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Thanks to groups like the Dalit Freedom Network and Operation Mobilization, all of a sudden the gospel's coming to the families and homes of the Dalits. They've helped start schools for the Dalit children, which the Indian government frowns upon, to say the least. We visited a school in which the Dalit children were wearing uniforms and sitting at desks. They're learning about Jesus, learning Scripture, and they're being taught English, which is a powerful tool because it's the one language common to all of India. There are 1,300 spoken languages spoken across the country, so if you know English, you can get somewhere. It's amazing to see these kids succeed because of the gospel coming to India.

Where does Caedmon's Call fit in all this?

Young Our goal is to help raise awareness of what's going on in India, as well as other Third World nations. We're recording a world music-influenced record, and with the new music and the upcoming tour, we're trying to start two new Dalit schools and get children sponsored to fill those schools.

World music? How will that fit with the band's sound?

Young We've always been into world music a little bit, especially with the percussion stuff that Garett has used. We've always loved this stuff and made attempts to incorporate it in the past. Our kind of music lends itself well to world music, more so than other pop and rock styles. Our roots are really in folk music—acoustic and organic—which isn't too far off from other world music styles.

We started by hearing different musicians and styles from multiple countries. When we decided as a band that we needed to go to India, we planned the trip and put out word to find Dalit musicians in India in hopes of finding a few to write and record with for the next album. We set up our recording gear in Lucknow, and we ended up finding more than 70 musicians and groups. There were people taking trains for three days to get to where we were, standing up the whole way.

Garett Buell It was really something special. A lot of the music these musicians play isn't heard anywhere outside of their villages. They had instruments unique to their own region or caste. And it was traditional music, but not the traditional music that people usually think of with "Indian music." They weren't using the high-class instruments of the upper caste like sitars or tables. It was more a mixture of harmonium, guitars, some drums, and a lot of vocals.

Bragg Music is not just entertainment for them. There's more meaning to it. It's really stuck into their culture and social system. It's how they record their history.

Young One of the sub-castes in a particular village did nothing but play music—and the rest of the people in the village supports them. They spend their days walking out among the workers in the fields and everywhere else. These guys are basically telling the story of their caste and the plight of their people through music. Sometimes, one of these stories would be a single 90-minute piece of music. It was amazing—we'd just record the whole thing straight as they acted it out and talked along with it.

Another village had some straw huts on the outskirts, and that's where the musicians lived. When we came into town, all the villagers poured in and sat around those huts, and the musicians would sit up on this small wooden stage, performing their story for them. The funny part is that it's all participatory. The singers would sing, but then the villagers would react with affirmation, or then elders would argue and shout out, as if to say "You're telling it wrong! That's not the way it was!"

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