New York’s Fusion Artist Rini Returns to India for Six-City Tour This Week

Chennai-born, New York City-based fusion artist Rini aka Harini Raghavan and her band will perform and host workshops in six cities starting this week, with gigs in Chennai, Bengaluru, Pondicherry, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

The tour comes five years since her last visit to the country as a performing artist and since then, there’s been plenty of developments in Rini’s live and studio projects. Among them is video performance and collaboration series Blue Carpet Sessions, which recently saw Rini team up with singer-composer Shakthisree Gopalan for the Tamil-English song “Maghizini.” On tour, Rini promises to keep the collaborative streak going, with live jams featuring Chennai composer-keyboardist Prashanth Techno, vocalist Keerthana Vaidyanathan, Mumbai-based Bombay Brass bandleader and saxophonist Rhys Sebastian, Hyderabad singer-composer Damini Bhatla and more. Rini says, “Every city we are playing I have been reaching out to musician friends who I really admire […] There are a couple more people I am still talking to.”

The India tour, put together by Chennai-based event management and creative company Quriosity, also sees Rini supported by a diverse set of bandmates. Go-to drummer Maxime Cholley from France has been part of the band for a while, and he’s joined by Brazil-origin bassist Marcelo Maccagnan, Malaysian guitarist Andrew Cheng and American saxophonist, clarinetist and woodwinds artist Josh Plotner. Rini says about the performances, “I’ve been playing with this lineup for the past year when the live scene revived here post pandemic and it’s been exciting to hear the same music re-interpreted by different musicians while keeping the soul of it the same.”

The setlist includes songs like “Mango Showers” and “The Lost City of Puhar,” among other cuts from the Blue Carpet Sessions. Rini says there are a few A.R. Rahman covers and her own older songs like “Spirit of the String” and “Raghuvamsa Sudha.”

Admittedly late to hit the festival circuit this year on tour, Rini says she’s seen a lot of changes in the live music space in India, from venues shutting down to new ones coming up. While there are two workshops in Chennai and Bengaluru, an acoustic show is set to take place in Pondicherry on February 18th. “The live scene this year is looking great in India and I hope it just keeps growing,” Rini says.

It’s an understandably packed schedule with the tour, but Rini does say she has a bit of free time toward the end of the run of shows. “I am hoping to meet a lot of musician friends that I haven’t seen in a while and if inspiration strikes, maybe we head to the studio? I am going to leave that open. It’s always exciting to have plans loose so we have a ton of possible outcomes,” she says.

Rini India Tour 2023

February 16th – KM Music Conservatory – Workshop, Chennai

February 17th – Barracuda Brew, Chennai

February 18th – PY Café, Pondicherry

February 19th – Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined, Bengaluru

February 21st – Rainbow Bridge – Workshop, Bengaluru

February 23rd – Antisocial, Mumbai

March 3rd – EXT, Hyderabad

March 4th – [Surprise Venue], Bengaluru

Get tickets here.