Raghupati Dwarakanath Dixit (born 11 November 1974)
is an Indian singer-composer,
producer, and film score composer who is the frontman for the Raghu Dixit Project, a multilingual
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
band.
Dixit's music is an amalgamation of
Indian ethnic music
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
and styles from different parts of the world. His songs include "Mysore se aayi," "Jag Changa," "Antaragni," "Hey Bhagwan," "Har Saans Mein," "Gudugudiya," and "Khidki." Dixit has produced music for contemporary dance and theatre productions including the Indian contemporary dance group Nritarutya, of which, his wife,
Mayuri Upadhya, is the artistic director.
Music
Dixit's self-titled debut album was launched by the music director duo
Vishal–Shekhar
Vishal–Shekhar are an Indian music composer, production, singing and songwriting duo consisting of Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani from Mumbai. Known predominantly for their work as music composers in Hindi cinema, Vishal–Shekhar have a ...
on their new independent record label Vishal & Shekhar Music which collaborated with Counter Culture Records for this release. Raghu Dixit was the first artist on this new label. The album was also released on world music label
Wrasse Records
Wrasse Records is a British record label based in Ashtead, Surrey. It was started in 1998 by Ian and Jo Ashbridge. Both had been involved in the music industry prior to them starting up their own company. Its offices are based in the UK, but it d ...
and
Sony/ATV on 20 September 2010. The album reached No. 1 on the
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
World Music charts in the UK. The title music for the show ''Splitsvilla'' was also composed and sung by Raghu Dixit. In the season one finale of ''
The Dewarists
''The Dewarists'' is a musical television series on MTV India. The series is part music documentary and part travelogue. The show casts musicians from various parts of the world, collaborating to create original music while travelling across In ...
'', the Raghu Dixit Project collaborated with songwriter
Rewben Mashangva on the song "Masti Ki Basti".
Collaborating with artists Dixit met during his previous concerts in the UK, the Raghu Dixit Project released their second studio album, ''
Jag Changa''. The album released on 23 November 2013. The album consists of eight tracks, in
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
,
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
and
Tamil language
Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...
s. In an interview with Vishnupriya Bhandaram of ''The Hindu'', he mentions, "Every 200 kilometres in this country, languages change, the dialects change and the food changes, lives and lifestyles change and my music is unique and probably the USP is that it's sung in a vernacular tongue… its adds mystery."
Films
In 2008, he debuted as a music director in the
Kannada film industry
Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film '' Sati Sulochana'' directe ...
with ''Psycho''. He also composed and sang a song in the
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
movie ''
Quick Gun Murugan
''Quick Gun Murugun: Misadventures of an Indian Cowboy'' is a 2009 Indian English-language Comedy Western film directed by Shashanka Ghosh and written by Rajesh Devraj. The film stars Rajendra Prasad as the title character alongside Rambha, A ...
''. His new Kannada films, ''
Just Math Mathalli
''Just Maath Maathalli'' (English translation: ''Just your chatter'') is a 2010 Indian Kannada romance film written and directed by Sudeep starring himself, Ramya and Rajesh Nataranga in the lead roles. The film follows Siddharth's search for Ta ...
'' and ''Kote'', released soundtracks which were a big hit with audiences.
Dixit made his Bollywood debut with the film ''
Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge
''Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge'' () is a 2011 Indian Bollywood, Hindi romantic comedy film directed by debutante Nupur Asthana, starring debutant actors Saqib Saleem, Saba Azad, Tara D'Souza and Nishant Dahiya in the lead roles. The film is the sec ...
'' in 2011. In 2013 he debuted in
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
recording with
Bijibal
Bijibal Maniyil is an Indian music composer and playback singer who works predominantly in Malayalam films, documentaries, short films and television commercials. He has composed for more than 150 feature films, several documentaries and televisi ...
for
North 24 Kaatham
''North 24 Kaatham'' is a 2013 Indian Malayalam language adventure drama film written and directed by debutant Anil Radhakrishnan Menon. The film features Fahadh Faasil, Nedumudi Venu and Swathi Reddy in the lead roles. The background score is ...
