Tête-Aag-tête: everything about South Asian a capella at UChicago.
Graphic by Melia Allan
UChicago Aag, the University of Chicago’s only gender-inclusive, South Asian a capella group, has a short yet interesting history. Founded in 2014, Aag has a total of 16 members – and who would’ve guessed, I’m one of them! Being a first-year student with musical knowledge but no previous experience in a capella, Aag gave me the space to express my identity through our songs, and a place to explore different musical cultures. Aag doesn’t fit in the conventional American a capella group prototype, so I wanted to get a few members’ perspectives on Aag’s unique style. I interviewed four long-time members of Aag: Co-President Nandini Kejariwal, a fourth year alto; Palash Goiporia, a fourth year tenor; Vikrant Magadi, a third year bass, and Anoushka Maru, a second year alto. All four have experienced the challenge of arranging music for this fusion a cappella group.
Aag stands apart not just because of its sound, but also its name. When asked about the significance of the name, Maru replied, “The name is definitely a play on words: UChic-Aag-o, because Aag roughly translates to fire and passion in the Hindi language.” While the members like how the name indicates their passion for music, they plan to change it in the near future. Co-President Kejariwal says “South Asia is already very India-centric in its representation, and Aag is a Hindi name, which doesn’t encapsulate multiple cultures. A big part of Aag’s identity is how it’s supposed to be the only multicultural a capella music group on campus. It fails to represent itself correctly by just a Hindi word, but then again, at least it is a non-English word.” Yet the group struggles to find a word that could possibly encapsulate all South Asian languages, which is indeed a tricky task.
Though Aag is primarily a place to make music, it also fosters a sense of community and culture that is often forgotten. By being in a predominantly English speaking country, members of other communities may feel out of touch with their roots, and Aag gives them the perfect opportunity to rekindle their lost “aag,” or flame. Many of the members are trained in Indian classical music and wanted to incorporate that into traditional a capella culture. Aag’s members feel that the group is a genuinely non-judgmental space for all levels of musical experience: people that are enthusiastic come in and audition, and a lot of them join the group without having any formal training.
Aag is associated with a very intriguing and unique genre of music: South Asian fusion. When asked what South Asian fusion means to them, Palash Goiporia commented “South Asian fusion is interesting in the sense that you use techniques from both Western classical and Hindustani classical music and try to get one cohesive chord progression.” This complexity was further elaborated upon by Kejariwal, who explained:
“South Asian fusion is fun because it is representative of the members' identities. Even those of us raised in India have had as much influence of Western culture and music in our lives as South Asian. I grew up as much on Taylor Swift as A.R Rahman, and so I feel like my identity is very much exactly what we’re singing. It’s weird because we were raised with this hegemonic thing where you want to be like the West, but you can’t ignore your own culture. And here we get to reclaim our own culture, but also show that the Western culture is just as much ours because it was literally pressed upon us.”
Usually, the group performs American pop music and mainstream Bollywood music; yet they plan to branch out to other genres of Indian music as well. One member commented that they end up choosing a lot of Bollywood, because it is the most accessible to their already niche audience: “We had this shame about our own culture, so we restricted ourselves to only certain parts of it, and we’re trying to let that go by doing more classical stuff. For example, doing the original Tollywood” – which refers to Telugu cinema and music – “version of a mainstream Bollywood song. Step-by-step, we’re trying to expand outside of our comfort zones.”
Maru, the assistant music director, explained the audition and rehearsal process and how voices are grouped. Voice parts are split into four different sections, which is typical across most a capella groups – bass and tenor are usually the lower and higher male parts, and alto and soprano are the lower and higher female parts. During the audition process, each person’s range is analyzed. This is done by hearing the voice go up and down a scale, pitch matching, and using tonal memory to see whether the voice is better suited to a higher or lower vocal part. The rehearsal process is generally split into sectionals and the whole group: first, the members learn their respective parts within their sections, and then the whole group comes together to see how it all sounds. This is a process that requires time and practice, as the point of a capella is for all the voices to blend well to sound like a cohesive instrument.
