Jul 08, 2018
It’s a reworking of ‘Gora Mukhra’ by Pakistani veteran Iqbal Bano, which turns the idea of fairness and whiteness on its head to embrace brownness. Jain says he was first impressed by the song’s use of a brass band, but then saw the lyrics. “I was bouncing it back and forth with Ali and my parents – with my half-broken understanding of Punjabi – I said, ‘Oh we don’t want to sing this. Let’s sing something else’. So the challenge was keeping the integrity of the song and the melody, which is still there, because the melody is driving the song and the lyrics are just reinventing it and making it more current.” Premiered via NPR last month, ‘Kala Mukhra’ is likely to be an early favourite also for its roaring, psychedelic outro, one that neatly ties together Red Baraat’s aesthetic. Unlike their previous albums, Sound the People also involved a co-producer instead of Jain handling all the production himself. This time around, he stepped back a bit and let another New York friend take charge – producer Little Shalimar aka Torbitt Schwartz. A friend and fellow drummer that Jain has known for about 15 years, working with a co-producer was a natural decision considering the collaborations they already had lined up. Jain adds, “I’ve always loved what he’s done with (hip hop duo) Run the Jewels. He comes from that hip hop world but also from the old-school soul world. He knows that sound and I told him what we wanted to achieve and we put our heads together and said, ‘Yeah let’s do this’.” Between last year’s album Bhangra Pirates and Sound the People this year, Red Baraat have certainly grown a bit more popular — they’ve made appearances on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts (their second) and on another widely followed web video series, Live on KEXP. But what does this mean in the digital age? Jain, who holds a graduate degree in music business, says touring is their bread and butter, and they’re likely to see more T-shirt sales than any CD or vinyl buyers, but he still chalks it down as a win. “People still like to have a souvenir from a live show,” he says. The Red Baraat live experience, of course, travels around Europe and across North America to launch Sound the People, but when asked about bringing the band to India, Jain says previous efforts have always fallen through due to a lack of funding. Jain says there were even shows in Pakistan that got “crushed” due to the US Department of State’s inability to access funds “because the US government shut down funding”. Jain adds, “We’re still waiting for the invite from India, though. We would love to come, and love nothing more than to bring this band over there.”