.
Concerts
![Shrewsbury 2016 - Raghu Dixit 5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Shrewsbury_2016_-_Raghu_Dixit_5.jpg)
Dixit has played many shows all over the world including in the United States, the UK,
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, Japan, Russia, Hong Kong and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. He has performed at many music and cultural festivals, including Anwesha at IIT Patna,
Alcheringa at
IIT Guwahati
The Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) is a public technical university established by the Government of India, located in Amingaon area, North Guwahati city, in the state of Assam in India. It is the sixth Indian Institute ...
,
Incident at
NITK-Surathkal,
Aarohi
Aarohi is the annual cultural festival (Cultfest) of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India. Typically lasting three days, it is amongst some of the largest Events in the Central India region. Pioneered by the 1989 batch of ...
at
VNIT
Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology Nagpur (VNIT) is a Public university, public technical university located in the central India city of Nagpur, Maharashtra. Established in 1960, the institute is among 31 National Institutes of Tech ...
Nagpur
Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...
, FIESTA at
Infosys
Infosys Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational information technology company that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. The company was founded in Pune and is headquartered in Ba ...
, the
Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...
,
Mood Indigo
"Mood Indigo" is a jazz song with music by Duke Ellington and Barney Bigard and lyrics by Irving Mills.
Composition
Although Irving Mills—Jack Mills's brother and publishing partner—took credit for the lyrics, Mitchell Parish claimed in ...
,
Jayciana
Jayciana, is the annual cultural festival of the Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysuru usually held during April – May.
The 2016 edition of Jayciana will see the maiden performance of West Indian cricketer Dwayne John Brav ...
at
SJCE
JSS Science and Technology University, or in its full name Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Science and Technology University, formerly Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE), is a private university located in Mysore, Karnataka, ...
, Dhwani at
College of Engineering Trivandrum
The College of Engineering Trivandrum, commonly known as CET, is the first engineering college in Kerala, situated in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala. It was founded in 1939 during the reign of the Travancore King, Chithira Thiru ...
,
Spring Fest at IIT Kharagpur, MANZAR at
Institute of Chemical Technology
Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) is a state-funded deemed university in Mumbai, India. The institute also has campuses at Bhubaneswar, Odisha and Jalna, Marathwada. It is focused on training and research in the fields of chemical engin ...
, the Shrewsbury Folk Festival, at the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in New Delhi and at MVJ College of Engineering in Bangalore.
In 2010, he appeared on BBC TV's ''
Later... with Jools Holland'' which led to one of his songs becoming an instant download hit, and since then he has made several appearances at festivals in the UK and in Europe. In the early months of 2011, he gave a concert as part of London South Bank's 'Alchemy' Festival. He also visited the ''Andrew Marr Show'' to perform "Waiting for a Miracle" for a Raghu Dixit Session on BBC Radio 3.
In April 2012, he performed for Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, at a Diamond Jubilee Pageant marking 60 years since her accession to the throne in 1952.
Recently he performed at Bangalore Times concert
Filmography
As composer
As Playback singer
Web Series
Award
* Dixit was awarded "Best Newcomer" at the 2011
Songlines Music Awards.
* Favorite Singer Award at the 2008 SFM Kalaa Awards
* Best Alternative Act at the UK Asian Music Awards
* Best Live Performer – GIMA Music Awards 2014
[
]
References
Profile from ''Later... with Jools Holland'' performance on BBC2Review ''The Guardian''
External links
The Raghu Dixit Project official website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixit, Raghu
Indian male playback singers
Kannada film score composers
Musicians from Mysore
Indian rock music groups
1974 births
Living people
Musical groups established in 2005
Film musicians from Karnataka
Malayalam film score composers
Telugu film score composers
Hindi film score composers
20th-century Indian composers
21st-century Indian composers
Indian folk-pop singers
Indian male film score composers
20th-century Indian male singers
20th-century Indian singers
21st-century Indian male singers
21st-century Indian singers