In January 2016 we embarked on the first step of our new International Showcasing Project, and took British band The Dhol Foundation to the USA for a showcase tour.

Beginning with a bang in New York City, the band played at the prestigious and sold-out globalFEST. This was a great coup for the band and the Agency, as globalFEST are highly selective in their programming; in 2015, only 12 musicians were chosen out of hundreds of applicants. With a booming late night slot that received praise from the New York Times for their “thundering beat of Indian Bhangra”, the Dhol Foundation were a revelation to American audiences.

We continued with the Dhol Foundation to another four dates. The band played to thousands of people both live and digitally at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Centre, which was streamed live internationally, and stormed Washington’s Tropicalia later that night with another sold-out show, before heading back to New York for a show at the famous Sounds of Brazil.

The tour came to a triumphant close at Boston’s CRASHfest in the House of Blues, playing to a packed crowd of two and a half thousand people.

With attention from press, promoters, and the public, this was a hugely successful tour both for the mighty Dhol Foundation and the Asian Arts Agency’s International Showcasing Project. We were able to make new contacts, explore new areas, and gauge a sense of the US audience firsthand; an invaluable step in building future tours and projects.