Business Class Refugees

"Global in form and spirit, the album boasts of indomitable energy, its core is Indian but with an unmistakable electro-funk influence, there's an earnestness and ebullience that is admirable."
- Economic Times

"This is not only heavenly, it's beautiful."
- DJ Pathaan, BBC Radio

"Kartick and Gotam cleverly graft their sound to the countless collaborations they encounter along their journeys to make a truly global musical tapestry. Propelling a listener around the world from the comfort of a pair of headphones, Business Class Refugees strikes out on a musical journey that is utterly captivating. Business Class Refugees is astonishingly good, but then we'd expect nothing less from EarthSync."
- WorldMusicCentral

Nowhere near home, Kartick & Gotam were traveling from South India to a remote village in Aceh, Indonesia, in a journey through Asia recording indigenous music forms. An overbooked flight and unexpected luck landed them in business class luxury. In transit in Singapore, they applied for the visa to Indonesia, and the Special Permit to travel to Aceh. It was to take 3 hours. 6 hours later, the flight left without them. 3 days later, they were still waiting, neither at home nor destination, stuck somewhere in between. They waited indefinitely at the airport - Business Class Refugees without passports, identity, and stateless - sipping free champagne in the airline lounge or aimlessly roaming Singapore Airport's duty free arcades and coffee shops... sometimes homesick, sometimes worried, but mostly, making music on their laptops.

'Business Class Refugees' is now a global, collaborative project by music producer Kartick (Patrick Sebag) and sound designer Gotam (Yotam Agam), who mix local music from around the world with electronica… electro - folk without borders, global flavours, and a cross-cultural mixture of emotions, realities, styles, languages - and irresistible grooves.

The project has no end. Taking their base tracks around the world, Kartick & Gotam collaborate with local musicians to overlay local artistic interpretation and signatures. This album is where Kartick & Gotam's journey began: India.

Patrick Sebag and Yotam Agam have collaborated on many successful albums, films and shows, most notably Laya Project, EarthSync's award-winning audio-visual documentary celebrating the music and cultural traditions of 6 countries affected by the 2004 Asian Tsunami. They also worked together on the recent EarthSync releases Voice Over The Bridge and Nagore Sessions, which Rolling Stone magazine called "fantastic world music".

'Business Class Refugees' features distinguished artists from around Asia and the Middle East such as Mahesh Vinayakram, Erez Lev Ari, Navin Iyer, Yoav Bunzel, Anuradha Viswanathan, Murad Ali & Mishko M'Ba.