Due to the very nature of South Asian fusion, Aag's process for arranging compositions is different from other a cappella groups. The group explained that the average chords that come with an average Western pop ballad don’t necessarily translate well to a Hindustani or South Asian song, so to arrange them in a way that doesn’t sound dissonant or feel uncomfortable is very tricky. Attempting to create a fusion eliminates many genres within Western music, such as jazz and country, because they are harder to fuse with typical Indian music.
Another difference pointed out by Kejariwal is that classical Indian music has two sub-genres: Hindustani and Carnatic music. Some members of Aag are trained in Hindustani, and others are trained in Cartanic. Kejariwal pointed out that “different nuances of different music kick in here. For example: I will never sing in falsetto, because that’s a big no in Hindustani, so I don’t arrange for altos in a range that hits my falsetto. Whereas a Carnatic music singer will prefer to sing in falsetto. These minute differences in technique end up adding some multi-dimensionality and make the arrangement sound cooler!” As Magadi sums up, “It’s all about finding songs that sound good together theoretically and in practice. Listening to one and trying to sing the other over it is what works out most of the time.”
Another tricky aspect of this group is singing in multiple languages, and the constant pursuit of branching out to accommodate more languages. Goiporia talked about one specific circumstance where he tried to do a solo in Tamil, which posed a few difficulties, as he doesn’t speak Tamil. Even though a Tamil member of the group helped him with the pronunciations, he still found himself focusing more on the words than the notes while performing. In the end, even though he struggled with the lyrics, he was pleased that Aag performed a non-Bollywood song.
Another challenge lies in the fact that a song’s arrangers will need to have knowledge of that country’s musical techniques – which isn’t always the case. They want to do songs from languages under-represented within Indian culture, such as Marwadi and Punjabi, and at the same time branch out to Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and other South Asian cultures. This also poses a difficulty in terms of offending these communities: Aag mostly consists of members from India and Indian-Americans. When it comes to South Asia as a whole, the number of members from other countries and cultures are close to none. This makes singing non-Indian songs a kind of appropriation, given that they aren’t well represented within the group. Hence, there is a tricky balance to strike.
Aag prides itself on its core values: diversity, creativity and exploration. As Goiporia said, one of their priorities is to “create an environment where people can learn about different musical cultures, enjoy them and stay in touch with their own culture. It’s a place for creativity, learning to find that commonality in music. We’re not as intense as other a cappella groups. It’s a place where you can enjoy music without necessarily feeling like it’s a laborious process. You can learn in a fun and relaxed manner. Yet we do plan to take competitions more seriously in the future.” Magadi added, “Exploration and exposure is also a major part of Aag’s characteristics. I’m not trained in either Western or Indian music, and I have enjoyed learning about both. The interaction between different backgrounds also leads to many learning experiences.” Kejariwal emphatically reported how many people this year came to audition for Aag, and said that they thought it to be a unique and tolerant space. She said, “Realizing that our identity as this multicultural safe space for people is being translated in the performances we give makes me happy… and is a good place to engage with the more therapeutic aspect of music.” Kejariwal is incredibly proud that Aag is well-known as an accessible space for people of color on UChicago’s campus.
Kejariwal ended with a message which captures the essence of why Aag exists: “Just like K-pop and Swedish music had a surge in their listeners a few years ago, it’s time for South Asian fusion too.” She said that different cultures gaining prominence in the music industry means it’s time for South Asian fusion to do the same because it has so much to offer, even more so than other fusion genres: “K-Pop uses Western instruments to shake up the compartmentalised genres that exist, they break the barriers that exist in Western music which is powerful. That’s crazy, but we have an entirely new universe of sound. We have completely different instruments and techniques, and we create a whole new definition of what the beauty of music is.” Nandini wishes that more people would listen to South Asian music, and hopes for “a paradigm shift in the mind of the average Western music listener or music enthusiast.”
As we approached the end of the interview, I asked what the members wanted to convey to the Firebird readers. Goiporia said, “From proposals, to food festivals, to farewells, I’ve had many unique experiences being a member of this group. Aag is great. Join us!”
Edited by Sofia Delgado, editor of Features
Cover art by Melia Allan