Jonny Greenwood and Shye Ben Tzur Reunite With The Rajasthan Express on Cross-Cultural Album 'Ranjha'

One of the most celebrated cross-cultural collaborations in modern music has returned. 'Ranjha', the new album from composer Shye Ben Tzur, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood and the Indian ensemble The Rajasthan Express, blends Sufi devotional traditions, Indian classical idioms and contemporary production across 11 tracks, with The Smile's Tom Skinner adding drums.

The record follows 'Junun', the trio's acclaimed 2015 debut, which is marking its tenth anniversary. Where that album was captured in a makeshift studio inside Rajasthan's 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort, 'Ranjha' was built in the more intimate confines of Greenwood's studio in Oxford, England, a change of setting that reshapes the project's character even as its musical roots stay intact.

Taking Rajasthan to Oxfordshire

The reversal of geography is the project's central story: rather than Western musicians travelling to India, the Ajmer-rooted Ben Tzur and Rajasthani players relocated to the English countryside, reshaping the ensemble's sound with a sharper, more contemporary edge while keeping its devotional core intact. The inversion is more than a logistical footnote, since the room a record is made in shapes its texture, and trading a desert fort for a studio invites a different kind of intimacy.

“We carried the desert with us into the studio - the room changed, but the spirit of the music did not.”

— Shye Ben Tzur

A meeting of traditions

The collaboration sits at the crossroads of several lineages. Ben Tzur writes devotional poetry and music drawing on Sufi and Indian forms, Greenwood brings the experimental sensibility that has marked his work with Radiohead and as a film composer, and The Rajasthan Express carry the folk and qawwali traditions of their region. Tom Skinner's drumming adds a rhythmic anchor that ties the contemporary production to the ensemble's devotional foundation.

• 'Ranjha' spans 11 tracks blending Sufi devotional, Indian classical and contemporary production
• It follows 2015's 'Junun', which is marking its tenth anniversary
• 'Junun' was recorded inside Rajasthan's 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort; 'Ranjha' was made in Greenwood's Oxford studio
• The Smile's Tom Skinner contributes drums to the new record

Why it resonates in India

For Indian listeners, the album lands as a reminder of the country's deep pull on the global avant-garde, and of how Rajasthani folk and qawwali traditions continue to find new life through partnerships with leading Western artists. Such collaborations carry a double edge worth noting: they can broaden the audience for Indian forms while raising familiar questions about how those traditions are framed and credited on the world stage.

A decade on from 'Junun', the reunion suggests the partnership has matured rather than simply repeated itself, with the move to Oxford signalling a willingness to let the music evolve. Whether 'Ranjha' matches its predecessor's standing will play out over time, but its arrival reaffirms that the dialogue between Rajasthani devotional music and the international vanguard remains very much alive.

The NE Times View

That 'Junun' still resonates eleven years on is why this reunion matters: it was cross-cultural collaboration done with respect rather than extraction. Moving the recording from a Rajasthani fort to an Oxford studio is a fair worry, place shaped the original's spirit. But genuine partnership, where Rajasthani musicians are co-creators and not exotic texture, is the standard such projects should be judged against, and the bar this trio set.

This article is original commentary and analysis by The NE Times. Background facts were referenced from Rolling Stone India, KLOF Mag.