Indian indie music goes international

Updated On: 26 February, 2023 11:04 AM IST | Mumbai | Nidhi Lodaya

There’s been a steady rise in independent and non-film music acts touring abroad and performing at international festivals. In a country that’s still warming up to alternative indie acts, could this be the motivation they need to not hang up their boots?

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Chennai-based jazz rock band Jatayu has been scheduled to play at Fuji Rock Festival in Japan in July. They did a South Asia tour last year and claim that they get better response for their music internationally than in India

When Chembur-based singer-songwriter and harpist Nush Lewis announced her debut international tour to Australia for her latest EP, Forgotten Verses, earlier this month, it pointed out to a seismic shift. Could this be the beginning of Indian indie music being taken seriously internationally, like Bollywood or Punjabi already is?

Lewis is not the only one. Since the year began, Delhi-based gypsy-jazz band Peter Cat Recording Co has announced their tour around North America, which starts in April and will go on till early June and will also be a part of the BottleRock festival in Napa, California, in May this year. Indie-folk band When Chai Met Toast (WCMT) is going to tour the UK and Ireland again in May after their UK tour last year; their debut US tour begins in June. Kerala-based multi-genre band, Thaikkudam Bridge, will also be starting their US tour next month and Chennai-based modern rock jazz band Jatayu is part of the Fuji rock festival’s lineup in Japan this year in July, after their South East Asia tour in 2022.

Nush Lewis, Gursharan Singh and Sahib Singh