"V" for "Vernacular", "Versatile and Victorious Raghu Dixit" :-)"

Raghu Dixit- Many of you in India must have heard the name. If you haven't then this is the good time to know about this man.His huge fan following shows how much respect and love he gained all these years. Raghu dixit was a gold medallist in Masters in Microbiology and proficient Bharatanatyam dancer. He sacrificed his education in which he was not just an average but a gold medallist, solely for the sake of his passion in music. I can’t feel anything but respect for his passion in whatever he does. He is a self taught composer and musician originally from mMysore . He settled in Bangalore and worked in many Kannada films and has performed in more than 250 concerts till date along with his band Antaragini . Antaragni's repertoire included an amalgamation of Indian Classical, folk and Western rock, funk, pop and country. Antaragini means the fire with in – which aptly suits the band as they have a flare and burning passion for music .Raghu dixit whose full name is  Raghupathy dixit is a singer- song writer and music composer and producer. The catchy thing in Raghu’s music and concerts is the amalgamation of Indian Ethnic music and styles from different parts of the world. Not only Indian but his unique combination of Indian traditional sounds mixed with western influences made him stand out of the crowd.

Most of his songs are influenced by a Kannada poet Shishunala Sharif.After meeting Ravi Chandra Rao a flautist  and a talented violin player H.N. Bhaskar their music evolved and as days passed by Raghu met  Manoj a violinist trained in Western classical and they all started giving delightful performances. It didn’t take much time to become the best band in Bangalore after winning a Radio city competition. Antargini was disbanded in around 2004 .  Antargini’s arrival and the doorway to fame however came when they were invited to open for Bryan Adams to perform in front of a crowd of 30,000. However as the priorities differed Ravi and Bhaskar exited the group . After Antargini disbanded  Raghu went on to form The Raghu Dixit Project, which he likes to refer to as an open house for musicians and artistes from different genres to come together, collaborate and create a dynamic sound and expression.

Raghu Dixit

Along with many Kannada films he sang a song in the bollywood movie Quick gun murugan and also made his bollywood debut with the film Mujhse Fraandship Karoge. Recently he sang in a movie Bewakoofiyan and performed in Coke Studio as well.  His songs Gudgudiya , Khidki, mysore se aayi are few to name which are famous among his fans. His self titled debut album was launched by Vishal-Shekhar in 2008. If you all are aware of The Dewarists, The Raghu Dixit Project collaborated with songwriter Guru Rewben Mashangva on the song "Masti Ki Basti" for its first season.

Raghu has performed in many shows and concerts  all over the world in U S , U K, Japan , Russia , Korea , Japan so on so forth .Along with many international concerts he also performed in many Indian institutes and MNCs as part of their cultural festivals.They performed at Yash Raj’s studio too.

With his experiments Raghu became the symbol of India’s blossoming alternate music scene. He has been referred to as India’s biggest cultural export of recent times. Do read the article on Hindu about him. An excerpt from the article - Raghu and co. put life and new meaning into age-old songs. He pauses and bursts into resounding laughter. “It really is like answering nature's call, you can't force the thought or the tune. It takes its own course and way.

with his band

Raghu dixit instantly touches your heart. He is natural. He sings from the heart . His clothes , jokes , music everything is quirky and if you sit along with him you will be floored by his passion . To know some facts about him visit his official website .Raghu didn’t touch a guitar until he was 19: He was in college and a classmate, who had long hair, baggy jeans, and impressed girls by carrying a guitar and singing English songs, challenged him. As a bet, Raghu learnt to play a rock song on the guitar in two months. Considering Raghu came from a traditional South Indian family where Western music was not the norm (he would sneak listens of Phil Collins and Wham), this was a Herculean feat.

He says he joined the software company to pay the bills like we all do ;)  He gained his first fame through radio and wrote many radio jingles too. He brings ancient songs and music to contemporary audience. No wonder his music is unique and too good to be turned off. His songs are at - https://soundcloud.com/trdp . My personal favorites are “No man will ever love you like I do”, “I still love you” and “Gud gudiya”. Tune in to them and am sure you will want more and more of it

For music enthusiasts there is also a book On “Raghu dixit Project” available on flipkart. I am in love with this charmer’s voice and wish him all the good luck from the bottom of the heart. He says every 200 kilometers 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… it adds mystery.” - (Source: wiki) 

 His lyrics are about every common man's emotions and experiences. Music is indeed the language of God. Let’s hope he rocks the world and his music wipes off all the boundaries on the map !

This post is a tribute to versatile Raghu Dixit. Vernacular means "the language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people of a country or region."

This is my 22nd post for  A to Z challenge 2014