arrive tomorrow in Kolkotta to play at “Somplace Else” and we promise you it shall be a total blast, so get all your friends and come along … We’ll do our best to take you ’someplace else’

So tomorrow, the 26th of April, if you are in Kolkotta, you need to be at SomePlace Else, 9 PM onwards …

This is the official blog entry by SomePlace Else. Check with the venue about exact timings and passes etc.

Putting some ‘Soul’ into the Music

Much has been written about the MySpace launch in Mumbai and how it was one hell of a party, but the twin launch in Pune has been forgotten a little bit. For us, it was one of the best shows we have played at a venue that was really really wonderful!

We landed in Pune after being delayed by almost two hours by one hell of a jam on the highway, and I don’t mean with our instruments!

It was our first time in Pune and infact it was the first time for all 3 bands that played that day. Nitin was in his best spirits as he made us feel welcome in his city

The sound check was run of the mill and I loved the tone I managed to squeeze out of the bass amp that was given to me that day! We had our lunch and it was time to rest and play some mini-golf (which I must admit I am quite good at :P) … did I mention it was a lovely venue?!? … well .. it was!

The show started somewhat on time and it was a brilliant acoustic set by Them Clones that set the tone for the evening. Swarathma followed them and I must say that was the best I’ve seen of them on stage. Both band raised the expectations quite high and we were up next looking at a very very energetic and enthusiastic crowd! The best kind of environment for a performer!

At this time, I should mention our dear friends Rewben Mahsanghwa and his little dynamite of a son ‘Saka’. Raghu calls Rewben “The Heritage Protector” because he embodies all that is good about our culture and heritage. He is a truly inspiring person and an amazing musician who makes all the instruments that he plays! and he plays quite a wide variety of them!

His son Saka is such a bundle of energy! he never stops running around … EVER! and looks like a full on rock star on stage with his shades and super costume!

Together they make music that is so truly amazing! it is simple and pure and from the heart, the one song we heard and played together was called “Lets Beautify” which spoke to the youth about beautifying our culture and going back to the roots. Check out the video clip of us doing part of the song live .. I just found it on youtube! A huge thanks to whoever put that up

The show was brilliant! the sound was fantastic .. and the audience was one of the best we’ve played to .. Now I hope they run to the stores and get our album

On sale in Germany and the MySpace Launch

And another lovely update for all of you … the CD is now on sale in Germany. Go to Amazon.de and grab your copy NOW!!!

We’ve priced it as low as we could and Amazon promises to deliver as soon as you order so it makes for a good combination If you already have a copy, get your friends to buy one, else just buy it for them

In other news, the MySpace launch was a blast! we played a brilliant set and had a tremendous audience and to everyone’s surprise .. we even shot the video for ‘Ambar’!!!! More about that soon …

Keep coming back, the season has just begun and the pot has just begun boiling!

Getting back on track ..

I know its been a long time since I visited this place and you can blame that on the nice long break that we enjoyed (to an extent) with the band and also on “corporate life” which keeps one end tied up

But we’re back on track and we’re letting it rip (in a not so literal kind of way)!

The band is in Mumbai today and we are back at our favourite venue, the Bandra Fort Amphitheatre to play at the launch of MySpace India. The show starts at 6 PM and the line-up is about as good as it can get, so if you are in Mumbai today, your evening is booked!

Or else …

For invites, go over to MySpace and just land up .. from there, we take you to a different place

Before we go on stage - Part Uno

There are those few moments before the band goes on stage to perform that are very tense and filled with nervousness … It happens to the best of us!

What I am talking to you about are the moments slightly before that kicks in! The band is absolutely mental before that, we do a range of things backstage that can only be termed “crazy” at best .. In this category fall quite a few things like the famous ‘RDT’ - the Raghu Dixit Tantrum which deserves a separate blog post about itself ..

So presenting to all of you … The different faces of the band!

Many times, we try to look inconspicuous (knowing that we are the stars and all ..) but there are two things that don’t let us do that … our clothes and our size! but then sometimes, we try to look like people we just can’t even if we try hard … or can we?

Sometimes the attention from the female fans is just way too much to handle … (yea yea .. its our blog .. we can say all this!) and so its required to go undetected. That is when we try a little bit of camouflage! which doesn’t quite work out sometimes ..

At our last gig, we were slightly early for sound-check or rather, the sound-check was a little later for us … since we were there at the allotted time! and it so happened that it was at the Miss Teen India beauty pageant that we decided it was only fair that we exercised our valuable judgement about the competition. And the mother of all coincidences was that there were 5 chairs laid out by the judges table just waiting for us to take our seats!

And we don’t disappoint when there is such expectation we take such jobs a little too seriously actually!

But finally .. the show goes on perfectly and we have only one person to thank for that .. our dear manager! We do have others to thank, but our managers deserve much more credit than they actually get … so this is for our dear management company, “Only Much Louder” .. you guys are the real rockstars! and no wonder .. when you are led by a true specimen such as … Vijay ‘one in a million’-Nair!!

Also .. a very very ‘Happy Birthday’ to our dear friend Shreyas who helped more than anyone else to get the band’s online presence working and for starting the Raghu Dixit Tribe which all of you should absolutely join!

Shreyas - Always remember .. Age doesn’t matter unless you’re cheese!

PS: All credit for the photographs (except for Shreyas’) goes to Mr. Nitin Joshi the Pentax weilding monster! and my good companion for anything related to photography!

Rising up the Charts!!

Thanks to our ever vigilant friends we try to keep ourselves updated with the latest charts from all over .. and we seem to be doing better with every passing week.

We are now at #3 on the Radio Mirchi / Times Music chart which is based on sales at Planet M outlets across the country!!! This means a lot of you are buying the music and I can’t tell you how grateful the band is that you guys are doing that! Once you have bought the music, you should join ‘The Raghu Dixit Tribe’ at once!

Thanks Abhishek Pandey for sending us this info! Do send us more updates as they come!

I also did a quick check at Hummaa dot com, we are beginning to own the chart there. Hey Bhagwan leads the pack by a mile and the first 3 positions are our songs! Thanks to everyone who has been listening to us on Hummaa dot com, I hope you guys have bought the music though!

The band is preparing for a highly gruelling tour that is coming up in less than a month’s time .. so keep your eyes and ears open for that!