Red Baraat
Red Baraat has drawn worldwide praise for its singular sound, a merging of hard-driving, North Indian bhangra with elements of hip-hop, jazz and raw punk energy., a band known for its joyful celebration of music and dance, will perform a free, livestreamed concert Thursday, April 1, presented by the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.
The 7 p.m. CT virtual concert is free; registration is required. Reserve your spot now. For more information, visit AlysStephens.org.
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, North Indian bhangra 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, according to the band’s artist statement.
Songlines magazine said, “Red Baraat have a studied multi-ethnic cool reminiscent of other New York world fusion acts like Gogol Bordello and Yerba Buena.”
Red Baraat’s June 2018 album release, “Sound The People,” hit the Top 10 on the World Music Charts Europe. It was heralded in the United States by Stereogum as the anthem soundtrack for the South Asian diaspora: “The funk, ska-punk, and other American forms that make their way into the music are layered intricately within the same threadwork 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.”
The release of Red Baraat’s second album in 2013, “Shruggy Ji,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard World Music charts in the United States and propelled the band on a world tour. They have performed at Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, WOMAD, globalFEST, Lincoln Center and New Orleans Jazz Fest, along with clubs, theaters and arts centers. Along the way, they sold out rooms as diverse as the Luxembourg Philharmonic and New York City’s legendary rock club Bowery Ballroom and performed at the request of the White House, TED and Olympic Games.