HE may be ten years into his career in India, but Raghu Dixit has just won the Best Newcomer gong at the Songlines world music magazine’s 2011 awards in Britain with his fusion of traditional Indian music and folk rock.

Last month he played five stages at Glastonbury, making a live appearance on the BBC too, and on August 16 he will perform at the England v India Test Match at the Oval. Charles Hutchinson pops the questions before the Raghu Dixit Project’s York debut this weekend.

Your debut album, Antaragni – The Fire Within, reached number four in the official UK world music chart in May, but it has taken a while for your music to catch fire in Britain, hasn’t it, Raghu?

“Yes, the album came out in India in 2008 but not in Britain until last September. When I first came to England, my first gig was at the Gibson Guitar Centre off Oxford Street and there were precisely nine people there. That was in 2009, the year we started playing to one woman and two children in the rain at the Lovebox festival in Victoria Park in London, but then we could see people running toward us and by the end of the set, we had 3,000 people watching us.

“And when a band pulled out of WOMAD, we were asked to step in to play there just three days later. Of course we said ‘Yes’; we just love playing the music and I’ve never found any other joy to replace it in ten years now.”

When did you sense you had made your British breakthrough?

“When I toured here properly for the first time, from May to August last year; 28 gigs in all. We played most of the places that normally bands would love to play and as that was when the album came out, effectively it was a new album over here – which is why the Songlines award came about.”

Is a new Raghu Dixit album on its way?

“No, we have not really hurried our second album. The idea has been to try out our new material on audiences and it’s only now that we know what’s gone down well. We have about 60 new songs in all, 20 of them strong enough for an album and we’re now asking audiences to limit the choices to ten songs, as the attention span is only for so long and ten songs is the perfect length for an album.”

Your music has been called “traditional Indian music crossed with folk rock”, but how would you describe it?

“The philosophy of my music is to truly represent what is Indian music now. We’re still hanging on to our wonderful culture, despite all the cultures around us, and right now India is on a wonderful cusp of absorbing new music, new cultures, but holding on to our beautiful culture.

“In my music, there are elements of rock’n’roll, the blues, African music, and we’re putting it together in one beautiful style.

“I’m always looking to develop, like, for example, hopefully if I have enough money, I want to do a road trip around Cuba and Brazil as they’re so vibrant, and I want to share Indian folk music with the street musicians there.

“But it depends on how much I earn from the UK tour to see if I can take the band with me. Hopefully we’ll make enough from our gigs this year to at least break even, after we lost money on last year’s British tour, but we knew in advance that would be the case as it was a tour to get us better known.”

How is your “missionary work” for modern Indian music being received in India?

“Because of what I’m doing the respect goes up back home as they can see what I’m doing, and when I see the bigger picture it’s been a beautiful journey.

“The pace has been building, and in fact it’s been blinding, and that hasn’t been easy as I like to stop and smell the flowers, and now I don’t even have time to scratch my….!

“Nevertheless, it has been wonderful to step outside myself and meet other musicians. Last week we played the Rhythms of the World festival at Hitchin and it was amazing how many people came up and hugged us and queued for an hour for autographs and to meet us.”

How was Glastonbury for you?

“After we were booked for the John Peel stage we got picked up for several other stages, and for one I had to go on stage with a borrowed acoustic guitar because the band were stuck in the mud somewhere. That was a traumatic moment but it was great to do it!”

Film music is a big part of your musical repertoire. What’s coming next for you?

“This year I signed up for a major Bollywood movie, Mujhfe Fraaandship Karoge (Would You Wanna Be My Friend Please?), which will be released in India on October 14 and the soundtrack should be out in early September through Yash Raj Films.

“I’ve been doing my music for ten years but it took film music to bring me recognition. One of my songs from the film Psycho – not the Hitchcock Psycho! – called Mahadeshwara became so popular that it’s still in the charts after four years.

“Suddenly I couldn’t move in the street because everyone stopped me and they still do. The movies are so glamorous in India and their power is incredible. People scream for that song when they see me!”

Raghu Dixit’s Project play National Centre for Early Music, York, on Sunday at 7.30pm. Tickets: £15 on 01904 658338. He is playing is single Hey Bhagwan/I’m In Mumbai will be released on Wrasse Records on July 25.

Did you know?

Raghu Dixit has a Masters in microbiology from the University of Mysore and is a Vidwat master in Bharatanatyam, an ancient classical Indian dance discipline.