PERFORMING DESI: MUSIC AND IDENTITY PERFORMANCE IN SOUTH ASIAN A CAPPELLA

A thesis submitted to the College of the Arts of Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

by

Nicole Christine Muffitt

August 2019 Thesis written by

Nicole Christine Muffitt

B.M., Kent State University, 2016

M.A., Kent State University, 2019

Approved by

______Jennifer Johnstone, Ph.D., Advisor

______Jane Dressler, D.M.A., Interim Director, School of Music

______John R. Crawford-Spinelli, Ed.D., Dean, College of the Arts

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………...……………………………………….....v

LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………………....vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………….viii

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………...1 Opening and Background…………………………………………………………………1 Survey of Literature……………………………………………………………………….2 Identity………………………………………………………………………….....2 South Asian Popular Music and Culture in the United States…………………….8 Choirs…………………………………………………………………………….11 Fieldwork Methods and Music Analysis………………………………………...13 Methodology……………………………………………………………………………..15 Proposed Topic…………………………………………………………………………...16 Projected Results of Research……………………………………………………………16 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….16

II. HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTION……………………………………………………………18 Importance of Historical Analysis………………………………………………………..18 History of Collegiate A Cappella…………………………………………………………20 History of Indian Film Song as a Precursor………………………………………………24 South Asian Immigration to the United States……………………………………………28 History of South Asian Fusion A Cappella……………………………………………….32

III. SOCIAL MAINTENANCE………………………………………………………………….34 South Asian A Cappella by Directory Data………………………………………………37 Survey Analysis………………………………………………………………………….41 Competition………………………………………………………………………………43

IV. INDIVIDUAL CREATION/EXPERIENCE………………………………………………...53 Audition Phase…………………………………………………………………………...54 Rehearsal Phase…………………………………………………………………………..57 Competition Phase……………………………………………………………………….65 Recording Phase………………………………………………………………………….79

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V. MUSIC: COGNITION, BEHAVIOR, MUSIC SOUND……………………………………...82 Cognition-Behavior-Music Sound; Dhamakapella’s Sonic Shifts……………………….83 Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………..83 Dhamakapella……………………………………………………………………85 Narrative Description…………………………………………………….91 Astha A Cappella…………………………………………………………………92 Narrative Description…………………………………………………….97 Tufaan……………………………………………………………………………98 Narrative Description…………………………………………………...102 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...103

VI. CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………106

APPENDIX A. Choirs in the Association of South Asian A Cappella 2018 Directory……………….110 B. Survey Questions…………………………………………………………………….112

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………115

iv

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1. Area of exclusion from the 1917 Immigration Act………………………………………29

2. Asian migration from 1980 to 2014……………………………………………………...30

3. Map of Asian migrant distribution across the United States…………………………….31

4. Association of South Asian A Cappella Graphic………………………………………...35

5. South Asian A Cappella choirs founded from 1999-2018……………………………….39

6. Growth of Collegiate A Cappella, 2909-2005…………………………………………...39

7. South Asian A Cappella Choirs by State………………………………………………...40

8. Map of Asian migrant distribution across the United States…………………………….41

9. 2018-2019 South Asian A Cappella competitions……………………………………….44

10. Gathe Raho advertisement……………………………………………………………….44

11. Gathe Raho judges’ application………………………………………………………….45

12. South Asian A Cappella judging rubric……………………………………….…………47

13. The A3 bid system……………………………………………………………………….49

14. Tanpura drone screenshot from Youtube.com…………………………………………...66

15. Piercian semiotic triad interpreted by Thomas Turino…………………………………..67

16. Dhamakapella at their Gathe Raho performance in Iowa City, Iowa……………………71

17. Stitched Brocade…………………………………………………………………………72

18. Bollywod actor Priyank Chopra wearing a design by Ritu Kumar at Indian Couture Week……………………………………………………………………………………72

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19. Excerpt from “Madness/Phir Le Aya Dil,”………………………………………………75

20. Official notice of Dhamakapella’s status as an A3 competitior…………………………79

21. Language use distribution of Dhamakapella’s 2019 Gathe Raho performance…………91

22. Excerpt from “Chand Sifarish/Open Arms”………………….………………………….92

23. Language use distribution of Astha A Cappella’s 2019 Gathe Raho performance……...97

24. Excerpt from “Heathens/God is a Woman/Endaro”……………………………………..98

25. Language use distribution of Tufaan’s 2019 Gathe Raho performance………………102

26. Excerpt from “Heathens/God is a Woman/Endaro”……………………………………103

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

I. South Asian A Cappella choirs founded by year, 1999-2018……………………………38

II. Dhamakapella members for the 2018-2019 academic year…………………………...…54

III. Guide to Ornament Notation……………………………………………………………..85

IV. Listening guide for Dhamakapella’s 2019 Gathe Raho performance……………………85

V. Listening Guide for Astha A Cappella’s 2019 Gathe Raho performance……….………93

VI. Listening Guide fro Tufaan’s 2019 Gathe Raho performance…………………………...99

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Dr. Jennifer Johnstone, often called “the queen” in my home, where do I begin? I am so indebted to you for my success. Your constant support, belief in me, and encouragement have given me the tools I need to succeed as an academic and an individual. Without your recognition of me as an undergraduate, I am not sure I would have gone on to pursue graduate school. Your help in my recent application process made me feel so confident. You always give me fantastic advice about school and also about life, and I am so blessed and grateful that you have been my advisor and dear friend during this degree. Thank you for your kindness, availability, intelligence, and love. The next beer is on me!

