Ali Sethi is set to release his second album, Room Jhoom, on May 22, marking a collaboration with American drummer and composer Gregory Rogove. The project, which began as a follow-up to ‘Pasoori’, has developed into a blend shaped by both artists’ approaches, moving between Sethi’s Sufi influences and Rogove’s Caribbean-driven sound.
In a post shared on Instagram, Sethi outlined how the album took shape over time. He wrote that he had spent much of his past pursuing precision, believing that “truth and beauty were external, somewhere over there and all I had to do was strive hard enough, practice long enough, to get there”. He said this approach led him to overlook his own instincts until he began to listen to what he described as an inner voice.
Reflecting on that shift, he wrote, “I began to loosen, to journey away from my moorings. I was succumbing to new sounds and sensations, yes, but also surrendering to a long-buried voice within, which asked me to seek freedom, to lay roots in new soil, to pin my hopes on an expansive horizon.”
Sethi also addressed the response to moving away from established structures, particularly within the traditions he has trained in. He wrote, “In our culture broadly — and in our musical tradition specifically — exiting the agreed-upon framework is a feint most foul. thou shalt not switch sides, and thou certainly shalt not advertise it on Instagram. Besharam behaya!”
According to Sethi, Rhoom Jhoom emerged from this departure, shaped through collaboration with musicians he worked with during the process. He said these interactions allowed him to move beyond earlier constraints tied to his training in ragas.
The album, he noted, reflects an exchange between South Asian and Latin American pop influences.
Speaking about the making of the record, Sethi wrote, “what we made is music rooted in trust: trust in the process of collaboration, and in the power of intuition.”
He added that the project involved working with multiple contributors, including Rogove, and described the process as one that allowed him to “bend the rules of my raags”.
Room Jhoom follows Sethi’s debut album Love Language, which was released in August last year.