Playlist: Krish Raghav, Gig Promoter for Split Works

Tom Arnstein | Jan 20, 2017 8:30 am | Add a comment | 1473 reads

Krish Raghav, when not helping to fill Beijing’s gig calendar with top-notch foreign acts as the Content and Media Coordinator for China-based gig promoters Split Works, is busy doodling away for his hobby of love, comic books, or keeping up with his area of study in policy analysis. Here we take a look at the musical road that led him to work in promotion, including which coveted bands he’d choose for an ultimate five-track playlist.

What was the first record you ever bought?
It was a cassette. Early 90s. The Indian “hip-hop" artist Baba Sehgal's breakout album, Thanda Thanda Paani, which means ‘Cold Cold Water,’ and contained a barely disguised ripoff of Vanilla Ice’s ‘Ice Ice Baby.’

It was slim pickings for music heads in that time – MTV had just entered India, and they’d chosen the bubblegum sounds of what was then called Indipop to be their mainstay (listen to Alisha Chinai's ‘Made in India’ for the best (worst) example of this era).

But despite my sniffiness, I realize retrospectively that it was Indipop that created a market for alternative music in India, beyond Bollywood.

Baba Sehgal, meanwhile, has now re-emerged as a minor Twitter celebrity.

What was the first concert you saw? How did it go?
My family was deeply embedded in the Tamil classical music scene, and I went to many many Carnatic music concerts early in life. It’s a refined, tasteful, intellectual scene – which meant it was also spectacularly boring for kids like me. It’s a shame that my family’s sincere efforts at molding me into a cultured classical music kid backfired so soundly.

The first “alternative music” gig I saw was Indian Ocean, the now legendary Indian folk rock band. They were as brilliant as I’d imagined – set the bar pretty high for my experience at concerts.

Which touring band has changed your life/inspired you more than any other?
I’ll have to pick two here. 1) Back in the late 2000s, as a young journalist in India, I followed the Bangalore alternative band Lounge Piranha (now defunct) very closely – they were crowdfunding their own gigs in a country with barely any infrastructure for live music, they did DIY tours and self-published their own (excellent) albums. The drummer (who publishes as Appupen) also drew comics, which was a major inspiration for my own drawings. 2) I was a big fan of the Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, back in college. Their left-of-center radical politics squared with my own, and their touring stories were the stuff of legend. I used to seek out live bootlegs of their concerts, and read every scrap of information I could find online about them.

I could have never in my wildest dreams imagined that I’d one day get to meet them, hang out with them, get a drink with them, and make their 2016 China Tour possible.

Which band do you hope to never have to deal with ever again? Do any particular horror stories stand out?
What happens in Split Works stays in Split Works.

But nah, it’s never got to the point where I don’t want to deal with a band ever again – worst case, a band might be boring or dull or picky, but they’re rarely horrible.

What is your favorite cover version of a song?
I love TV on the Radio’s cover of ‘Mr Grieves’ (originally by The Pixies), The National’s cover of ‘Morning Dew’ (originally by the Grateful Dead), and Dean and Britta’s cover of ‘I’ll Keep It With Mine’ (originally by Nico).

Live, I really like Shanghai band Dirty Fingers’ cover of Talking Heads’ ‘Psycho Killer,’ and the American singer Kishi Bashi’s cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love.’

And finally, no talk of cover songs can be complete without Bappi Lahiri. He’s the cultest of cult Indian music directors, responsible for such classics as ‘You Are My Chicken Fry,’ and this ‘cover’ (though he took original credit for it) of Michael’s Jackson ‘Dangerous’ called ‘Traffic Jam.’

What is your favorite music video?
I don’t really watch too many music videos there days, so I’ll have to pick one from the early 90s, when I did. Lucas with the Lid Off, shot in an extraordinary single take by the director Michel Gondry, who would then go on to make Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

If you could meet one dead and one alive musician who would they be and why?
I wish I could have met David Bowie while he was still alive. He’s a huge inspiration for all of us who identify as slightly strange, and I think he made timeless music that will not be pigeonholed by the era it was written in.

Alive, the list is too vast, but I’d probably love to meet Elza Soares (the Brazilian samba singer) and PJ Harvey more than anyone else.

Who is the one musician/band you’d love to book in Beijing?
So many. I’d love to see the Indonesian folk-rock band Trees and the Wild, the Japanese groups Afrirampo, Radwimps, and Sakanaction, the Korean trio Asian Chairshot, the Beirut band Alif, the Pakistani musician Slowspin, the Indian band Sky Rabbit, and the Siberian garage-rock band Jack Wood.

I’m also dying to see some Afrobeat and space jazz up here … so, Kamasi Washington, The Comet is Coming, Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids, Soil and Pimp Sessions, Sean Kuti and the Egypt 80.

I think Beijing would like all of them.

Who is your favorite active singer or band in Beijing right now?
I like TOW, Lonely Leary, December3Am, Perpetual Motion Machine, Chui Wan, Last Goodbye, and Lu Xian Sen (鹿先森乐队).

Playlist