Dr. McPherson and Dr. Roxburgh, thank you so much for your help throughout this process. Your academic prowess makes me glad that you were on my committee, but also incredibly nervous! Thank you for your generous help and your encouragement for me to always question my research! Dr. McPherson, thank you for reminding me to always connect the social and cultural practices to the music sound. Dr. Roxburgh, thank you for constantly asking “What are you trying to measure?” I find myself saying that in my head but to people around me as well.

To the members of Dhamakapella – Gavin, Grace, Naya, Shilpa, Vasu, Aashna, Kevin,

Komal, Antonio, Divyam, Eric, Kasey, Lewis, Pavani, Savannah, and Swetha – thank you for being so awesome! I could not have asked to work with a better group of people. You are kind, talented, smart, and funny people. Keep on singing, it suits you so well!

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To all the faculty that have touched my life at Kent State, especially David Mitchell and

Andrew Shahriari. Thank you for your letters of recommendation as well as your constant support and interest in my work and my future. You have taught me more than I probably realize.

To Jessica, my wonderful friend, thank you for introducing me to this fantastic genre and for being my friend five years ago in the middle of nowhere Michigan even though I had a kind of spiny personality. Even when we have not spoken for a long time, you are always there for me with kind words and good vibes. The world would be a better place if everyone had a Jessica in their lives.

Niousha, my dear dear friend, thank you so much for teaching me how to be a kinder person in the past year. I really had no idea that people with as much love as you actually live on this earth. Thank you for your support, gifts, time, and wonderful conversation. Your intelligence, dedication, and personality will take you so far in life. I will see you at the top!

To Zeke, my roommate and brother I never thought I would have, thank you for talking to me about my research and general philosophy towards ethnomusicology. You are always down for a good conversation or movie, which I am very grateful for. We are cut from the same cloth. It is rare to find someone who understands you the way you seem to understand me.

To all of my classmates at Kent who have made an impact on me as a person. To be honest, that includes most of you. Thank you especially to the other members of the BBQ Brass

Quintet, you are truly exceptional friends and people.

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To everyone who has asked me about my thesis with genuine interest – you are all saints and you do not even know it.

Momma, thank you for worrying about my life so that I do not have to. Thank you for listening to me talk about academic things ad nauseum even though that is definitely not appropriate bar talk. Thank you for answering my late-night calls (provided you are not out having a good time) and hearing me talk about whatever is on my mind. We do not necessarily have a traditional relationship, but I have learned so much about the world and about being a person from you. You are the reason I am strong, independent, and feisty as hell.

To my dad, who is no longer with us, thank you for everything. You taught me to be kind, to love, and to never give up on my dreams. Life without you is so so hard, but had I never had the privilege of being your daughter I imagine it would only be harder. Thank you for loving me the way every person deserves to be love, and for encouraging me to kick ass and take names. I hope I am doing you proud.

To everyone reading this now – cheers!

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Opening and Background In the summer of 2014, I worked as a camp counselor at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in

Crystal Lake, Michigan. All of the camp counselors were musicians or artists, and I was lucky enough to become good friends with a vocalist named Jessica. Jessica frequently wore a shirt that featured the “ohm” symbol. I decided to ask her about it, and she told me about the a cappella group she belonged to called Astha A Cappella. It is an a cappella group from St. Louis

University that performs arrangements of popular music with an Indian flare. I remember thinking how unique that must be, but since my interest in a cappella has (until now) been superficial at most, I wrote it off.

Flash forward to spring of 2018. Jessica shared a video on Facebook for the “All

American Awaaz” competition. This video features around a half a dozen collegiate a cappella groups, all with the same “Indian flare,” Jessica told me about. It was in watching this video that

I realized Astha was not a unique musical group, but rather, one of many groups that combined

Western popular music with Indian songs, ornaments, and dress.

A brief Google search informed me that the All American Awaaz, frequently abbreviated as A3 and reminiscent of the 3-shaped ohm on Jessica’s shirt, is a competition held yearly in

April, functioning like a national championship. Preceding A3 are several smaller competitions held all across the country, to which many of these groups travel and compete. The groups are assessed in order to determine which groups will proceed to A3. A3, as well as the preceding performances, are sponsored by the Association of South Asian A Cappella (ASA), a group formed during the 2016-2017 academic year that serves as an organizing body for the individual

2 groups. While this group’s website features a directory of all the a cappella groups, each group typically has its own website and Facebook page.

While national competitions have come about only recently, South Asian A Cappella was founded over two decades ago. The first collegiate South Asian A Cappella group, Penn Masala, was founded at the University of Pennsylvania in 1996. The all-male group, like many of the groups that followed it, is very active on social media and has multiple full-length albums available for listening or purchase on major digital music retailers. Music videos, photo shoots, and tours promoting this style of performance are commonplace among the South Asian A

Cappella community. The South Asian A Cappella group closest to Kent State University is

Dhamakapella, a group based at Case Western Reserve University. They have agreed to work with me as I pursue this study into the social and musical performance of South Asian A

Cappella groups.

