harmony by the raj trio

When I first discovered the Raj Trio a few years ago its safe to say I was speechless. At the time, I was working at a newly found weekly arts publication in my town and while I do not remember exactly how it got to me, their CD changed everything for me. First of all, look at the artwork. Now look at it again, can this possibly be for real?! The liner notes are ripe with descriptions of the academic and music awards each has won over the years. The Raj Trio consists of Raj, Raj, and Veena Raj. Their ages- 15, 17 and 21 (at the time). They play what is described in the booklet as "a blend of contemporary American Pop and Dance Music with Western Classical and South Indian music." Furthermore, "the sophisticated mixture of the various instruments brings out deep feelings and emotions in the audience." The disc became an office favorite and we had to see them "live". Somehow we got on their email list and found out that they were playing at an ice-rink in Indianapolis. When we arrived, they were setting up in the corner of the rink (!) and were soon performing their electro-pop while bewildered parents and children skated in circles. If I remember correctly, the girl played electric violin and DJed (electronic decks) and one guy played keys while the other was full-time singer/frontman.

Soon after this, our publication was having a fund-raiser event at a bar and we simply HAD to bring them down to play for the masses. We wanted to introduce everyone else to this phenomena that we had discovered. We had a power-packed line-up, complete with Küntwerk, our all-female Kraftwerk type band. Raj Trio were set to go on early. Their mother didn't like them being at a bar, or playing super-late at night, it seemed? Luckily, they brought the thunder, complete with Britney-like head-microphones. Everyone in attendence was thourghly confused. Sure, its kinda cheezy, but its fun, too. And damn if the kids didn't put their whole hearts into their performance. We did our part to bring them to the masses, unfortunately, it seems like they haven't caught on yet. In all my internet digging, I could only find a couple of references...

bettawreckonize
turbanhead

Enjoy! (Even their phone number (Sharpied on my CD) has numbers that spell Raj- NO JOKE!)

Raj Trio - Harmony