MUSIC

In just over three short years, the pioneering Brooklyn dhol n' brass party juggernaut RED BARAAT have made a name for themselves as one of the best live bands playing anywhere in the world. Led by dhol player Sunny Jain, the nine piece (comprised of dhol ((double-sided barrel shaped North Indian drum slung over one shoulder)) drumset, percussion, sousaphone, and 5 horns melds the infectious North Indian rhythm Bhangra with a host of sounds, namely funk, go-go, latin, and jazz. Simply put, Sunny Jain and Red Baraat have created and defined a sound entirely their own.
It's a sound so powerful it has left the band in its own utterly unique and enviable class. These days you are as likely to find Red Baraat throwing down at an overheated and unannounced warehouse party in their Brooklyn neighborhood as you are at the Barbican or the Montreal Jazz Festival, or Lincoln Center. It's a band unquestionably on the ascent playing some of the most prestigious festivals and theatres worldwide, and keeping their chops razor sharp in basements and sweaty sold out clubs across New York City. Leading an audience as diverse and joyful as the band itself, Red Baraat has subsumed a plateful of global influence, fused it, and is now exporting it Brooklyn-style to the world.
"Brooklyn nine-piece party-starters Red Baraat are thus far the most exciting local prospect of this short year, a fiery blend of raucous Indian bhangra and funky New Orleans brass. The result, needless to say, is completely riotous, a blustery groove machine with the comforting hoot of a tuba, two backbeats fighting for attention, saxophones that spiral and wail, and the violent percussive scamper of a lead dholi Sunny Jain. Their debut CD, Chaal Baby is an unstoppable blend of Bollywood hijacks and funk freakier than anything Madlib picked up on his trip to India. THE VILLAGE VOIC