Following an introduction, I discuss literature related to identity, South Asian popular music and culture in the United States, choirs, fieldwork methods, and music analysis, from which I established the theoretical framework and methodology of this thesis.

Survey of Literature As a relatively new art form, South Asian A Cappella has not been studied through an ethnomusicological lens. There are plenty of resources, however, concerning identity, South

Asian popular music and culture, choirs, fieldwork methods, and music analysis discussed here.

Ethnomusicology, as a discipline in the humanities, borrows from a variety of disciplines such as anthropology and sociology, which I utilize in addition to ethnomusicological sources.

Identity Timothy Rice, in writing for Modeling Ethnomusicology, a book compiling several of his previously published articles, addresses several components of identity relevant to

3 ethnomusicological practice. He begins by defining identity in two settings: individual identity and group identity. Individual identity, he says, “implies questions like who am I? and what is my true nature?”1 whereas group identity, “seems to be about collective self-understanding as represented by various characteristics, activities, and customs, including music.”

In addressing how identity is created, Rice asserts that individuals have agency over their own identity, “that is, individuals become agents in the construction of their own identities (their sense of belonging to groups, their self-understanding) in the conditions of modernity.”2 He goes on to rescind the notion of explicit agency over one’s identity, instead borrowing from Nikolas

Rose who claims that we, as human beings, enact various schemes that create our identities. Rose lists several stock schemes, typically associated with identity: manliness, femininity, modesty, efficiency, virtue, and so on.3

I contend a balance between the two, that individuals have the agency to select which schemes they utilize in the construction of their identity, but I also maintain that society dictates the norms and taboos for enacting those schemes. Both elements I have selected from Rice’s writing are of use to my study in that I aim to understand how South Asian A Cappella performers construct their individual identities (relating mostly to ethnic identity) and group identities (as members of a performing group) and what schemes or practices they use to construct these identities.

One theoretical perspective for understanding identity through the actions of individual and groups comes from sociologist Erving Goffman. In The Presentation of Self in Everyday

Life, Goffman introduces his dramaturgical theory, which asserts that individuals are constantly

1 Timothy Rice, Modeling Ethnomusicology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) 143-144. 2 Ibid. 149. 3 Ibid.

4 acting roles, utilizing props and nonverbal behaviors as “sign-vehicles” so that other people they interact with, the audience, view them in the best and most desired manner befitting their role.

He maintains that we are all constantly acting, and that this perspective offers researchers a valuable starting point for understanding group function:

The perspective employed in this report is that of the theatrical performance; the principles derived are dramaturgical ones. I shall consider the way in which the individual in ordinary work situations presents himself and his activity to others, the ways in which he guides and controls the impression they form of him, and the kinds of things he may and may not do while sustaining his performance before them. … The justification for this approach … is that the illustrations together fit into a coherent framework that ties together bits of experience the reader has already had and provides the student with a guide worth testing in case-studies of institutional social life.4

Having conducted a case study as part of this project, I find Goffman’s use of dramaturgical terms helpful. They are accessible to me and easily understood. His approach allows for better understanding individual “actors” as well as “teams,” a useful distinction in my study of group musical performance. While Goffman’s theory was not originally intended for use in literal performance environments, his notions of a social front stage and back stage also serve to function as a guide for understanding the literal front stage and back stage habits of performers.

In Theory for Ethnomusicology, Ruth Stone reinterprets Goffman’s dramaturgical theory for the distinct purposes of ethnomusicology. She presents the following four assumptions:

1. Everyday life is analogous to dramatic enactment and musical on stage. 2. Certain aspects of musical interaction are open and available to the public in a social setting. 3. Other aspects of musical interaction are hidden from some of the participants. 4. Musical interaction is circumscribed spatially.5

Stone clearly sees the benefit of some of Goffman’s theory, including front stage and back stage behavior, cultural definitions for interactions, and role, though her interpretation is limited by her

4 Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (New York: Anchor Books, 1959) xi-xii. 5 Ruth Stone, “Literary and Dramaturgical Theories,” in Theory for Ethnomusicology (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2008) 119.

5 presumption that dramaturgical theory expects individuals to make decisions with “considerable determination.”6 I disagree with Stone on this notion, as her critique implies that a dramaturgical analysis would instill a belief in the researcher that every action taken by a participant, or actor, is deliberate. Certainly, some actions are deliberate, and Goffman takes that into consideration.

However, my understanding is that his primary goal is to understand how expressions are delivered and received, which inform the impressions of those observing or receiving the expressions given.7

Judith Butler also utilizes a theatrical lexicon to describe her understanding of identity construction. In “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and

Feminist Theory,” Butler discusses gender as a performed condition, rather than on objective reality, noting that “what is called gender identity is a performative accomplishment compelled by social sanction and taboo.”8 While Butler relates this theory of performativity specifically to gender, I pose that other elements of identity, including ethnicity, are also performative. Butler’s essay speaks mostly in the theoretical perspective and to her own lived experience as opposed to a field study, but her notion of identity construction as a performance within social norms offers a valuable paradigm.

