March 22, 2010, photo in the New Yorker:
Night Life: The New Yorker
March 9, 2010, interview on WBAI 99.5FM, New York
Asia Pacific Forum segment on Red Baraat
Click here to hear the interview
September 10, 2009, interview with Sepia Mutiny:
Red Baraat: Bhangra, Brass and Bringing It
“Bumping beats to rearrange heart beats, Red Baraat is “Hoi, hoi-ing” into the hearts of people across the nation. Established in 2008, this nine member New York City based “dhol ‘n’ brass band” has quickly risen to the top in the ‘world music’ circuit (and wedding circuit) of the NYC area.”
February 28, 2006, review in Village Voice:
Rhythm Uproar: Brooklyn genre-mixers rage blisteringly against the machine
“[The band] featured a bongo-banging, dhol-playing, trumpeter-singer (Sonny [Singh] Suchdev) whose infectious vocal hooks were born in gurdwaras (Sikh temples) he attended as a kid… [The band] quickly got the diverse teens-to-thirties crowd—a rich mix of blacks, whites, South and East Asians, plus an especially hardcore Hispanic contingent—moving with blistering numbers like “Arise” and “Blood on the Streets,” the mellower “Ojos Abiertos,” and the hypnotic “Her Word on Me,” the latter featuring a signature Suchdev hook that the entire crowd sang along to even though, he confesses, its verses aren’t even words. Contrasted with the bland, by-the-books Bush-bashing banter of so many “political” bands today, Outernational’s expansive worldview, crooned this night in at least three languages by my count, bespeaks a solidarity with Franz Fanon’s wretched of the earth.”
May 24, 2006, CNN-IBN TV, India
War goes pop: Protest music rocks US
“On Saturday night, the band played at CBGB’s, the punk rock mecca of New York. The band is Outernational, and very upfront is Sonny [Singh] Suchdev, who not only does vocals but also plays the trumpet, bongos and dhol, bringing an Indian flavor to their melody. ‘All of us in the band brought our histories and our pasts with us. Our drummer is Puerto Rican and there’s a lot of Latin influence in our music. Obviously, I’m Indian and grew up listening to Hindi film songs and bhangra in my family’s house so that’s a part of my heart, a part of who I am. Those elements come through very clearly in our music both melodically and rhythmically,’ says Sonny [Singh] Suchdev, Outernational.”
March 13, 2006, interview with Alternet
Not Your Parents’ Protest Music
“Being a revolutionary band means that we want our music and our band to be a part of the struggle to change the world, to overturn this exploitative, degrading system and create a new world. Being a revolutionary band means that we’re inspired by oppressed and colonized people in this country and throughout the world who are fighting back and have been fighting back for centuries.”
