Sunny Jain

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 drummer, composer and thought leader. He's toured the globe with the pioneering band he founded in 2008, Red Baraat, with highlight performances at The White House (Obama), London Olympics, Peter Gabriel's Womad festivals. He joined legendary percussionists Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Giovanni Hidalgo & Planet Drum for a reunion show in 2022 at Frost Amphitheater, CA. Jain is Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artist and has appeared on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series three times. Twice with Red Baraat (ranked #8 best Tiny Desk by New York Magazine) and most recently with his Wild Wild East band. He was a 2024 Visiting Scholar / Artist in Residence at Wesleyan University in CT, where he developed his first music theatrical show, Love Force. Jain was musical director for London-based, OBIE award winning show, The Jungle, and musical producer for Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding, The Musical. Jain is a 2025 Soho Repertory Theatre Commissioned Artist, a cultural pillar of New York City's theater scene for the past 50 years.