The wonderfully kinetic and hyperactive Red Baraat continue their successful mix of South Asian grooves and rhythms with jazz attitudes on this latest release. Sunny Jain does clever arrangements to traditional themes as well as penning some of his own material hear, banging away with his dhol an dholki along with the avalanche team of Chris Eddleton/dr while the horn section of John Altieri/sous, Sonny Singh/tp, Lynn Ligammari/ss, Michael Bomwell/bs and Dave Smoota Smith provide wild harmonies, Jonathan Goldberger adds a rock guitar attitude, and vocalists Ali Sethi, Suheir Hammad, Heems and John Hodgman add voices and Hindi lyrics for an Indian Wagnerian feast.
You get some rocking guitar with soprano sax on the hard hitting “Moray Gari Suno” while the reeds go klezmer as they accompany Hodgman during “Punjab March.” A dash of Greek strings and intricate grooves and melody give Jonathan Haffner a chance to sear through with his soprano sax during “Holi Ke Din.” Some hip hop grooves team with street preaching by the defiant Heems” and bright reeds during “Sound the People” and moody spoken words with a strong vibrato by Hammad” team with tablas for the exotic “Vibrations.” A real travelogue of sounds unified by a wonderfully restless and agitated energy.