Hailing from Ottawa, Canada, Rohin Khemani is a drummer/percussionist concentrating on original music and creative improvising. He began to first study music as a classical violinist performing in recitals and youth orchestras from the age of six through Canada's Royal Conservatory of Music. Rohin broke bows, set his violin on fire and began to play drums in his basement to the sounds of Fugazi, 60s Miles, and The Beatles. He then went to art school…twice! Rohin has had the honor of studying with Max Roach, Kenwood Dennard, Manu Katche, John Riley, Yusef Lateef, David Liebman, and tabla virtuoso Pandit Samir Chatterjee.
Sunny Jain - Dhol, Drumset, Percussion, MC
Rohin Khemani - Tavil, Doumbek, Percussion
Tomas Fujiwara - Drumset, Percussion
Arun Luthra - Soprano Saxophone
Mike Bomwell - Baritone Saxophone
Canandaigua, NY born saxophone and woodwind player Michael Bomwell has had the pleasure of performing with David Liebman, Clarence Clemons, Sandy Duncan, Charli Persip, Edison Woods, Olivia Newton-John, Ken Peplowski, and the Motor City Horns, among others. Most recently, Michael has been performing in and around New York City with singer/pianist of Broadway’s Movin’ Out, Henry Haid, as part of his band Glass Houses, blowin' those classic Billy Joel solos you all know and love.
Trumpeter Sonny Singh’s first musical outlet was singing and playing harmonium in gurdwaras, Sikh houses of worship, as a young child in North Carolina. He began playing the trumpet at age 9 and his since played in a variety of types of bands including rock, ska/reggae, Indian fusion and funk. In Tucson, AZ he co-founded and fronted the popular local ska band Turban Jones from 1997-2001, which released two albums of original material. In 2003, Sonny co-founded the acclaimed genre-bending political rock band Outernational in NYC, and sang, played trumpet, dhol, and harmonium in the group until April 2008. While in Outernational, Sonny shared the stage with notable artists such as Tom Morello, Ozomatli, Serj Tankian, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Talvin Singh, and DJ Spooky, and recorded 14 songs produced by Tom Morello for the band's forthcoming debut album on Warner Bros Records. When not making music, Sonny spends his time fighting for social justice and equal rights as a community organizer at The Sikh Coalition.
Sonny Singh - Trumpet, Vocals
MiWi La Lupa - Bass Trumpet
Michael Williams a.k.a. MiWi la Lupa is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music on Trombone and Bass Trumpet. He has performed and recorded with Antibalas, Mike Gordon Band, Mocean Worker, Noah and the Whale, El-P, Bat for Lashes, Nublu Orchestra conducted by Butch Morris,
Kenny Wolleson, Michael Leonhart, Donny McCaslin, MMW, and the Brazilian Girls to name a few.
Trombonist Dave Smith has performed and/or recorded with Spoon, Pharoahe Monch, Bebel Gilberto, Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, Chin Chin, Rev. Vince Anderson and His Love Choir, El-P, Little Annie, The Bogmen, and many others. He has performed at festivals around the world, including the Tampere Jazz Happening in Finland, the Guelph Jazz Festival in Ontario, Canada, the Sons d'Hiver Festival in Paris, and the New American Union Music Festival in Pittsburgh. He also sings under the name Smoota and leads the band The Perfect Man.
John Altieri - Sousaphone, Rap
As sousaphone and tuba player, John Altieri has performed solo, chamber, and orchestral music in Japan, Europe, Mexico, Canada, and the U.S., of note, Huis Ten-Bosch Quintet (Nagasaki, Japan), Alarm Will Sound, Tucson Brassworks, Bang On A Can Marathon and Mass Moca, and carries the honor of being the first ever tuba soloist at the Bowdoin Festival in summer 2002 since its inception in 1975. Altieri is also a coveted composer and conductor with a long list of credits.
