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The storytelller comes to the city

Taking place at Dubai Media City on Thursday, Sept 7 Blowout 2006 brings together the best in music from across the world – The Rishi Rich Project featuring Rishi Rich, Jay Sean, Juggy D and Veronica; Raghav, Atif Aslam and Mallika. With the line-up as hot as this, this concert is sure to be a huge sell-out.

Raghav began training in classical Indian music with Guru Nishi Kant Bali at the age of five. In 1988 he began performing and was offered scholarships from music schools across America, including the chance to study with world-renowned vocal coach Seth Riggs, whose past students include Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Madonna and Julio Iglesias. Raghav's first major break took place in 1998 when he won an award for top original song at the National Songwriters Association of America. Spurred on by his successes, Raghav moved to England to study at Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Artsin 2001and has commuted between Calgary and the UK ever since.

His collaboration with Wesley '2Play' Johnson on the UK chart hit 'So Confused' brought Raghav instant fame. He has also worked with Grammy award-winning, reggae duo Sly & Robbie, while Raghav and 2Play were also involved in Kevin Lyttle's dancehall hit 'Turn Me On'. His passion for the arts took him on a personal journey, resulting in his debut album, Storyteller.

Recently, he won an award for Best Newcomer in the British Asian Music Industry and is also getting acknowledgment from the mainstream scene with his MOBO Award (recognizing music from Black Culture), for best collaboration on So Confused, with 2 Play. In Storyteller, Raghav asserts that all the songs on the album are about his life and this adds a great personal effect to the record, and enforces his role as 'Storyteller'.

The album Storyteller is interesting for the very fact that Raghav takes traditional music and blends into 14 great pop songs. Co-writing all tracks on the album the pop elements are down to Mushtaq who is best known for his work with the likes of Damage and Misteeq. The singles “Let’s Work It Out”, “Can’t Get Enough”, “So Confused” and “Sooner Or Later” set out the stall perfectly with their off-kilter bhangra rhythms, deep bass and unique Indian scales subverting the traditional pop song. For those who don’t know, the Indian musical scale works in a different way to what we traditionally know as scales so hence the set patterns that pop songwriters Cathy Davis or Brian Higgins will approach a song with will be alien to Raghav.

Throughout the album Raghav shows his versatility from the ballad “No I” to club banging 2-step bhangra “No, No”. “C’Mon” sounds like a rewrite of the Culture Club song “The Crying Game” complete with haunting guitar riff underpinning the percussion. “Windows In My Mind” is not the strongest track on the album, but despite being reminiscent of 80s soul music it at least goes to show that whatever type of music Raghav turns his hand to he works magic.

If it has been your dream to get to know Raghav further, heres a golden opportunity. If you have any questions you would like to ask Raghav, mail your queries to events@khaleejtimes.com and have them answered directly by him, and the answers will be printed on Friday, August 25. The person with the most unique question also gets a chance to win VIP passes to the Blowout 2006 Concert at Dubai Media City on Sept 7.