Penn Masala cooks up spicy musical mix

From Eminem to Sting, “Let’s Get Married” to “Big Pimpin’,” no song was off-limits on Saturday… From Eminem to Sting, “Let’s Get Married” to “Big Pimpin’,” no song was off-limits on Saturday night when Penn Masala took the stage in David Lawrence Hall.

The Asian Student Alliance sponsored the event, which featured a three-act performance by Penn Masala and a special appearance by Sounds of Pleasure, Pitt’s all-women a capella group.

College students, small children and adults of all nationalities comprised the more than 600-person audience that filled the auditorium.

Penn Masala, composed of students from the University of Pennsylvania, is an interntaionally known Hindi a capella group. Formed in 1996, it “fuses modern, classic American vocals with Eastern Indian Music and Western Pop,” according to the ASA Web site’s advertisement of the event.

“I’m not new to Indian music, and I’m not new to Western music, either, but I’ve never heard fusion,” said Mahesh Bandi, a graduate student at Pitt, whose reason for attending the concert was two-fold. “Also, I had heard of Penn Masala when I was a kid in India. I wanted to experience them for myself.”

The night was more than just a combination of traditional Hindi and English music. The group used a lot of humor to keep the audience cheering throughout the show. During a rap battle, the rapper from Bombay, India, declared, “My second language is C++.”

At another point, a member of the group appeared in an Eagles’ jersey, showing support for the city that is home to Penn.

Audience member Kathryn Yarnot was especially impressed by this “risky move.” Yarnot was also pleasantly surprised by the number of songs performed in English.

“I wasn’t sure how much Hindi music would be involved, but I think that it was a good mix,” she said.

Yarnot was drawn to the event by her many friends in ASA. Their excitement about the event made her want to attend.

Nitin Aggarwal, political actions chair for ASA, confirmed the excitement felt by members of the organization.

“It took a lot to get [Penn Masala] here,” he said. “We all put in a lot of work and had fun doing it. I’m really excited to see the results.”

Rikin Shah, programming chair for ASA, was the main force behind organizing the event.

“I thought that it would be nice to get larger and better events here at Pitt,” Shah said. “We have so many resources here, and I thought it would be best to take advantage of them.”

When Shah started thinking about the event and who he would want to perform, the name Penn Masala came up. Shah’s cousin was one of the original members of the group, so Penn Masala seemed like the perfect choice. He has been working since the end of summer to make the evening a success.

“All the effort and work — it was worth it,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better show.”

The members of Penn Masala were just as excited to come to Pitt as the ASA was to host the event.

“We were here three years ago in this same venue,” senior member Ashish Doshi said. “When [ASA] decided to bring us back, we jumped at the chance.”

The energy from the audience in Pittsburgh in 2002 caused the group to visit once more, even though it meant driving across the state the morning of the performance.

Recently, Penn Masala preformed in Michigan and California. When Doshi was a freshman, the group toured India and even performed in a live, award show-style setting. The success of the ensemble has “taken off,” according to Doshi, and has exceeded the original expectations of the founding members.

Penn Masala is composed of 14 men from all around the globe. Adarsh Shah, who is from London, said that seven people are from the United States and seven are from other countries. The mixture of people seems fitting: “Masala” translates to “mix of spices.”

Members go through a rigorous audition process to become part of the ensemble. Shakir Iqbal, who lives in Pakistan and is a senior at Penn, felt strongly about joining.

“I heard about Penn Masala when I was applying to Penn. I knew that I wanted to do it before I even came to college,” Iqbal said.