We will always try to stick to our roots and entertain listeners: Swaraag Fusion Band

Pratap Singh and Arif Khan, founders of Swaraag Fusion Band share their musical journey from not knowing the industry at all to garnering numerous accolades from the audience for their soulful music.

Swaraag Fusion Band takes us through its journey of captivating hearts through musical content, and more.

How do we define Swaraag Fusion Band?

Swaraag is a Folk & Sufi Fusion Band. Today most of the bands are swayed by the popularity of rock and electronic music, Swaraag took the initiative to bring a unique blend of traditional and western music. But what makes Swaraag unique & versatile is their style to play directly via instruments and any electronic help (patches) was ruled out as an option.

Our journey

Being the founders of the band, our family includes seven lead artists and supporting staff.

Pratap Singh met with Arif Khan in concert in 2014 when he was still a freelance musician. Within a few meetings, the cords struck between the two and there was a possibility of creating a band. Both of them aimed to draw the infinite possibilities of folk-fusion music and ever since it has remained the taste of the band.

Our family

Swaraag family comprises seven lead artists on Sitar, Saxophone, Tabla, Guitar and Drum. We have Asif Khan on lead vocal and Arif Khan on Sitar. We dedicate our success to our mentors and team that include our managers supporting staff and our very own listeners(fans).

What’s in a name?

Actually, after some brainstorming, we chose this name as it sounds very much musical. Initially, we did not know the meaning of this but when fans started asking its' meaning, we researched and found it that indeed it was a fitting and beautiful name.

The word
Swaraag refers to an emotional state of a person united with music.

The name itself is a combination of two different
words -- ‘Swa’ and ‘Raag or Raga or Ragga’. The word ‘Swa’ represents the ‘person
itself’ and ‘Raga’, which means ‘to color’ has no English equal. Hence, the
person who is in harmony with the music.

Our mission statement

With all the big budgets and marketing teams, modern music has taken over the traditional music. So you can say that Swaraag is an attempt to bring people in touch with the roots of traditional music.

Not that we are against modern music but with our fusions, which have traditional and modern music, we are trying to deliver the message that music is one and that there is no division and every rhythm is as sweet as the other rhythm.

We had the most fun creating…

Arif: I enjoy a wide variety of music, so inspiration flow not only from one source but you can say that there is a separate universe of inspiration. Traditional music is unique to every country and when you talk about a country as diverse as India traditional music is unique to every region/state like Punjabi Music, Rajasthani, South-Indian, etc. I listen to all sorts of music and discuss it with the team when I like something. I follow several artists on Youtube and sometimes try to think from their perspective.

Also read: A personal touch will help you develop relatable content: Vydurya Lokesh

We work with...

Yes, we got the pleasure to work with some of the friends from event industry like Touchwood, Katalyst, Team Rustic, Global Connect, Akkado and in the corporate sector we have worked in major Telcos, Pharmaceuticals, Auto, Banking along with some of the projects of Government of India.

We are proud of it…

Ever since the existence of Swaraag, we try to create our own fusion style along with the mashup of Rajasthani folk fusion, instrumental, Sufi and Bollywood,

We deal with trolls by…

When we started off in the industry, we didn't understand it but we were just passionate about our music.

In the span of five years, we earned a lot of fame, success, and happiness from our listeners and by this industry. So as far as trolls are concerned, the simple answer is, we will always try to stick to our roots and just try to entertain our listeners till our last breath.

Our favorite creators are…

They are many as nowadays there are so many individual artists and bands which are trying to create something unique in their own ways. But to name a few - Shankar Mahadevan and Amit Trivedi.

Stay tuned for...

We have just completed the video shoot of some of our originals. So just working on final edits and the release date.