Beat This

Lockett started taking drum lessons when he was 19 and was in a punk band before he discovered India and Indian music. “I was bowled over every time I heard the tabla or had daal baati churma,” recalls the man,who is mostly known for his background scores in Bond films and other Hollywood hits like The Incredible Hulk 2,Moulin Rouge,The Insider,The Bone Collector and The City of Angels and his collaborations with artistes like Bjork,Peter Gabriel,Bill Bruford and Zakir Hussain.

Ahead of his stellar performance on Sunday,Lockett had already been in the city for over three weeks,jamming with a slew of Rajasthani folk artistes for the finale performance titled Riff Rustle. He led the musicians to a fusion of drums,flutes,khartals,harmonium,and blended it beautifully with performances by regional dancers and vocalists. “This was my first collaboration with artistes from Rajasthan,who I must say,are so talented. Also,the idea of it all was not to fuse eastern and western music. The idea was to work together to present our music like a unified orchestra. Only this can make it a beautiful experience,” says Lockett,who drove around the whole of Rajasthan to scout for these artistes.