Swaraag charms with its original music

Satyendra Bhardwaj

“First heard the group at a wedding, have been a follower since. Invited them to as many occasions possible. And now I feel proud to see them at this stage. Something special about their performances that creates a stir and awakens all the happy notes within oneself. Keep up the good work guys!”

This comment on ‘Padharo Mhare Des’ folk fusion song by a fan on Youtube epitomises the loyal following that ‘Swaraag’ – a hugely popular Indo-Western fusion band from Rajasthan, enjoys, not only in India but also in other countries.

After lying low for two years due to the pandemic, the band sprung to life once again with a performance recently in Delhi.

Born in 2014 out of the ‘jugalbandi’ of Founder & Team Coach Pratap Singh and Arif Khan who create music over Zitar, the band has come a long way since then, having done more than 1000 shows worldwide and being the runner up of the Colours TV popular reality show ‘Rising Star 3’.

While Rajasthan has been a land that has produced talented and legendary artists since ages, how does Swaraag differentiate itself among the many bands, particularly in the Indo-Western fusion sphere?

“We create live music using instruments and do not use mixing machines and people of all ages can enjoy our performance equally,” says Singh. He cited one of the performances in Dubai wherein the organiser was full of praise for them and “he specifically mentioned the appeal of our music to the people of all ages”.

While the band enjoys back-to-back bookings now, corona pandemic gave them both anxious time and opportunity to try something new. “We were clueless for some time when lock down was announced, but then all the members of the band connected each other and decided to go online, as we had started getting requests to do FB Live etc. So, we set up our studio and organized 10 days training for our team.”

The song Ja Ja Re Corona Virus is the result of Team Swaraag’s never say die spirit! Song which has a Rajasthani folk song touch was shot at home with only tabla and zitar sound, carries a message for taking precautions. The raw video has generated more than 13000 views so far!

With corona scare a thing of the past now, the band is looking forward to some power-packed performances in coming months with bookings for Delhi, Indore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Jammu and other cities committed and some overseas bookings under discussions.

The members – Asif Khan (Lead Singer), Tasruf Ali (Saxophone), Rishab Rozgar (Guitar), Arif Khan (Khartal/Morchang), Sajid Khan (Drummer) and Seif Ali Khan (Tabla), besides Pratap and Arif (Zitar) – are quite upbeat. While they will continue to mesmerise the Indian audience with their fusion creations in the months to come, their fans in Europe and USA are all set to see them performing live!