The album features Pakistani singer Ali Sethi, poetry from activist Suheir Hammad and rap from Heems (Himanshu Kumar Suri) of Brooklyn's Das Racist. In 2018, the group released 'Sound the People,' an album infused with a social justice-centered call to action. Their music, then and now, inspires me as a Catholic.Īnd, thanks to the Trump era, Red Baraat's music is now more political. The band creates a multicultural melody that fosters inclusiveness. Red Baraat offers a sound that incorporates the richness of Punjabi traditional music and American jazz, and embraces each culture's unique richness. They jumped in place and lifted their hands in the air, even amid intermittent Punjabi lyrics. The large outdoor space, famous for hosting local Cajun music legends like BeauSoleil, became filled with the beat of the dhol and, almost immediately, hundreds of people joined in the merriment. In the audience, I was the only Indian American in a large sea of white people. I first experienced Red Baraat's music in Lafayette, Louisiana, in spring 2011. In their Tiny Desk Concert, the musicians pay tribute to Holi, wearing white jumpers with various colors splattered over them. Holi celebrations occur all around the world every year. In March 2017, Red Baraat was featured on NPR's Tiny Desk concert series following Holi, a Hindu celebration known to many around the world as the 'festival of colors.' The celebration, meant to signify the triumph of good over evil, represents the start of spring and features the throwing of various colored powders into the air. The band's name incorporates baraat, the Hindi word for an Indian wedding procession led by a brass band, and the color red, symbolic in Indian weddings. Jain founded Red Baraat in 2008, incorporating a marriage of Punjabi instruments like the bhangra drum ( dhol) along with brass instruments like horns and the sousaphone. The group consists of Indian, Black and white musicians, and the richness in the band's music stems from the diversity and collaboration among its members. Panjabi MC's fusion helped pave the way for the intricate and unique intermingling of bhangra, jazz, funk and soul music represented in Sunny Jain's Brooklyn-based band, Red Baraat. Through this fusion, the Western world began to appreciate the spirit and rhythm of this regional Indian music. Five years later, Jay-Z collaborated with Panjabi MC for an English remix of this hit bhangra song, translated as 'Beware of the Boys.' In 1997, Panjabi MC, a British rapper of Indian descent, released a popular song fusing Punjabi-Indian music ( bhangra) and the 'Knight Rider' theme song.

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