Synthesizing the concepts of Goffman and Butler, there is no “one true self.” To use

Goffman’s terminology, I maintain that people make decisions to “give off”9 a certain expression, in order to maintain others’ impressions of them. These decisions vary by role and stage. The desire to have a certain expression given off comes from our desire to perform what is

6 Ibid. 7 Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (New York: Anchor Books, 1959) 4. 8 Judith Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory,” Theatre Journal 40, no. 4 (1988): 520. 9 Goffman, 1959, 2.

6 socially sanctioned and avoid that which is taboo. We are accepted or rewarded based on the quality of our performance. To me, this suggests that there is a best way to play the part of a singer, college student, American, American with South Asian ancestry, and so on. Each expression is a way to construct and maintain a desired identity. Musicians in South Asian A

Cappella enact schemes for performers within a single group, other groups, and for judges who use their past experiences to assign value to performances. Performing well, both in respect to music and to identity, is critical for South Asian A Cappella singers.

Many ethnomusicologists have written about music and identity from a variety of theoretical perspectives. Thomas Turino (1999) utilizes Peircian semiotic theory to analyze the way Peruvian migrant youth create a group identity. He identifies elements of music as icons that are then used to construct identity. Concerning such icons, he says, “Icons are, at root, signs of identity in that they rely on some type of resemblance between sign and object, as, in fact, do all relationships of identity. … Musical forms that ‘sound like,’ that is, resemble, in some way, other parts of social experience are received as true, good, and natural.”10 South Asian A Cappella, in its use of both Indian and western musical concepts, serves as an icon for the social experience of being an American of South Asian descent. I contend that the inclusion of Bollywood melodies found in South Asian A Cappella music are icons of India and can thusly be used as identity markers in the way Turino discusses.

Jennifer Johnstone (2012) writes about Welsh songs as identity markers, discussing how the performance of Welsh-language songs in America is used to affirm one’s own Welsh identity.11 It is important to note that while singing in Welsh is common, people do not use the

10 Thomas Turino, "Signs of Imagination, Identity, and Experience: A Peircian Semiotic Theory for Music," Ethnomusicology 43, no. 2 (1999): 234. 11 Jennifer Johnstone, "Reinterpreting Welshness: Songs and Choral Membership in Cultural Identity," Electronic Dissertation, Kent State University, 2012.

7 language in everyday life, instead using it in a ceremonial way when used in song. In talking about how Welsh songs evoke this feeling of “Welshness,” she borrows from Coupland et al, who suggest that performance of music in the Welsh language “is potentially a means of engaging (with) the language as a form of cultural display, a means of having Welsh in the social infrastructure, occupying spaces in the sociolinguistic landscape, but without the need for high levels of productive competence or indeed use in the conventional sense.”12 The use of language in a ceremonial function and as an identity marker could also be valid for South Asian A

Cappella performers who use the Hindi language in their performance of Indian film song, a concept I discuss further in chapter 4.

Christopher Waterman (1990) writes about a Pan-Yoruba identity, and how social values are reflected in Yoruba popular music. He addresses how all Yoruba speaking people were grouped together by European colonialists, despite the presence of various cultural identities. His research into Yoruba popular music finds that it is a medium for common ground that many

Yoruba people identify with. From a political angle, Waterman asserts that dress and physical position on stage are parallel to social hierarchies that exist among the Yoruba speaking people.

About how all of this constitutes identity, he says, “I have argued that cultural identity may be viewed as relational and conjunctural, rather than self-constituting and essential, and that this may have relevance to the way we represent the relationship of tradition and modernity in ethnomusicology.”13 I, likewise, adhere to the idea that cultural identity may be viewed as relational and conjunctural, but I would extend this notion to say that it is performative as well.

12 Nikolas Coupland et al. as quoted in Jennifer Johnstone, "Reinterpreting Welshness: Songs and Choral Membership in Cultural Identity," Electronic Dissertation, Kent State University, 2012. 13 Christopher A. Waterman, ""Our Tradition Is a Very Modern Tradition": Popular Music and the Construction of Pan-Yoruba Identity," Ethnomusicology 34, no. 3 (1990): 367-376.

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In writing about South African identities, Lara Allen (2003) writes about how music allowed black South Africans to reinterpret and understand their culture during apartheid. In the mid twentieth century, mass media and communication allowed black South Africans to create hybrid musics that narrowly escaped the government’s strict regulations on artforms that celebrated black South African identity. She has this to say, “The recording industry, by providing a space for the articulation and affirmation of urban African identity, functioned in opposition to a state policy that sought to shape South African life according to specific

‘traditional’ ethnic identities.”14 From this, I glean the notion that music is a way to perform and understand one’s identity on one’s own terms. The intervention of outside agents who may make assertions or assumptions about the performers’ identities is less important than the performers’ opportunity to express their identities with agency as they understand them to be. Continuing the dramaturgical comparisons, a front stage performance featuring an audience, does provide an opportunity for outside agents to cast judgment concerning the performer’s identities as well as the quality of musical performance. As I continue this research, I will explore the audiences

South Asian A Cappella groups perform for, and if the perspectives of these groups change the performer’s understandings of self.

