Singer, composer, singer-songwriter, music producer
Years active
2005–present
Members
Raghu Dixit Naresh Nathan Joe Jacob Naveen Thomas
Past members
Wilfred Demoz Adarsha Ramakumar Joseph Vijay Karthick Iyer Darbuka Siva Jithin Das Bruce Lee Mani Rzhude David Anirban Chakravarthy Sandeep Vashista Rahool Pophali Bryden Lewis Pulkit Rungta Athith K Achyuth Jaigopal Nitesh Nataraj Narayan Sharma Pranav Swaroop B N
Raghu Dixit as photographed in an audio release for the band Nee
Raghupati Dwarakanath Dixit (born 11 November 1974)[1] is an Indian singer-composer, producer, and film score composer who is the frontman for the Raghu Dixit Project, a multilingual folk music band. Dixit prominently works in Kannada cinema as soundtrackcomposer.
Dixit's music is an amalgamation of Indian ethnic music and styles from different parts of the world.[2] His songs include "Mysore se aayi," "Jag Changa," "Antaragni," "Hey Bhagwan," "Har Saans Mein," "Gudugudiya," and "Khidki." Dixit has produced music for contemporary dance and theatre productions including the Indian contemporary dance group Nritarutya, of which, his wife, Mayuri Upadhya, is the artistic director.[3]
Music
Dixit's self-titled debut album was launched by the music director duo Vishal–Shekhar on their new independent record label Vishal & Shekhar Music which collaborated with Counter Culture Records for this release. Raghu Dixit was the first artist on this new label. The album was also released on world music label Wrasse Records and Sony/ATV on 20 September 2010. The album reached No. 1 on the iTunes World Music charts in the UK.[4] The title music for the show Splitsvilla was also composed and sung by Raghu Dixit. In the season one finale of The Dewarists, the Raghu Dixit Project collaborated with songwriter Rewben Mashangva on the song "Masti Ki Basti".
Collaborating with artists Dixit met during his previous concerts in the UK, the Raghu Dixit Project released their second studio album, Jag Changa. The album released on 23 November 2013. The album consists of eight tracks,[5][6] in Kannada, Hindi and Tamil languages. In an interview with Vishnupriya Bhandaram of The Hindu, he mentions, "Every 200 kilometres 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… its adds mystery."[7]
In 2010, he appeared on BBC TV's Later... with Jools Holland which led to one of his songs becoming an instant download hit, and since then he has made several appearances at festivals in the UK and in Europe. In the early months of 2011, he gave a concert as part of London South Bank's 'Alchemy' Festival. He also visited the Andrew Marr Show to perform "Waiting for a Miracle" for a Raghu Dixit Session on BBC Radio 3.[10][14]
In April 2012, he performed for Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, at a Diamond Jubilee Pageant marking 60 years since her accession to the throne in 1952.[15]
Raghu Dixit grew up in Mysore to a Kannadiga mother and Tamil Brahmin father. He did a master's degree in microbiology and worked briefly in the industry.[18]
Controversy
Dixit was accused of hugging and kissing an unidentified singer after an ad hoc recording while he was signing her cheque, which was made public by Chinmayi Sripaada, a friend of the singer, on 10 October 2018 on Twitter. In response, Dixit issued an apology on Twitter that same day that he completely misread the situation and that he would apologise to the singer again in public.[19]
