Often hailed as India’s biggest cultural and musical export, Raghu Dixit has released a new album in time for taking the stage at the Cambridge Folk Festival – but the album very nearly didn’t get made.
The new album is titled Shakkar, which translates into English as ‘sugar’, and is subtitled ‘Songs about Staying Alive When You Don’t Want To’, which the star admits is a “quite lengthy” hashtag.
The Raghu Dixit Project. Picture: RDP
Raghu, a singer, producer, film score composer and leader of The Raghu Dixit Project, is no stranger to the UK’s big stages, having done Glastonbury (they were the first Indian band to play the John Peel Stage), Lovebox, Latitude, Celtic Connections and more.
Wearing a T-shirt with ‘Believe in Yourself’ emblazoned across it, the likeable and talkative musician spoke to the Cambridge Independent via Zoom from his home studio in Bangalore.
The album was officially launched at a gig at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London on 6 July. He and his band are now embarking on a UK tour which includes the Cambridge Folk Festival date on 28 July.
“The album has been a long time coming,” says Raghu, 49, “because it’s been 10 years since the previous album came, and I’ve been working on this album myself for four years now – so I can’t wait for it to get out!”
On the reasons it’s taken him so long, Raghu says: “Partly pandemic, partly my own mental health – I was not doing too well since 2015 onwards.
“I had a bit of a dip in my mental health, and while I tried to find answers for that, I became extremely… what do I say? It was very challenging to keep myself believing that I should stay alive.
“So it came to that situation, and in 2019 is when I wrote this album. And I wrote this album only because of this fan who wrote to me and kept sending me his demos every day.
“He is a guitarist and he kept sending me demos, and I would listen to them. He’s a very good player and I would send him messages saying ‘This is lovely, that is lovely’ etc, but the messages just kept coming.
“Every day, or every couple of days, I would find a new demo and after 15, 20 days, I just texted him saying ‘Why again and again?’
“And he was like ‘I’m waiting for the day when you say that you would love to work with me’, so I said ‘OK, so I’m booking a flight ticket for you right away and you come here and work with me, let’s see where it goes’.
“So I booked him a flight ticket right there and then and next morning, John Paul is his name – he’s a musician from Kolkata – came and we spent about 15 days together in my studio.
“We were locked inside and we made about 40-plus tunes, or ideas, of which I picked up eight, and then we did full-length songs.
“And while John thought that he was working with somebody he always wanted to work with – and he was on a high because of that – I was going through this revelation that there’s so much more music inside me to live for.
“John didn’t realise – and nor did I realise – that he was actually saving my life by just jamming with me every day.”
The Raghu Dixit Project. Picture: RDP
The Raghu Dixit Project’s self-titled debut album reached number one on the iTunes World Music Chart, becoming the first Indian band to achieve this.
As well as their numerous UK festival appearances, they have also previously performed for royalty, with a show marking Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee at Windsor Castle in 2012.
They have appeared on the BBC’s Later… with Jools Holland and have played the Cannes Film Festival, as well as legendary stages like the Sydney Opera House and The Troubadour in LA. Stateside, the group have also done shows in Austin, Texas.
Shakkar features an impressive line-up of talented musicians from across the globe, including Grammy Award-winning artists Béla Fleck on banjo and Michael League of American jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy – plus Rafael Rocha from Brazil arranging and performing a horn section.
Indian musician Rajesh Vaidya also appears on veena, an Indian classical instrument.
“So I have a wide variety of musicians playing on each of these tracks,” observes Raghu, who has been described as “India’s first truly crossover rock musician”, “and now when I look back at the album, it was worth being alive and still breathing!”
So music essentially saved Raghu’s life? “Yeah, you could say that,” he replies, “and it made me realise that there are other beautiful things about life to live for – and I think anybody who listens to this album will find the same message.
“For example, the first song is called Sugar Fairy in English. It’s about this little girl who steals sugar from the market, only to distribute it to people who have never tasted sweetness.”
Raghu Dixit’s uplifting music blends Indian ethnic styles and modes with influences from around the world. His songs are generally delivered in the Kannada, Tamil and Hindi languages.
Set to appear on the Sunday at this year’s Cambridge Folk Festival, the hardworking musician, who reveals that he would love to collaborate with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on a future project, notes that he has played the much-loved event before, “in 2012 or 2013”.
“We had a 3 o’clock or 4 o’clock slot and we had a tent full of people,” he recalls, “and there is a beautiful video on the Cambridge Folk Festival website of us performing and the entire crowd jumping along with us.
“It’s one of my happiest memories of performing in the UK and we always wondered why we hadn’t been booked again for that festival!
“But this time it’s a bigger booking for us, and the fact that Robert Plant is performing at the festival… and there might be a small window for me to say hello to him again after Jools Holland, where we both shared the same episode.
“It would be great to meet him and say hello and exchange a few notes, hopefully – musical ones!”
Raghu Dixit, whose biggest UK hit is No Man Will Ever Love You Like I Do, is to perform at the 2024 Cambridge Folk Festival on Sunday, 28 July.
The Raghu Dixit Project. Picture: RDP
For more on Raghu Dixit, go to raghudixit.com. For more on the festival, visit cambridgelive.org.uk/folk-festival.
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