Just over a yr since her last run of shows within the nation, New York-based violinist, vocalist and composer Rini aka Harini Raghavan and her band will return to India for the six-city Moon Drops India Tour, beginning Sept. 20 in Bengaluru.
After Bengaluru, the tour makes its solution to Chennai (Sept. 21), Mumbai (Sept. 22), New Delhi (Sept. 25), Gurugram (Sept. 27), Kochi (Sept. 28) and ends in Hyderabad (Sept. 29). In between, Rini may also conduct a workshop at Global Music Institute on Sept. 26.
Delhi NCR and Kochi are two new stops on the tour, put collectively in partnership with Chennai-based firm Quriosity. Opening acts embrace singer-songwriters like Nichesluck in Bengaluru and Damini Bhatla in Hyderabad, plus Yazhi the Band in Chennai and Fluorescent Forest in Kochi. In Chennai, Rini shall be joined by singer-songwriter Shakthisree Gopalan, who appeared on the music “Magizhini.”
There have been inquiries and calls for for extra reveals as nicely, in keeping with the artist, however her tour is “already pretty set now.” She provides, “We don’t have room to add more but we really, really appreciate everyone who has reached out and all the love from folks who follow us and our music. It definitely inspires us to tour more and record more music.”
Rini is joined by Malaysian guitarist Andrew Cheng, Luxembourg-based bassist Achal Murthy, Israeli saxophonist Shahar Amdor, with drummers Ranajoy Das and Maxime Cholley taking turns behind the package in several cities. Rini says concerning the lineup, “When I started planning the tour we had some logistical conflicts with my team from last time based in the U.S. (including some amazing tours some of them are on, like Josh Plotner who is on the North American tour of Avatar: The Last Airbender Live in Concert!). So I decided to reach out to my older collaborators who had moved out of the US – like Achal Murthy from Luxembourg and Ranajoy Das from Delhi – both of whom have played on my first two EPs.”
Of the artists becoming a member of Rini’s band on tour, solely Cheng has been a part of the act’s earlier India tour in early 2023. This time round, the Moon Drops tour takes its identify from Rini’s music “Moon Thuli,” launched in December 2023. “Moon Thuli” interprets to “moon drop” and initially took inspiration from a Latin time period, referenced in Macbeth by Shakespeare. “To me it was also a fresh metaphor for love across space and time and I used it in the song to express that. It’s also something magical much like the synths and ambient sounds I use in all my tracks and I felt like it symbolized what this tour would bring – an immersive magical experience of Indian classical music with jazz and electronica,” Rini provides.
The setlist on tour additionally contains current releases like “Telisi Rama” (that Rini describes as “a re-imagined arrangement of a traditional Carnatic Krithi by Thyagaraja”) and “Kapi in Rio,” a Carnatic-meets-Latin music crossover tune that was launched on Sept. 12. “There are more fun tunes that I have added with audience interaction components (claps, scats etc.) and I can’t wait to test these out,” she provides.
Following the tour, Rini will seem on The American Patchwork Quartet’s album and as a Recording Academy voting member, plans to listen to extra albums up for consideration and launch one other single in November. The upcoming music will function Lithuanian vocalist Simona Smirnova and Portuguese artist Manuel. “I am busy planning my 2025 shows for my project – including a big show in Philadelphia in collaboration with the dance group Usiloquy,” Rini says.
Get tickets for Rini’s Moon Drops India Tour here.
