FESTIVAL OF COLORS With Red Baraat and Vidya Vox Comes to The Soraya

The Boston Globe called Red Baraat's irresistible sound "new-breed marching-band music that's part Punjabi wedding, part New Orleans second line, and all New York." Led by the charismatic percussionist Sunny Jain, the Brooklyn octet whips up a raucously fun mix of Indian bhangra rhythms, go-go music, jazz, hip-hop, and Crescent City brass funk. For this special night-Thursday, March 28 at 8pm-the band presents Festival of Colors, celebrating the Hindu holiday of Holi, and will feature rising star Vidya Vox, who's music is a global fusion of Eastern and Western influences, infused with a fiercely original modern vibe.

"If ever there was an evening that celebrates our programming theme-Music Knows No Borders-then Festival of Colors is it," said Thor Steingraber, Executive Director of The Soraya. "Red Baraat is absolutely joyous to experience and Vidya Vox is a sensational artist mixing east and west style and creating a sound all her own. This one night not to miss!"

Tickets for Festival of Colors with Red Baraat and Vidya Vox are only $31-$49 and available at thesoraya.org or by calling The Soraya ticket office at 818-677-3000.

Marked by public gatherings of families and strangers sharing songs, dance, and the exchange of 'colors' - colorful dry powder or colored water playfully thrown amongst the crowds of revelers - Holi is observed at the approach of vernal equinox. Festival of Colors signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair ruptured relationships. There is no band on earth better suited for this celebration of renewal and positive energy than Red Baraat.

Opening the show will be vocalist Vidya Vox, who has become a global phenomenon for her mashups of Western pop, hip-hop, and Indian folk music. She has performed at the White House and at venues all over the world, amassing over 5 million YouTube subscribers and nearly 600 million views for her exclusive videos.

Red Baraat is a pioneering band from Brooklyn, New York. Conceived by dhol player Sunny Jain, the group has drawn worldwide praise for its singular sound, a merging of hard driving North Indian purposeful agenda than manifesting joy and unity in all people, Red Baraat's spirit is worn brightly on its sweaty and hard-worked sleeve. "Their infectious rhythms roll over the audience like a hurricane and let the audience breathe only in short ballad pause." Rheinmain Press (Germany)

Red Baraat's June 2018 album release, "Sound The People," hit the top 10 on the World Music Charts Europe wand was heralded in the US as the anthem soundtrack for the South Asian Ciaspora by US hipster, indie-rock magazine, Stereogum: "The Album is full of moments that hit with the force of a spiritual awakening...The funk, ska-punk, and other American forms that make their way into the music are layered intricately within the same threadwork as the ragas on which these songs are pulled from. Each piece is a gesture of cultural harmony, rendering not only genre irrelevant, but the geographic placement of those sounds."

2018 also saw the band touring Kazakhstan, Abu Dabhi, US, Canada and Europe. They headlined the renowned WOMAD Festival in Caceres, Spain in front of 10,000 people, performed the Vienna Konzerthaus (Philharmonie) in Austria and had the crowd jumping at Rudolstadt Festival in Germany. The release of Red Baraat's second album in 2013, Shruggy Ji, debuted at #1 on the Billboard World Music charts in USA and propelled the band on a world tour that has yet to stop. They've performed at Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, WOMAd, globalFEST, Lincoln Center, New Orleans Jazz Fest, along with clubs, theatres, and arts centers.

Along the way they sold out rooms as diverse as the Luexembourg Philharmoine and the New York City's legendary rock club Bowery Ballroom and performed at the request of the Obama White House, TED and Olympic Games. This year's discovery (WOMAD UK Festival), though, was Red Baraat, a cacophonous bhangra funk band from Brooklyn. Think Punjabi weddings, Delhi street band brass bands, modern jazz and Rock. (The Telegraph, UK)

But even as it's clear that Red Baraat has built a startling history of performances in iconic settings, the band's bread and butter remains the sweaty clubs, festivals, packed performing arts centers, and college auditoriums that keeps the band on the road all over the world the last several years. It's here where Red Baraat does what it does best-communing with its audience in a joyful, near hedonistic celebration of music and dance, which tellingly, draws a crowd even more diverse than the players on stage. The universality of what Red Baraat does is undeniable. And this is no happy accident. It is the product of intention and design. Says Jain, "The band...our songs...are addressing the multiplicity of viewpoints. There's 'Zindabad,' which means 'Long Live' in Hindi. In that song, we're saying that we celebrate life, we celebrate devotion-but was also celebrate agitation and revolution. If we can unite people of all backgrounds and ethnicities to partake in the exuberance of life through the universal language of music, then life is that much sweeter."

Vidya Vox brings together influences of her Indian-American heritage to create music that is refreshingly new, unique and contemporary, seamlessly fusing together the intricacies of Indian music with elements of electronic and hip-hop for an undeniably catch sound. Since launching her YouTube Channel in 2015 with mashups of Western pop hits and music from her native India, Vidya has amassed over half a billion views and over 5.4million subscribers, changing the course of her life in ways she never thought possible.

Vidya's initial direction was medicine, not music. But it was while she was on a pre-med track obtaining her Psychology degree from George Washington University that she indulged her passion for music and began posting YouTube videos. Upon graduation, Vidya took the leap and decided to pursue a music career fulltime.

With her debut EP, Kuthu Fire, Vidya turned another dream into reality and released a set of culture-blending original songs that define her Signature Sound with universal crossover appeal. Kuthu Fire is an extension of Vidya's mashups as they blend very different cultural styles of music, yet they stand apart in their hip-hop and electronic inspired arrangements. But one quality that is always present, whether a mashup or original song, is Vidya's crystal-clear and agile voice that transcends genres.

One of Videya's most successful videos is one of her earlies collaborations, a mashup of Major Lazer's "Lean On "with the traditional Punjabi folk song "lind Mahi." With over 20 million views, the cover remix was so well received it caught the attention of Major Lazer who reached out to Vidya to praise her rendition of the song. Vidya's mashups have since gained worldwide recognition from the likes of Diplo & Hrithik Roshan. Vidya has bee featured in publications such as Vogue, Rolling Stone, Elle, NPR, Cosmopolitan, BuzzFeed, The Hindu, Deccan Chronicle and many more.

Vidya performs live with her band throughout the world, including India, Mauritius, Trinidad, Surname, Dubai, Hong Kong and the U.S. Vidya continues to perform regularly as a vocalist with the Shankar Tucker Band and has performed sold-out shows in amazing venues around the world including The White House, National Center for the Performing Arts in Mumbai and New York City's Webster Hall.

Vidya was born in Chennai, grew up in Virginia and was based in Los Angeles. She has studied Carnatic classical music since she was a young girl and has had many amazing gurus throughout her journey, including D.K. Nagarajan, brother of the late D.K. Pattamal. She's currently learning Hindustani Classical and taking Wester voice lessons.

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