Yashraj’s ‘Meri Jaan Pehle Naach’ India Tour: ‘We Want to Provide The Best Desi Disco Experience’
Mumbai rapper’s new alt-disco EP will premiere live in New Delhi, Lucknow and Indore in September, with more shows slated in Jaipur and Bengaluru
Mumbai hip-hop artist Yashraj. Photo: Siddhesh Pandey
Promoting his shimmering new disco-informed EP Meri Jaan Pehle Naach, Mumbai hip-hop artist Yashraj has one essential item on his tech rider on tour – a disco ball.
After launching the EP with shows in Mumbai in July and August, the Meri Jaan Pehle Naach Tour hit Bhopal on Aug. 30 and now heads on to Saket Social in New Delhi on Sept. 6, followed by sets in Lucknow on Sept. 13 and in Indore on Sept. 22. Additional shows in Jaipur, Bengaluru and Pune are in the works. “I just wanted [the tour shows] to be a very immersive experience where people just come and they get lost into that energy in the idea of this project and come out of it probably finding a new song,” Yashraj says over the phone.
Disco balls are a necessity, but Yashraj isn’t ready to adapt wherever they go. “Back in the day, it used to be a singer that used to travel with a harmonium player and that’s how we’re treating this entire thing […] We’re here trying to just get the energy right,” the rapper says.
The upcoming New Delhi show holds a special place for Yashraj, mostly because he’s just never been able to have a proper gig in the capital in recent times, that too in the city that gave him his first gig in late 2021 under his own name. “At least the past four times, the track record has been that there’s been cops that show up and the event gets canceled,” he says. This time around, Yashraj says he’s just going in with an “open mind and heart” for what’s to come.
He was in Delhi recently, however, joining hip-hop/pop star King at his Monopoly Moves Listening Party tour kickoff in early August (as well as the closing show in Mumbai). Joining the likes of Badshah, Ikka, MC Stan and more on stage, Yashraj says it was a “crazy” and “rare occurrence.” He adds, “I feel like there’s very few people in the scene that have the ability to do that [kind of show], to bring so many people together for a common project, or a common message or an agenda.” The rapper was part of King’s Monopoly Moves on the track “Suits & Streets” with fellow Mumbai hip-hop artist Gravity and singer-producer Abhijay Sharma.
For Yashraj’s own shows promoting Meri Jaan Pehle Naach, the rapper is joined by artist Punch.m on the decks (“He’s one of the best disco DJs in the country”) and seasoned sound engineer-produced Pritesh Prabhune (“He’s the spinal cord of our operation.”) The artist recounts how he and Punch.m go way back, when the producer was Yashraj’s senior in college. “Back in 2016 and 2017, I used to go back to his place every day after college, four days a week. He used to just play the keys, and I used to freestyle for hours, and that’s what we did for like, two, three years straight,” the rapper says. Punch.m adds “beautiful additional synths” to the EP’s sonic journey, in what Yashraj calls a full circle journey.
With a “completely unexpected” reception at his Bhopal show where people were singing the second and third verses of his tracks, Yashraj is heartened by the “special” response to the EP so far. Some tour stops have been based on streaming stats, but Yashraj admits that it’s a “gamble” to head to cities for the first time, but he adds that Bhopal has set the bar high.
Yashraj – Meri Jaan Pehle Naach India Tour 2024 (Tickets)
Sept. 6 – Saket Social, New Delhi
Sept. 13 – Nucleus, Lucknow
Sept. 22 – Ring Road Social, Indore
Date TBA – Jaipur
Date TBA – Bengaluru