South Asian Popular Music and Culture in the United States South Asian immigration to the Americas has roots in the 1700s, though in the last few decades, the United States census reports an increasingly large number of residents who claim

South Asian heritage. This growth has not always been swift, though, since the United States government has made it difficult for South Asians to migrate to the US at various points in history. One impediment occurred in 1923, when the Supreme Court ruled that South Asians

14 Lara Allen, "Commerce, Politics, and Musical Hybridity: Vocalizing Urban Black South African Identity during the 1950s," Ethnomusicology 47, no. 2 (2003): 243.

9 were ineligible for naturalization in the case United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind. This ruling was removed by President Truman in 1946, and by 1965 the Immigration and Nationality Act removed all quotas, freeing the way for many South Asians to migrate to the United States.15

In the late 20th and 21st century, performers of South Asian descent have seen greater success in the United States. Arwa Mahdawi (2017) traces the presence of South Asians in western popular media. Though the earlier representations of South Asians relied heavily on stereotypes (such as Apu in The Simpsons) various South Asian performers have gained traction, including Aziz Ansari and Mindy Kaling.16 I assume that this shift in perspective has helped to set the stage for South Asian A Cappella and contributed to its popularity, a theme I will discuss with my participants.

While South Asian performers have achieved notoriety in American culture, other elements of South Asian culture have become accessible to westerners as well. American singers who have no attachment to South Asian culture may feel closer to it due to the popularity of The

Beatles who collaborated with Ravi Shankar, accessible yoga classes, and Indian cuisine. The presence of South Asian culture in various aspects of everyday life could also contribute to the growth of this artform.

The majority of South Asian music utilized by South Asian A Cappella groups comes from Indian films, often called Hindi films or Bollywood films when they are from Mumbai.

This is due, in large part, to Hindi films being the primary source for popular music in India for most of the 20th century, as underscored by Greg Booth:

15 “An Introduction to South Asian American History,” South Asian American Digital Archive, Accessed September 23, 2018, https://www.saada.org/resources/introduction. 16 Arwa Mahdawi, “From Apu to Master of None: How US Pop Culture Tuned into the South Asian Experience,” last modified May 9, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/may/09/from-apu-to- master-of-none-how-us-pop-culture-tuned-into-the-south-asian-experience.

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The way India worked out, especially after 1947 and independence, was that, there was no popular music, really, certainly not being recorded and commercially produced outside of the Hindi film song. So it’s a quite unique situation globally where everything really is under the control, in effect, of the film industry and there’s almost no popular music industry outside of that.17

Booth’s statement provides greater clarity concerning the use of Bollywood film song in South

Asian A Cappella performance. Director Shyam Benegal offers the following interpretation of how music differentiates the Bollywood tradition from other film traditions:

During the silent era of Indian cinema our films used to look like every other film made everywhere else in the world. But the moment sound came we suddenly went back to our theatrical traditional form. That was the moment, 1931, when our first sound film was made, Alam Am, which had something like thirty songs, and after that movies started having sixteen or seventeen songs, and most films from then on used to have a huge number of songs, because music was an essential part of Indian cinema.18

While Bollywood found its beginnings in the 1930s, its use as a form of uniquely Indian entertainment media grew exponentially from 1948-1952. Gregory D. Booth writes that the combined reality of increased technology and the popularity of film song were factors in this growth, but also suggests that the auspicious timing of various film directors, composers, and singers are at the heart of this boom. He finds some of these individuals responsible for the subsequent shift in film songs, once sounding more like folk or traditional music, to sounding like western popular music. One composer, Ramachandra, was known to have an enthusiasm for western popular music and sought to fit it into Indian film music.19

The influence of western popular musics continued with band leader Antonio Vaz, whose

17 Gregory Booth, “Copyright and Indian Popular Music,” Ethnomusicology Today, Podcast audio, December 23, 2015, https://soundcloud.com/krui/copyright-and-indian-popular-music-with-greg-booth. 18 Shyam Benegal quoted by Mihir Bose, Bollywood: A History. (Stroud, Gloucestershire, Great Britain: Tempus Publishing Limited, 2006), 31. 19 Gregory D. Booth, "A Moment of Historical Conjuncture in Mumbai: Playback Singers, Music Directors, and Arrangers and the Creation of Hindi Song (1948–1952)," in More Than Bollywood: Studies in Indian Popular Music, edited by Gregory D. Booth, and Bradley Shope. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013) 30.

11 experience with jazz and Latin popular music seeped its way into Bollywood film song.

Sebastian D’Souza, a music director, actualized this transition from a traditional Indian sound to a popular western sound. D’Souza, as Booth states, “set in motion the integration of Western chordal harmony with explicitly Indian melodic content.”20 Many of the South Asian A Cappella choirs adhere to the concept of western harmony with Indian melody, as the fusions they create typically rely on this relationship.

