From Kota to Kyoto

In just five years, Jaipur-based folk fusion group Rajasthan Roots has gained international repute the group will bring the house down in Mumbai today before heading out for a 10-day, five-city tour of Japan

Last year, Portugal band Terrakota jammed with Rajasthan Roots at the Ladakh Confluence.
u00a0
Soon, Terrakota stepped into the Morchang Studios in Jaipur for a lively mash-up with Kutla Khan leading on khartal and morchang.
u00a0
Just a week ago, when the group was in Vienna, Rajasthan Roots found themselves jamming with gypsy jazz guitarist Harri Stojka for a project that might make it into a film score.
u00a0


Stojka was in Rajasthan last year for the Jodhpur Rajasthan International Folk Festival where he got hooked onto the band.

The collaborations have been too many to even keep track of, says Aditya Bhasin, guitarist and vocalist of the band rattling off names bassist Shri from UK, UK-based beatboxer Jason Singh and Israeli singer Idan Raichel.

Bhasin explains how Khan's gift lies in also picking up any rhythm structure and melody with magical precision.
Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Khan is a big folk pin-up for contemporary artistes.

Khan is capable of bending any performance or collaboration with the clackety-clack of the khartals, the snarling morchang and the teasing rhythms of the bhapang. "Kutla's younger brother Gaffur Khan is another artiste to watch out for.

Kutla's trained him well. He too plays all three instruments (khartal, bhapang and morchang) and accompanied us for our performance at an opera house in Vienna," says Bhasin.

It's unbelievable how the five-year-old, five-member group has connected dots across the map from the Caribbean to the Middle East to Europe and as far as the Orient.
u00a0
"We try to produce and arrange melodies that don't have a completely traditional melody when we add a bass and lead guitar to make the sound a little more warm," says Bhasin of the group's appeal. Audiences in Japan surprised the band.
u00a0
"They were young people who loved to dance. On our first tour we were accompanied by just one dancer and this time around they wanted us to bring along four dancers.

They loved the high-pitched vocals and the sound of the khartals," offers Bhasin.

"We're influenced by the music of various folk music communities not just the Langars and the Manganiyars," says Bhasin of two of the most famous Rajasthan folk music groups.
u00a0
A lot of their music is also Sufi-influenced. "This time we're doing a song from a place called Diggi," says Bhasin of Diggipur ka Raja, "The song was sung at the temple in Diggi to heal and cure the ailing.

It is a full powered number where people go into a trance and we'll do our own interpretation."

It's only been six months since Rajasthan Roots first performed at Blue Frog, and they promise a full house again packed with fiery, visceral jams.

It's hard to imagine the open-chested earthy vocals and raw power of Rajasthan folk music inside a club, but we were there the first time and saw the group turn the place on its head.