Rini
New York, New York, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2015 | SELF
Music
Press
Rini a.k.a Harini S Raghavan delivered the night’s most intense performance. The Chennai, India-born frontwoman leads what has to be the most multicultural band in town. Guitarist Aleif Hamdan is from Jakarta; bassist Achal Murthy hails from Luxembourg. Drummer Tancredi Lo Cigno is Italian and sax/electronic wind instrument player Íñigo Galdeano Lasheras is Spanish. Whatever language they speak, it all adds up to fire. Their jaunty opening number faked everybody out: from there, the band dug in and the storm began.
With her powerful, often ferocious mazzo-soprano and dancing, carnatically-influenced violin lines, Raghavan led the group through a dynamic set that blended Trans-Siberian Orchestra pomp with distantly macabre early ELO and even more towering cinematics. Somewhere there is a video game franchise or a postapocalyptic film screaming out for this woman to write its soundtrack.
Staying in sync with an electronic track – in this case, mostly loops of piano and ambience – is difficult, but the band stayed on track as Raghavan’s voice dipped and lept and bent as the music careened and slunk along, through a swaying heroic overture, a catchy bhangra riff transposed to trip-hop, knifes-edge Middle Eastern themes, a detour into menacing, wah-driven Doctors of Madness-style psychedelia and finally a galloping mini-raga. What a blissfully adrenalizing set. Rini are scheduled to rip the roof off Silvana on Feb 17 at 9. - New York Music Daily
Video featured:
"Chennai-bred singer and violinist Harini S Raghavan has made her mark in New York so far, recording and performing with the likes of AR Rahman and Clinton Cerejo on tour, but her own influences come to the front with her debut five-track EP Kural, which means ‘voice’ in Tamil. Raghavan jams on violins as well as electronic effects with a band setup backing her on songs such as “Thiruvizha” and “Fear.” Her latest video from the album is the title track, which is a groovy jazz-leaning fusion song about women’s rights." - Rolling Stone
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Going Green with Freekstile - The Deli Magazine
"#Violin is considered to be an instrument which is the closest to the human emotions and human voice!
'Spirit Of The String' by Rini stirs just right chords to get you tuned to their music." - Songdew - A popular website for Indian indie music
Blending east with west, Harini S Raghavan, a.k.a., Rini creates music that transcends borders and limitations. She fuses Indian Classical and Folk music with Electronica and Rock, and the result is delightful. Her talent as a singer, violinist, and composer have led to her performing and recording with A.R. Rahman, among many other notable musicians. She has graced the No.1 spot in the list of top world-music bands in New York City, as ranked by The Deli NYC Magazine. - Be Bold People - India
Rini draws on her decades of Carnatic music training and her years at Berklee, shifting South Asian classical elements toward pop and jazz sensibilities in a refreshing, organic way. - Republic of Jazz
Discography
Alone in the Blue EP
Kural EP
Photos
Bio
Leading an international cadre of musicians, New York based, Chennai born singer, composer and violinist Harini “Rini” Raghavan creates her own version of Indian electronica. Harini draws from her formal training in Carnatic music and work at Berklee College of Music in Electronic Production to bring together sounds and music of her birthplace in India and her home in the US. An experienced performer and recording artist, she has recorded and performed with Grammy winning composers A.R.Rahman, Bill Whelan and the renowned Israeli Singer-Songwriter Idan Raichel, headlining prestigious festivals and venues in US and India, including Boston Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center, Beacon Theatre and the United Nations General Assembly. Rini has released three EP's worldwide - 'Kural', 'Alone in the Blue' and ‘Maya’ - on Spotify, Google Play, Amazon and other digital outlets to critical acclaim, including a feature in Rolling Stone India, New York Music Daily, Republic of Jazz and World Music Central.
Harini was a featured soloist on violin in the video ‘Jiya Jale’ by The Berklee Indian Ensemble, released in 2014, that has 7 million views to date. She performs across the United States with touring Indian Musicians like Karthik, Devan and Anup Rubens.
Band Members
Links