Dave Smith - Trombone
Sunny Jain made his professional debut as a dholi playing in the first ever Indian Broadway show, Bombay Dreams (2004). He has since gone on to perform with Masala Bhangra fitness guru, Sarina Jain (“The Indian Jane Fonda”), jazz legend Dewey Redman with Asha Puthli, and Cucu Diamantes of the Latin Funk band, Yerba Buena. Sunny made his Hollywood debut playing dhol in the movie, Accidental Husband, starring Uma Thurman, Colin Firth and Isabella Rossellini. He closed out 2007 with a milestone performance with the famed Sufi-rock band, Junoon, at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway. Sunny also carries a long list of credits as jazz drummer and composer with performances with Kiran Ahluwalia, Joey Baron, Kenny Barron, Marc Cary, Samir Chatterjee, Kyle Eastwood, Roy Hargrove, Norah Jones, Q-Tip, and Martha Wainwright. He was designated a 2002 Jazz Ambassador by The Department of State and The Kennedy Center and subsequently received the Arts International Award in 2003 and 2005, and was commissioned in 2002 by Chamber Music America and in 2008 by Aaron Copland Recording Fund to compose and record new music. Sunny has also authored 2 instructional drum books for Alfred Publishing, including one on the application of Indian rhythms and concepts to the drumset.
Tomas Fujiwara was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts where he studied with legendary drummer/educator, Alan Dawson. He currently leads/co-leads and composes for his quintet, Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up, his duo project with Taylor Ho Bynum, and the collaborative quartet, The Thirteenth Assembly. As a sideman he performs in ensembles led by Taylor Ho Bynum, Mary Halvorson, Matana Roberts, Soo-Jung Kae, Josh Sinton, and Matt Welch. From 2000-2005, Tomas was a cast member of both the touring (2000-2003) and New York (2003-2005) companies of the Off Broadway hit STOMP.
Arun Luthra was born in Worcester, MA, to an Indian father and a British mother. He began his formal music training in Belgium at the age of nine, studying European classical guitar before eventually focusing on the saxophone as his primary instrument. As a performer he has shared the stage and recorded with many of the greatest jazz, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and pop artists in the world, including Billy Harper, Kenny Garrett, Bobby Porcelli, Portinho, Zé Renato, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Frankie Valli, Bobby Short, Bernard Purdie, and Ray Vega. Luthra has also studied and/or performed with such notable Hindustani and Carnatic masters as Pandit Trichy Sankaran, Pandit Samir Chatterjee, Krishnan Lalgudi & Vijayalakshmi Lalgudi, Pandit Karaikudi Subramaniam, and Steve Gorn. Luthra is also a faculty member of his alma mater, The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music, alongside such jazz and world music greats as Reggie Workman, Joe Chambers, Junior Mance, Bobby Sanabria, and Jamey Haddad.
Meet Red Baraat
About Red Baraat
Led by drummer Sunny Jain, Red Baraat is the first and only dhol ‘n’ brass band of its kind in the States, melding the infectious North Indian rhythm Bhangra with brass funk and expressing the human spirit through improvisation and a powerful live sound. Comprised of dhol (double-sided, barrel-shaped North Indian drum slung over one shoulder), percussion and horns, this NYC-based group plays fresh originals, as well as traditional Punjabi songs and Bollywood numbers with an explosive stage performance and presence.
In the short time since their inception, the group has delivered blistering performances at the Chicago World Music Festival, Madison World Music Festival, Lincoln Center, DJ Rekha's Basement Bhangra, 4th Annual Droma Gypsy Festival, Chile Pepper Fiesta, Joe's Pub, The Kitchen performance art space, India Independence Day Parade, Barbes, as well as a live radio broadcast on John Schaefer's Soundcheck WNYC-FM 93.9, an NPR affiliate. Red Baraat also recorded the credit roll theme song for the movie, The Yes Men Fix the World and performed for Ports 1961 at the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (NYC).
The group's debut CD, Chaal Baby (Sinj Records 2010), has just been released.
What does baraat mean?
Baraat is Hindi for a marriage procession. In North India, it is a tradition on the day of the wedding for the groom to travel to his bride’s home on a magnificently decorated horse, surrounded by an entourage of family and friends. Led by a dholi and/or a marching band, this joyous celebration naturally induces dancing and singing and is inseparable from the energy and excitement of the musical festivities.
Sunny Jain - dhol / drumset / percussion / MC
Rohin Khemani - tavil / doumbek / percussion
Tomas Fujiwara - drumset / percussion
Arun Luthra - soprano sax
Mike Bomwell - baritone sax
Sonny Singh - trumpet / vocals
MiWi La Lupa - bass trumpet
Dave Smith - trombone
John Altieri - sousaphone / rap
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