The Kutle Khan Project takes Rajasthani folk music worldwide
MUMBAI: In light of his collaboration with Midival Punditz for the new range of SONY headphones, multi-talented Rajasthani folk musician- Kutle Khan talks to Radioandmusic.com about the alliance and his upcoming musical ventures.
Once in Delhi, Khan met with Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj, members of the Indian fusion group Midival Punditz to discuss the composition. Taking inspiration from the legend of a "beautiful woman" called Moumal in a remote hamlet in Rajasthan, Khan put his thoughts to words and composed a ballad describing her beauty. "In accordance to the tune they (Midival Punditz) gave me, I wrote a few lyrics, and they really liked it," said Khan. "I really like their music. They play a tune, then I come up with something, and this jugalbandi turns out to be quite appealing."
Having worked with many international artistes viz. Harry Stojka, Susheela Raman and featuring in the West to West Original Soundtrack, Khan also spoke about his latest collective of Rajasthani music. Titled ‘The Kutle Khan Project’ it fuses the Indian classical music instruments with the western ones. After collaborating with international artistes, Khan decided to start something of his own. He travelled to the most remote places in Rajasthan, and infused the sounds of instruments like morchang, bhapang, dholak, khartals, sarangi and harmonium. "To make it different, I added the saxophone, beats and tabla," continued Khan. In the five-member band, everyone of The Kutle Khan Project can play up to five instruments.
The Kutle Khan Project is currently touring across Europe, and will return to India next month to tour nationwide for the next couple of months. In addition to his recent ‘Twilight’ track that featured the Delhi-based electronic duo, Kutle Khan will next be seen in the Dublin-based BalconyTV, a leading daily online viral music show that features bands, musicians and other variety acts on balconies around the world. Since BalconyTV has a deal with Pepsi MTV Indies, there is a strong possibility of his feature being aired on the channel.
