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

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 ...

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 ...

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 BBC2

Review ''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