Penn Masala: World’s first South Asian A cappella band to perform in Hyderabad, Bengaluru

PTI By PTI 17/05/2023 Read the article

A cappella, which replaces instruments with harmonised vocals, literally means “in the style of the chapel” in Italian.

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Not surprisingly, Penn Masala, the world’s first South Asian A cappella band, leans heavily on Bollywood to create its mix.

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The band was formed in 1996 by students at the University of Pennsylvania. Over the years, the band members kept changing, but the sound was consistently fine-tuned.

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We select our members through a musical audition process every September held on-campus at the University of Pennsylvania,” said current band member Raghunandan Raman.

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“We always take into account the music tastes of our audience, so for our upcoming tour, we have added a lot of new songs to our repertoire that are more popular with Indian audiences.

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Gaurish Gaur, another member, recalled how Bengaluru with its “amazing energy” became one of their favourite cities to perform.

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“The primary reason for the absence of female members in our group is rooted in our musical arrangements.”

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Our aim is to stay true to the original sound and essence of these songs, which makes it challenging to integrate other vocal registers without compromising the integrity of our performances.

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Penn Masala will be on a six-city homecoming tour in India between 19 and 29 May. Produced by TribeVibe, the tour will travel to Hyderabad on 25 May and Bengaluru on 26 May.

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