‘I want to compose for Tollywood films’

Things couldn't have been better for musician Raghu Dixit whose debut album was the highest selling non-film music release of the year. A rage with young music lovers across the country, this guitarist-cum-lyricist, who performed in the city, talks about his ambitious Raghu Dixit Project, live gigs and his future projects.

"The Raghu Dixit Project is not a band, it is a collaborative jam which is open to not just musicians but also dancers, painters, lyricists, poets etc," says Raghu, who when not jamming, performs at concerts along with his musicians. "We've clocked 85 gigs this year. That's more than a gig per week. I think that's impressive considering we play contemporary folk music. There's a rising acceptance for this genre," adds this dhoti-clad musician, who has made folk music look cool.

He may be the current sensation, but Raghu admits that his foray into music happened "by chance." "When I was in college, I was inspired by a friend who'd play the guitar and sing rock songs. I took it up as a challenge to learn the guitar and within two months, I learnt a few chords. It started out as a joke, but soon I was hooked," says this Kannadiga, who is a gold-medalist in microbiology.

"I ditched my great job after college to take up music as a full-time career," he adds.Live-gigs apart, Raghu has composed songs for Kannada films and has also crooned the now famous title track for Quick Gun Murugun. "I released two songs for the Kannada film Pyshco in 2007. The second movie that I composed for, Just Math Mathalli, has been voted as the album of the year."

The singer who has given folk a contemporary twist believes in staying true to his roots. "I had made a demo CD for my debut album with eight Hindi songs originally. However, the composer duo Vishal and Shekar insisted that I replace Hindi songs with two Kannada ones for the album. They felt that it was important that I represented where I came from," he adds. Still basking in the success of his debut album, Ragu Dixit is in no hurry to roll out his next. "We want to play at international venues and incorporate new sounds into our music. A lot of musicians' subsequent albums fizzle out. I don't want that to happen," says the singer, who is keen on composing tracks for Tollywood as well. "Tollywood movies have a huge fan following and I want to market myself here. I think I stand a good chance," he adds.nted film. Mangala will go to sets in the month-end of January