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Bahut nikle mere arman, lekin phir bhi kam nikle

Nikalna khuld se adam ka sunte aae hain lekin

Bahut be aabru ho kar, tere kuche se hum nikle

khuda ke waste, parda na kaaba se, utha zalim

kahin aesa na ho yan bhi, wahi kafir sanam nikle

Kahan mae-khane ka darwaza, Ghalib... aur kahan wa'az.

Per itna jante hain, kal woh jata tha ke hum nikle. Da-Saz, whose maiden album Jet Lag will be out soon, is a unique "band", bringing together global music and musicians. Dhruv Sangari's voice cuts beautifully through the sunny summer afternoon, its strains, as fresh as an early morning raga, reverberating with an earthy, rustic feel. Close by, Lionel Dentan mixes eclectic electronic sounds, even as Gennady Lavrentiev, a musical jack of all trades (he plays more instruments than you can count on your fingers), strums on his guitar gently. Completing the quartet is Suchet Malhotra, the percussionist, who brings to the group the uniqueness of all the instruments he's picked up from far and wide — the darbouka from Egypt, daf from Iran, djembe from Ghana, cajon from Peru and didgeridoo from Australia. A few days before their first album, Jet Lag, hits the music stores, this rag-tag bunch of nationalities who make up the band Da-Saz are a busy lot. Da-Saz's sound is truly global, a fusion of Punjabi folk, Middle Eastern fare, Sufi sounds and much more. Indeed, more than a band, Da-Saz is a well-networked platform gathering talent from across the globe. Take Jet Lag, where Sufiana meets electro, Hindi meets Farsi, Urdu and Punjabi, Turkish sounds mingle with percussion from across the world. There's poetic lyricism interlaced with electronic beats and harmony, and "even an ode to Bollywood in Amitabh Bachchan style" pitches in Sangari. The album, evidently, doesn't have a central theme. Perhaps, that is why it took a while to find a producer, the band muses. Now, with Phat Phish Records firmly behind them — they're the same guys who recorded Rabbi Shergill — a smiling Da-Saz hopes its success is considerably "phat" (fat) too. The album's 11 tracks, most of them composed and mixed by David Scrufari, were recorded in Da-Saz's home-studio in New Delhi. Jet Lag features musicians from India, Russia, Switzerland, France, Italy and Panama, and a chamber orchestra arranged by Laurent Waeber. One of the tracks, "Vaasta Tera Mera", the video for which was shot in Pushkar during the camel fair, is out on YouTube. And soaking in the local response to their shows, the foursome is quite taken with the idea of performing in smaller towns. "People are so much more appreciative there. They are open to all kinds of exposure and different sounds. The audience in big cities is too full of information already," says Sangari, while Dentan chuckles and suggests that they should perform at dhabas next. Among the bigger towns, Srinagar remains a favourite. In their studio in Delhi, though, the world is a small place. Anchoring the collective is Dentan, a Swiss who's lived in India for the last 10 years and been part of several musical projects. Early in life, he gave up his books for music — guitar, jazz, oriental music, Turkish saaz and now the sitar, which he's learning in the style of the Imdadkhani Gharana. But more than his own music, Dentan recognises the best in, and of, others. "It's his karma to collect musical people, hear them out and see how and what they can add to the collective," says Lavrentiev, a Russian based out of Moscow, who plays with the band when he's in Delhi. He first came to India in 2000 to learn the tabla, quite enchanted by the country's deep musical tradition. He has been involved with projects in Russia involving musicians from India, Australia and Malaysia. Even though he plays many different instruments with equal passion and ease, Lavrentiev tells me that he didn't take too well to the violin when he first started learning to play it many years ago. "I came back to the violin after learning other instruments, and I saw it so differently," he recalls, now having added shades of Carnatic music to it. Vocalist Dhruv Sangari's style developed quite in the same manner. "I wasn't too keen on my singing classes in school. But later, especially after learning from one of my biggest inspirations, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, I saw things very differently," says Sangari. In his teens, Sangari decided to pursue qawwali, Hindustani and Sufi music as a full-time career and has performed extensively in India, Pakistan, Europe and the US. He's also been part of many plays as a musician. The singer is also passionately involved in collecting and translating Sufi poetry, under the banner Ek Taara which he's founded with his filmmaker friend Yusuf Sayeed. The duo travel through narrow lanes in small towns, putting together footage and data on music from little known places, gathering unknown anecdotes and historical snippets. As for Suchet Malhotra, he tells his story through sounds. As Dentan puts it, "Suchet's work is clearly understated. He creates the ambience through his collection of sounds." Malhotra learnt the tabla with Ustad Chhamma Khan and went on to study some of the world's major percussion instruments. But just when you think the quartet is all about music and more music, there's suddenly a whole lot of talk about food…who cooks better meat and so on. But then again, music and food together is a sure-shot winner.