Sunny jain
“Epic in every sense. One of the leading figures in North America’s burgeoning Asian music scene. A global musical alchemist and cultural agent provocateur.”
“Jain breaks open the image of the swaggering American cowboy with his acidic, twangy, propulsively hypnotic songs. It’s an inspired cinematic concept that conjure kaleidoscopic images. Jain has crafted a masterful, robust celebration of America’s immigrant cowboy soul.”
Sunny Jain’s Wild Wild East (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings) encompasses myriad facets of Jain’s identity both as a first-generation South Asian–American and as a global musician, from his own family’s immigration story to his eclectic musical upbringing. He sources musical inspiration from the scores of Bollywood classics, Punjabi folk traditions, jazz improvisation, and rollicking psychedelic styles. Songlines (UK) called Jain “one of the leading figures in North America’s burgeoning Asian music scene. A global musical alchemist and cultural agent provocateur.” His 5 piece band (drums, vocals, sax, guitar, bass) delivered a fiery NPR Tiny Desk Concert in 2024. They toured North America appearing at the iconic Monterey Jazz Festival, Calgary Jazz Festival, Victoria Jazz Festival, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, National Museum of Asian Art, and the historic Harlem Stage in NYC. In 2022, the band made a milestone tour to Pakistan headlining Music Mela in Islamabad, the Lahore Jazz Festival and performing with master Sufi dhol drummers Nasir Sain Wajdani and Sain Tanveer. Just months prior, the group performed on the National Mall in Washington D.C. for the renowned Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
The career of Sunny Jain is a celebration of cultural diaspora: deep-rooted tradition that ripples outward, changing – and being changed by – the cultures that it touches. He is a composer, drummer, dhol player and thought leader. In 2022, Jain joined Planet Drum for their first show in 15 years, playing alongside drumming legends Mickey Hart (The Grateful Dead), Zakir Hussain, and Giovanni Hidalgo.
In 2021 during the pandemic, Jain released Phoenix Rise, a collaborative effort featuring over 50 artists such as Grammy winners Arooj Aftab, Michael League (Snarky Puppy), Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas), and Endea Owens (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert). Accompanying the full digital album is a 72-page physical book that combines music, art, photography and planet-based recipes, all in the name of social justice. As executive producer and music producer, Jain partnered with Center for Constitutional Rights to fundraise and advocate for the work they do.
Called the “Hendrix of dhol” by Manchester Salon (UK), Jain is most known for founding the pioneering band Red Baraat, a frenzied fusion of bhangra, hip-hop, jazz, rock, and sheer, unbridled energy. NPR called them “the best party band in years” and their 2017 NPR Tiny Desk concert was touted as the 8th best TDC of all time by New York Magazine. The band has toured across the globe the past 17 years, including stops at the White House (Obama), London Olympics, TED, Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD festivals (Australia, New Zealand, Spain, UK) and Padma Lakshmi’s Blossom Ball. They have released 7 albums with numerous accolades from major media outlet and ranked in top 10 lists on Billboard, Apple Music and World Music Charts Europe.
Jain was a 2023-24 Visiting Scholar and Artist in Residence at Wesleyan University, where he developed his first music theatrical show, Love Force. He was music producer for Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding, The Musical in 2023. Most recently, Jain was announced as a 2025 commissioned artist by Soho Repertory Theater, a cultural pillar of NYC, notable for producing avant-garde plays by contemporary writers.
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