While Booth’s analysis of Bollywood music suggests an integration of western concepts,

Bollywood has not been completely taken over by western ideals. Shakuntala Rao discusses the notion of glocalization, a term originating in the business world that means the practice of conducting business according to both local and global considerations. In Bollywood, it has meant that music and film directors have continued to use western elements, as discussed by

Booth, but that they do so without eliminating existing Indian cultural standards. The Indian audiences consuming these films desire western elements but expect some traditional Indian representation as well. Glocalization accommodates that.21

Choirs As a cappella is a musical artform that uses only voices to create music, it presents a challenge in recreating recorded music. Joshua S. Duchan discusses the way a cappella groups emulate the original recordings of the music they perform. Addressing the differences between covering and interpreting, Duchan has the following to offer:

Because collegiate a cappella takes popular recordings as its raw material, it provides an excellent case study of intertextuality and recontextualization in popular music. … David Horn draws a distinction between covering, which “generally requires some kind of close approximation to an original,” and “interpreting,” which “may possibly involve that, but

20 Ibid. 30-32. 21 Shakuntala Rao, “’I need an Indian Touch’: Glocalization and Bollywood Films,” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 3, no. 1 (2010):1-19.

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does not have to.” 22

Extending the notion of covering and interpreting, Duchan discusses emulation and how it directly relates to a group’s popularity and, ultimately, its success:

In collegiate a cappella, emulation is necessary, though rarely sufficient. A successful arrangement must preserve important harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic aspects of a song’s commercial recording. ... Still, at its core, a cappella is about originality achieved though some form of emulation. An adequate a cappella arrangement (and performance) sounds like the song’s commercial recording. … But an excellent arrangement will present the song in a new way that pays homage to the original while adding something unexpected.23

South Asian A Cappella groups require a sense of dual emulation, arranging both western popular music and South Asian selections in a way that both are recognizable and enjoyable to listeners who are familiar with both selections, one, or neither.

While Duchan discusses the musical aspects of a cappella performance, Stephen A.

Papparo writes about what it means to participate in an a cappella ensemble. Papparo articulates five themes from his ethnographic study, two of interest to this study, music-making culture and value of participation. In discussing this choir to which he assigns the pseudonym The

Accafellows, Papparo finds that a music making culture requires established roles for the group to function, including a music major who used his knowledge to write arrangements and a pianist who assisted in several rehearsals. All members are welcome to make requests, and alumni members are consulted for their advice. Aspiring members listen to Accafellows recordings to become familiar with their work.24 I consider these roles to be primarily social, as none of them

22 Joshua S. Duchan, “Collegiate a Cappella: Emulation and Originality,” American Music 25, no. 4 (2007): 478. 23 Ibid. 483. 24 Stephen A. Papparo, “The Accafellows: Exploring the Music Making and Culture of a Collegiate a Cappella Ensemble,” Music Education Research 15, no. 1 (2013): 28-29.

13 are immediately visible in an a cappella performance. The roles require participants to enact specific duties for the group to function.

The value of participation enjoyed by the Accafellows is derived from both the ability to do what they love, music, and the recognition they receive from those who consume their music.

Papparo highlights how this plays a role in their group and individual identity through an interview with one member, “Randy’s statement, ‘Being an Accafellow means I am awesome,” reflects the sense of identity, self-esteem and pride in knowing that members are part of a select group.”25 Papparo’s research suggests to me that music making culture provides individual roles for members and when those roles converge to achieve a common goal, provide a sense of identity for the Accafellows.

Conducting me fieldwork, I saw a similar sense of identity among South Asian A

Cappella performers as it relates to being able to perform music and carrying out certain vital tasks. As South Asian A Cappella adds the concept of ethnicity to this identity, I sought to understand how this compounded the idea of identity.

Fieldwork Methods and Music Analysis My organizational approach for fieldwork methods is borrowed from Timothy Rice’s

Modeling Ethnomusicology. In his introduction, he categorizes the themes of articles published by Ethnomusicology and how the journal’s content has shifted. From this observation, he articulates his theoretical model for reciprocal relationships between formative processes in music:26

Historical Construction

Individual Creation Social Maintenance

25 Ibid. 32. 26 Timothy Rice, Modeling Ethnomusicology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) 9-10.

14

Through this model, Rice offers a way to contextualize the way music is made in a given tradition spanning a broad time. While South Asian A Cappella traces its roots only so far back as 1996, its reliance on Bollywood offers an avenue of pursuit into its historical elements. Social maintenance can be found in the agreed upon ways these choirs operate, and also in the qualities judges look for at the competitive level. Individual creation (and experience, which Rice discusses but does not include in his diagram) exists in the practices of each individual group and the contributions individuals make to the group, as discussed previously by Papparo. I used this model as a guide to flesh out my thesis, as discussed at the end of this chapter.

Another popular model for investigating music is derived from Alan P. Merriam’s

Anthropology of Music. In this, Merriam argues a behaviorist approach to music’s construction.

