Red Baraat have been around in Brooklyn for a few years, and at 9 members or so,they combine manic North Indian wedding band music with traces of Bollywood, Hindustani, and Punjabi traditional influences, and Western rock. Led by Sunny Jain, an American-born drummer and dhol player with Indian roots, the band can whip up a crowd and get people moving on their feet, and even reach the fervor of a New Orleans Dixie-land marching band at times. They feature a tuba, horns, a Sikh trumpeter and vocalist, and put all to good use blurring the lines between world music and jazz to create a feverish blend of traditional and international sounds.

For the following interview (after a recent Brooklyn Bowl concert), DooBeeDoo’s Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi spoke with leader Sunny Jain about his personal roots, musical influences, and why they try not to get too political.