About
Red Baraat is a pioneering band from Brooklyn, New York. Conceived by dhol player Sunny Jain, the group has drawn worldwide praise for its singular sound, a merging of hard driving Punjabi rhythms with elements of hip-hop, jazz and raw punk energy. Created with no less a purposeful agenda than manifesting joy and unity in all people, Red Baraat’s spirit is worn brightly on its sweaty and hard-worked sleeve. The band’s 2017 NPR Tiny Desk Concert is touted as the #8 top performance of all time by New York Magazine.
“The best party band in years”
Red Baraat has toured the globe the past 15 years with stops at Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Bumbershoot, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD festivals (Australia, New Zealand, Spain, UK), Dubai World Expo 2021, just to name a few. Along the way they sold out rooms as diverse as the Luxembourg Philharmonic and the New York City’s legendary rock club Bowery Ballroom, and performed at the request of The White House (Obama), TED, London Olympic Games, and Padma Lakshmi’s Blossom Ball. They have released 6 albums with numerous accolades from major media outlets and ranked in top 10 lists on Billboard, Apple Music and World Music Charts Europe.
Red Baraat’s debut release, Chaal Baby (2010) set the band on a whirlwind USA tour as well as performances at Montreal Jazz Festival, Molde International Jazz Festival and opening for Gil-Scot Heron and Sharon Jones at the Pori Jazz Festival. They caught the ears of international audiences and in 2012, the band debuted in the UK with performances at Bestival, Sfinks Festival, The Barbican and closing ceremony for the Paralympics at Trafalgar Square. The Guardian (UK) said the band’s music brought a “punk spirit.” Shortly thereafter, Red Baraat was invited to perform at the prestigious WOMEX showcase in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Then the release of Red Baraat’s 2nd album in 2013, Shruggy Ji, debuted at #1 on the Billboard World Music charts and propelled the band on a nonstop world tour that only halted in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. There are too many performances to recount, but they clock in at over 700 clubs and festivals worldwide. One special moment of note was in 2015 at Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD festival in UK. The band magically stopped a 2-day continuous downpour, parted the clouds and brought the sun out at as thousands danced in their galoshes.
“This year’s ‘discovery’ though, was Red Baraat, a cacophonous bhangra funk band from Brooklyn. Think Punjabi weddings, Delhi street brass bands, modern jazz and rock.”
Red Baraat’s 2018 album release, “Sound The People”, hit the top 10 on the World Music Charts Europe and was heralded in the US as the anthem soundtrack for the South Asian diaspora by US hipster, indie-rock magazine, Stereogum:
“The album is full of moments that hit with the force of a spiritual awakening…The funk, ska-punk, and other American forms that make their way into the music are layered intricately within the same thread work as the ragas on which these songs are pulled from. Each piece is a gesture of cultural harmony, rendering not only genre irrelevant, but the geographic placement of those sounds.”
2018 saw the band touring Kazakhstan, United Arab Emirates, US, Canada and Europe. They headlined the renowned WOMAD Festival in Cáceres, Spain in front of 10,000 people, performed the Vienna Konzerthaus (Philharmonie) in Austria, played their first show in Mexico City at Radical Mestizo Festival, and had the crowd jumping at Rudolstadt Festival in Germany.
“Their infectious rhythms roll over the audience like a hurricane and let the audience breathe only in a short ballad pause.”
It’s clear that Red Baraat has built a startling history of performances all over the world the last 16 years - communing with their audience in a joyful, near hedonistic celebration of music and dance which, tellingly, draws a crowd even more diverse than the players on stage. The universality of what Red Baraat does is undeniable. And this is no happy accident. It is the product of intention and design. Says Jain, “The band…our songs…are addressing the multiplicity of viewpoints,” says Jain. “There’s ‘Zindabad,’ which means ‘Long Live’ in Hindi. In that song, we’re saying that we celebrate life, we celebrate devotion — but we also celebrate agitation and revolution. If we can unite people of all backgrounds and ethnicities to partake in the exuberance of life through the universal language of music, then life is that much sweeter.”
“A Big Band for the World.”