Rice illustrates the Merriam Model as such:

Concept

Sound Behavior

An important distinction between the Rice and Merriam models is that the unidirectional movement arrows in Merriam’s model creates a feedback loop, illustrating how music changes but not allowing for the nuance of society’s influence. I feel it is best used to understand how music as sound fact is created over a short period of time. I utilized Merriam’s model when analyzing the music of South Asian A Cappella groups. This model provides a paradigm that demonstrates the continual change that occurs in a musical setting. While one concept will originate a behavior and subsequent sound, concepts constantly shift and new behaviors alter the sound. It is difficult to discuss in detail each of these feedback loops, as it is hard to tell when

15 one ends and another begins. I analyze music using Dhamakapella’s ideal of “true fusion,” discussed frequently throughout this thesis.

Methodology

My approach to researching this musical phenomenon utilized quantitative data and qualitative data in the form of a case study with Dhamakapella, a South Asian A Cappella choir based in Cleveland, Ohio.

From a quantitative perspective, used Qualtrics to send out a survey to all of the South

Asian A Cappella groups in the United States that are listed in the Association of South Asian A

Cappella’s directory as well as others that I came across in my study. This survey aimed to gather information regarding age, race, ethnicity, field of study, past and current musical experiences, and opinions about South Asian A Cappella. The data I compiled from this survey primarily explores the reasons singers of South Asian ethnicity perform this music.

Additionally, I discuss how the participants express ownership of the musical elements used in

South Asian A Cappella as well as the resultant product.

Narrowing my focus to qualitative research, I use content analysis to gather information on the growth of South Asian A Cappella since the 1990s. Content analysis also provided me the information to create figures that show where the South Asian A Cappella choirs are concentrated across the United States.

Through my case study, I developed an ethnography on the rehearsal and performance practices of Dhamakapella. I also attended Gathe Raho, a competition preceding A3 to write descriptively about the competitive experience. This provided me with examples of how other

16

South Asian A Cappella choirs perform this fusion music, and how judges factor into the social performance of South Asian A Cappella.

Lastly, I analyzed three South Asian A Cappella performances. Using listening guides, I measure the way the three choirs that placed at Gathe Raho use language to express fusion.

Proposed Topic South Asian A Cappella is a multicultural artform that combines popular culture from

South Asian countries, mostly India, with western popular music. In this thesis, I ask how South

Asian A Cappella functions as a musical and social stage for singers to perform an identity. This question is answered by my methodology, which allowed me to understand this musical tradition as it is historically constructed, socially maintained, and individual created/experienced.

Projected Results of Research

Through my survey results and ethnography, I answer the question of how South Asian

A Cappella allows singers to perform their identity. My conclusions center around the concept of fusion and agency, themes that came up during this research.

Conclusion

The following thesis is organized using Rice’s model. Chapter 2 discusses the historical construction of South Asian A Cappella, offering further details about the history of a cappella,

Indian film music, Indian migration to the United States, and how all of these enabled the creation of South Asian A Cappella. Chapter 3 investigates how South Asian A Cappella is maintained primarily through competition. This chapter also compares South Asian A Cappella to other social fusion paradigms, including syncretism, acculturation, and transculturation.

Chapter 4 features an ethnography of Dhamakapella, whose dedication to the ideal of “true

17 fusion” provided me with intimate knowledge of how one South Asian A Cappella choir performs a fusion identity. Chapter 5 demonstrates fusion through the discussion of the performances of Dhamakapella, Astha A Cappella, and Miami Tufaan at Gathe Raho. Lastly, chapter 6 integrates the information discussed in the previous chapters to draw conclusions and offer additional potential research projects related to this work.

18

CHAPTER II

HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTION

Importance of Historical Analysis This chapter aims to construct a history that allows the researcher and the reader to better understand how a cappella, Bollywood, and Indian cultural presence in the United States, and the symbolic behavior associated with each, creates an environment for a tradition like South Asian

Fusion A Cappella to manifest.

Including a diachronic study of the development of a cappella, Bollywood, and Indian immigration to the United States sets up a platform to discuss South Asian Fusion A Cappella.1

The Timothy Rice model I am borrowing for this paper refers to this portion as the “Historical

Construction” of a music tradition, stating that it is notoriously difficult to execute in ethnomusicological research.2 This is the case because a wealth of ethnomusicological research is focused on traditions with long, undocumented histories. This project, however, has proven auspicious in that it is a recent tradition, drawing from other recent traditions.

Symbolic behavior also motivates my historical construction. As this paper relies heavily on understanding how symbolic behavior results in the performance of an identity, it is crucial to understand the history that enables the performances I will discuss. The bulk of the semiotic analysis will be present in the “Individual Creation/Experience” chapter and will deal largely with what some scholars would argue are icons, but that I see as a combination of icons and symbols. Regardless of the semiotic function one assigns to the on stage and off stage behavior of performing musicians, it is important to understand how the significance of all signs develops.

