IMN - International Music Network

Thursday August 06, 2009

By LISA TSERING
India-West Staff Reporter
from India-West

SAN FRANCISCO — Singer Kailash Kher and his band, Kailasa, are bringing Sufi music into the 21st century, and reaching out to a new world of fans with a series of shows in the U.S. and an upcoming album on the Cumbancha label, “Yatra:Nomadic Souls.”

“We call our music Kailasa, which means heavenly. When you feel heavenly, this music makes you feel — ‘Wow, man!,’” Kher told India-West backstage before a show at Stern Grove Aug. 2. “You become a child all of a sudden, you are in a trance. Our music drives you automatically toward that energy.”

“Indians already love our music,”Kher continued. “Now, international people are going to listen to our music. This new album is going to be a big thing, not just for music lovers but for us, too.”

By “us,” Kher means his smoking- hot band, Kailasa — Paresh Kamath on electric guitar, Naresh Kamath on bass, Tapas Roy on oud, Rinku Tajput and Sameer Chiplunkar on keyboards, Kurt Peters on drums and Sanket Naik on percussion.

Kher and band captivated the audience at the free, alfresco concert, which filled Stern Grove’s redwood-rimmed grassy meadow. Roughly a third of the audience was South Asian — and jumped to their feet to cheer at the opening bars of many of Kher’s hit songs— but the remaining crowd, even without knowing a word of Hindi, were just as passionately swept up in the rhythms of Kher’s earthy, folk-tinged vocals.

“Our music does not limit for any particular genre. There are people putting names on music, but we come beyond any category. That’s why people connect with us more,” he said. “Let people feel what they feel about the music.”

Kher says he has learned music by listening to classical recordings, but says, “I can’t claim to have any classical training … I’ve gone through almost 14 gurus, though!”

“When I was four, my father, who was a priest, would play the ektara and sing Sufi songs. I would join him, singing in the ‘khula gayaki,’ or open-throated, style. People were surprised to hear that.”

But Kher’s parents did not want him to pursue music as a career. “I left home at the age of 14 to learnmusic,” he said. After earning a degree at Delhi University’s Correspondence College, Kher tried his hand at the import-export business, but his heart wasn’t in it. Later, he decided to give music his best shot, and headed for Mumbai, where his unique voice was soon noticed by commercial composers. Kher soon became an in-demand voice for campaigns such as
Hero Cycles and Chevrolet.

“Singing jingles is more fun than singing any big song,” Kher told India-West. “It’s shorter, and it fetches you big money,” he said with a hearty laugh. “A 30- seconder can fetch you 20 grand — and sometimes you don’t get 20 grand with a film song!”

Kher acknowledges that Sufi music’s greatest ambassador was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan — he performed “Sajna teri bina” in tribute to Khan Aug. 2 — but he is alsounafraid to add new flavors to the genre. “There’s a Sufi yoga in India, and a Sufi cuisine in India,” Kher told the audience. “So we can have Sufi bhangra, too.”

Kher, who has served as a judge on “Indian Idol,” is a frequent collaborator with leading Bollywood music directors such as A.R. Rahman (“Delhi 6,” “Couples Retreat”) and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (“Salaam-e-Ishq”). He will be heard for the first time on a soundtrack by Vishal
Bhardwaj, for Bhardwaj’s eagerly awaited “Kaminey.” On “Fatak,” Kher sings a duet with Sukhwinder Singh.

“Vishal and I were both born in Meerut,” explained Kher. “We both come from the folk world, and he is a filmmaker and composer who thinks out of the box. The same goes for our music — we don’t make music just for entertainment; there is a message in our music. I’m a fan of Vishal’s work because his films lead you to think about life. That’s the kind of art I love. We were friends and met each other so many times, and he said we should work together, and he called me and ask me to sing this song.”

Kher actually had no aspirations to pursue a music career here in the States, but the musical fates had other plans. The founder of the music label, Jacob Edgar, was on vacation in India in 2007, and was riding in an autorickshaw somewhere in Kerala.

“I first heard Kailash’s amazing track ‘Tauba tauba’ blasting out of a radio when I was zipping down the road,” Edgar said in a statement. “I made the driver slam on the brakes so I could find out who was making this incredible blend of funky pop and Indian roots music. I finally found out later it was Kailash Kher and Kailasa, and I’ve been a big fan ever since. I am so excited to have them as part of the Cumbancha roster and to help introduce the world to a group that millions of people already revere.”

Kailash Kher will perform at the Hollywood Bowl Sept. 20, accompanied by Malkit Singh, Anoushka Shankar and the Ravi Shankar Centre Ensemble (curated by Ravi Shankar), and Rhythms of Rajasthan. See if it doesn’t make you feel a little “Wow, man!” yourself.