Red Baraat looking for dancing at tomorrow's performances

Sunny Jain, leader of the Brooklyn-based band Red Baraat, wants the University of Richmond to dance tomorrow.

"People are going to dance," Jain said. "That's what I'm hoping for, plain a simple. Boom."

Jain and the rest of the nine-member Red Baraat will perform tomorrow first in The Forum from 1-1:30 p.m. and then in The Modlin Center's Alice Jepson Theatre at 7:30 p.m.

Normally a sit-down venue, the Modlin Center's description of the concert states, "Due to the potential for overwhelming fun, the Modlin Center is offering both seated tickets and standing orchestra pit passes for this event."

Red Baraat plays at a variety of venues because their sound appeals to people of so many musical backgrounds, Jain said. Among the nine-member group includes drums, saxophones, trumpets, sousaphones and the dhol, a double-headed drum that Jain plays.

"A large portion of my life, I was just a jazz drummer," Jain said. "When I was putting the group together, I was trying not to just draw upon my jazz friends because I didn't want to just be a jazz-flavored band; I wanted to really run the gamut of genres."

The band celebrated its four-year anniversary last week, Jain said.

"We've kind of established from the get-go that this is a family," he said. "There might be disagreements or arguments, but at the end of the day, we're committed to each other.

"We're able to work with that setting, support each other and grow as a band, grow as individuals."

Jain said Red Baraat would have performed about 100 gigs by the end of this year, including a recent 10-city tour in the United Kingdom. They also participated in NPR's popular "Tiny Desk Concert" series.

"We really didn't know what to expect," Jain said. "I really had no idea that it meant actually playing in front of a tiny desk, but it was a lot of fun."

You can buy tickets for the concert in the Alice Jepson Theatre at http://modlin.richmond.edu/events/modlinarts-presents/red-baraat.html.

Contact staff writer David Weissman at david.weissman@richmond.edu