A loose gown ,a striking color contrasting wrap around cloth at the bottom mimicking the 'dhoti /lungi ' and a long beaded chain ;a guitar slung around the shoulder ,anklets clad on the feet -this is how the singer/'Folk rocker' ,Raghu Dixit makes an appearance in his singing concerts and shows portraying his contemporary traditional look .This singer originally hailing from Mysore ,Karnataka is a composer ,lyricist ,music director and also owns a band of his own named 'Antaragni'/eternal fire ' with his own set of musicians.
His crystal clear loud voice quality and the high pitching notes can engross anyone with him and make them rock to his tunes.He sings in various languages like Kannada Hindi and English and even blends all 3 in one song occasionally and are based on Latin,Sufi ,Reggae and blue styles with the base being folk ,thus impressing youngsters to aged.His compositions are unique in their own way with influence from traditional ,ancient Kannada folk music as well as moral poems composed by Santa Sisunala sharif and imbibe a lot of morality ,messages and emotions .His music is a splendid blend of Ethnic /folk and contemporary music styles form various parts of the world .Even the instruments used by his percussionists are blend of both modern and classic styles with guitar ,tabla ,violin and drums..
His career though started as a music director and singer in a few Kannada films ,later flourished with a Debut self titled album 'Raghu Dixit' launched in National level by muscians Vishal and Shekar.The song 'Gudgudiya sedi nodu' and 'Amber se' and 'Hey Bhagwan 'became very popular .He has impressed not only the Indians by his singing versatility through various compositions and concerts ,but also created waves internationally .He has travelled across the world for various concerts in Austarlia , Dubai ,UK and at Kennedy center in Washington and other places in the US. Hope for the best future ahead for this amazing talented singer who is promoting the ethnicity and Indian culture with his Rock contemporary style.Meanwhile ,I suggest you to rock to the tunes of his songs.
1.No man will ever love the way like I do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtNU7NCr9yw&feature=related
2 '.Gud gudiya sedi nodu' -smoke th hookah! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1flTfsAqAZc&feature=related
3.I am in Mumbai waiting for a miracle:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KztpRHHiZco&feature=autoplay&list=ML4oVf-d_DwKBQ_YqXX9oJw--wPB6fqsUF&index=8&playnext=3
4.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpkiK0J_IZU
More detailson Raghu Dixit on his website: http://raghudixit.com/
PS 2: SANTA SISUNALA SHARIFA
I thought of adding a little info on him for those who are unaware.Santa sisunala was a saint who hailed from the small town of 'sisunala' in Haveri district of Karnataka ,India.Like the famous Kabir Das in northern India ,he used to compose his own moral poems and recite and sing to the poeple back in the 1830 times.He was a well educated guy and was a disciple of a Brahmin named Govinda Bhatta .The strange part was that even though a muslim,he used to believe in hinduism and wrotepoems in Kannada language .His poems had a lot of practical facts and dealt with human emotions and preached about the human instinct and moral values .His moral poems were named as 'Tatvapada'.
