Noon | Claudia Cassidy Theater

6 PM | Navy Pier

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Red Baraat Indian brass-band music remains largely unknown in the West, but its furious polyphonic puffing and rollicking grooves are a staple at wedding celebrations on the subcontinent. New York percussionist Sunny Jain, the son of Punjabi immigrants, has an abiding interest in musical hybrids—his recent Taboo (Brooklyn Jazz Underground) is a thoughtful adaption of the ghazal form for jazz quartet—and he formed Red Baraat as an Indian brass band with a distinctly American flavor. The group combines the fizzy, exuberant melodies of bhangra—along with its propulsive dhol drumming—with the second-line funk of a New Orleans funeral, and pulls it off without insulting either tradition. The nonet’s debut album, this year’s Chaal Baby (Sinj), is as smart as it is fun, balancing busy, irresistible beats with high-level horn blowing on both sturdy original songs and bhangra hits by the likes of Daler Mehndi and Malkit Singh. The record is great, but onstage Red Baraat are even better, winding up the crowd with shouts of encouragement and boisterous audience invasions till they’ve turned the show into a dance party. —PM

Aashish Khan and Alam Khan with Swapan Chaudhuri

Mahala Rai Banda When it formed a decade ago, this Romany band from Bucharest split the difference between manic Balkan brass and the wild fiddle music made famous by Taraf de Haidouks, but its latest album, last year’s Ghetto Blasters (Asphalt Tango), tilts definitively toward the horns. This strengthens the group’s rhythmic punch and cranks up the funk in its tunes, but the fiddle of charismatic bandleader Aurel Ionitsa still cuts through the puffing brass with astringent accents, clever counterpoint, and wild solos. Mahala Rai Banda have full command of a variety of regional folk styles, and their approach ranges from the jackhammer ferocity of “Zuki Zuki” to the smoldering soulfulness of “Balada”; on “Solo Para Ti” there’s even some convincing flamenco flavor. On disc they don’t sound as crazed and explosive as the Boban Markovic Orkestar, but they up the ante live—when I saw them this summer in Istanbul their energy, wit, and precision never flagged. —PM

8:30 PM | Navy Pier

DJ Jimmy Singh

Introduction

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