The 32-year-old singer-songwriter is already bagging big votes. Academy Award-winning director Jeffrey Brown spotted him at a gig in Kolkata and instantly knew he wanted Junaid’s soulful brand of folk-rock. Junaid’s tracks will feature in Brown’s upcoming film, Sold, co-produced by actor Emma Thompson.
He has an affinity for unusual instruments like the charango, duduk, oud and glockenspiel (your guess is as good as ours – Google?), all of which feature on his first solo album, What Colour is Your Raindrop, which released late last year.
Junaid juggles genres (alliteration win). He was a guitarist with jazz and blues outfit Stella and rock band Cognac before forming his own folk band, Ruhaniyat.
Sold opens the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles on April 8. Indianfilmfestival.org
