In this interview, Ashutosh Sharma, Founder of Amarrass Records, shares how Amarrass Music Tours makes cultural preservation sustainable through immersive, community-led experiences supporting local artists and artisans.
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Ashutosh Sharma, Founder of Amarrass Records, is a cultural entrepreneur, producer, and archivist dedicated to preserving India’s living folk traditions. Since co-founding Amarrass in 2009, he has built a one-of-a-kind ecosystem that blends music, community, and sustainability, from reviving desert blues and Himalayan folk to hand-cutting India’s only vinyl records.
Under his vision, Amarrass has grown beyond a record label into a movement that connects artists, travellers, and audiences through immersive experiences like Himalayan Baithak and Thar Blues, redefining how traditional music is experienced, valued, and sustained.
In this interview, Ashutosh Sharma, Founder of Amarrass Records, shares how Amarrass Music Tours makes cultural preservation sustainable through immersive, community-led experiences supporting local artists and artisans.
Here are edited excerpts:
How do Amarrass Music Tours turn cultural preservation into a viable business model?
At Amarrass, we’ve always believed that preservation has to go hand in hand with participation. If you want a tradition to survive, you have to create an ecosystem where artists can earn with dignity. The Music Tours are built on that philosophy, they generate direct income for folk musicians, instrument makers, and local hosts by positioning culture as a living, interactive experience rather than a commodity. Instead of just selling a concert ticket, we’re creating multi-day journeys where the value comes from connection, shared meals, stories, and music in its natural habitat. That authenticity itself becomes the product, and travellers are willing to invest in that.
What economic value do you see in slow travel as a sustainable alternative to mass tourism?
Slow travel creates deeper and more lasting value, both for the traveller and the community. When people spend time in a village, stay in local homes, eat local food, and engage with artists directly, the money flows straight into the grassroots economy. For example, a single Amarrass tour employs local guides, cooks, transport providers, and musicians, often the entire village participates. Unlike mass tourism, which extracts and moves on, slow travel circulates value within the community. It’s not about volume; it’s about impact per person.
How does Amarrass ensure fair artist compensation while keeping the experiences exclusive yet accessible?
We’re very conscious about pricing ,it’s a fine balance between maintaining exclusivity for a personal experience and ensuring inclusivity for the artists’ benefit. Our model is transparent: a fixed percentage of every ticket goes directly to the musicians and artisans. Beyond that, we cover their travel, accommodation, and ensure they perform in dignified, comfortable settings. Accessibility, for us, isn’t just about price, it’s about creating emotional and cultural access. Even in small, high-value groups, the artists are at the center, not on the margins.
What role do partnerships, with travel brands, venues, or artisans , play in scaling these tours sustainably?
Partnerships are crucial. We’re not trying to build a travel company; we’re building a cultural movement. Collaborating with like-minded boutique travel brands, sustainable retreats, and local artisan collectives helps us expand responsibly without losing authenticity. For instance, our collaboration with Soulitude by the Riverside in Uttarakhand allows us to create an intimate retreat that aligns with our values of sustainability and warmth. Similarly, working with local craftspeople in Rajasthan ensures that the tours also revive traditional economies like instrument-making.
How do projects like Himalayan Baithak and Thar Blues strengthen Amarrass’s identity as both a label and a cultural enterprise?
These projects complete the circle for us. As a label, we record and archive music; as an enterprise, we create living spaces for that music to thrive. Himalayan Baithak and Thar Blues are where our recordings, fieldwork, and artist relationships come alive. Guests don’t just listen to music, they meet the people, the instruments, the landscapes that shape it. It deepens our identity beyond production, we’re curators of cultural experiences that bridge tradition and contemporary curiosity.
What’s next for Amarrass ,are you envisioning a global expansion of these curated cultural experiences?
Absolutely, but in our own way. We’re not chasing scale for its own sake, we’re looking for resonance. The next step is to take the essence of Amarrass, authenticity, connection, and fair exchange, to global audiences. We’ve already received interest from Europe and the Middle East to host Amarrass Baithaks with Indian and local folk collaborations. The long-term goal is to build a global network of living traditions, where artists, travellers, and communities co-create. It’s about expanding roots, not just reach.