1 Practitioners of this music capitalize the “A” in “A Cappella.” While this is not standard in other a cappella traditions, when writing about South Asian Fusion A Cappella or South Asian A Cappella (the preferred title of the fusion genre), I will capitalize the “A.” 2 Timothy Rice, Modeling Ethnomusicology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) 50-51. 19

In a 1925 essay written by F.C. Bartlett titled “The Social Function of Symbols”, the author tries to achieve such an understanding. When distinguishing a symbol from the more broad term “sign” Bartlett states, “a symbol must possess at one and the same time a double or a multiple significance.”3 While I will attend to word choices more specifically in the “Individual

Creation/Experience” chapter, the significance I see in Bartlett’s essay is his notion that symbolic meaning is taught through individual enculturation and what is included in this enculturation gradually shifts as new cultures are introduced and manage exchanges:

Just in the same way we see bicycles, motor-cars, pianos, fashions in dress, accents and many other cultural possessions, both material and psychical, pass swiftly from the centre to the periphery of a country, … They are selected because of an obvious face value, but their power of appeal lies in the fact that they have become symbols. It is what they somewhat obscurely stand for that gives them their strength.4

This statement, then, motivates Bartlett’s first function of the social symbol, to facilitate the transmission of culture from group to group.5

The first function is made more relevant to my work through the addition of the second function, “to facilitate the preservation of groups.”6 When speaking of this particular function,

Bartlett argues that during processes of syncretism, or the blending of two cultural groups, often with limited agency by the receiving culture, the receiving culture (in this case, that of India) finds ways to manipulate new cultural materials in a way that satisfies their cultural needs. While

South Asian Fusion A Cappella seems to be one example of this, as it finds a way to situate

Indian culture in an American musical tradition, it is done with the agency of the performers,

3 F.C. Bartlett, “The Social Function of Symbols,” The Astralasian Journal of Psychology and Philosophy, 3 (1925): 1. 4 F.C. Bartlett, “The Social Function of Symbols,” 3. 5 Ibid., 3. 6 Ibid., 4. 20 changing the power dynamic typically discussed in syncretism. It helps the practitioners of

Indian heritage to maintain their culture while embracing their nationality..

History of Collegiate A Cappella

A cappella, a style of singing that translates to “in the style of the chapel,” features no instruments - only human voices. When writing about the history of a cappella in high schools,

Richard I. Kegerreis traces a cappella singing to the destruction of the Jewish temple by the

Romans in 70 C.E. As a sign of mourning, the Jews forbade instrumental music, thus relying on only vocal music. Christians then borrowed this tradition, carrying it with them through the

Gregorian chant singing of monks through medieval times.7 While instrumental music is now common in many Christian church settings, the tradition of singing without instruments remained and has taken on a new and more modern purpose in collegiate a cappella singing.

Collegiate a cappella in the United States traces its history to the Whiffenpoofs, a historically all-male a cappella choir from Yale University founded in 1909. The Whiffenpoofs were formed by five members of Yale Glee Club, who met for their own enjoyment at a local establishment called Mory’s. From these meetings, the five formed their own a cappella choir, named for a mythical dragonfish. Today, the group contains fourteen talented Yale students.8

While the Whiffenpoofs are the inaugural group of collegiate a cappella, singing has been a crucial component of American musical life since colonial times. Singing in the 18th and early

19th centuries was focused on teaching Americans music literacy for the purpose of singing in churches. Early composers, such as William Billings, established singing schools to teach music literacy through songbooks. These songbooks featured a curriculum that began with simple tunes

7 Richard I. Kegerreis, “History of the High School a Cappella Choir,” Journal of Research in Music Education 18, no. 4, (1970): 319. 8 “About Us,” Whiffenpoofs, accessed March 12, 2019. https://www.whiffenpoofs.com/about-us. 21 that gradually became harder, eventually introducing singers to fuging tunes and anthems, more complicated styles of song.9

Music institutions, such as the Yale Musical Society, The Beethoven Society in

Providence, RI, and the Handel Society at Dartmouth College also promoted social singing.

These groups taught and performed secular and religious music by well-known European composers. These societies performed at university events, such as conventions, making them an important fixture in collegiate life. In the mid 19th century, the instruction these societies provided would be taken up by collegiate institutions and singing and glee clubs, which placed emphasis on community ideals rather than European notions of musicality.10

From these glee clubs came a cappella groups, such as the Whiffenpoofs. But quite different from the late 19th and early 20th century a cappella choirs, current groups perform almost exclusively arrangements of extant popular songs, leaving the fuging tunes and anthems to choirs of the past. This focus on popular music has helped make a cappella a staple in collegiate spheres. In his dissertation, Joshua S. Duchan measured the growth of a cappella between 1909 and 2005. The 1990s and early 2000s saw the most dramatic increase in groups, from around 200 groups in 1989 to over 700 when Duchan executed this survey. Duchan also notes that a majority of these groups were affiliated with elite institutions, including Ivy League schools as well as other esteemed institutions.11 These early collegiate a cappella choirs departed significantly from the early American singing traditions, which sought to make singing accessible to a wide swath of people, regardless of educational background.

9 David P. DeVenney, “Introduction” in Source Readings in American Choral Music (Missoula, Montana.: College Music Society, 1995), 13-14. 10 Joshua S. Duchan, “Collegiate a Cappella: Emulation and Originality,” American Music 25, no. 4 (2007): 29-32. 11 Joshua S. Duchan, “Collegiate a Cappella: Emulation and Originality,” 77-78. 22

As a cappella choirs have become more ubiquitous, so have associations meant to organize these ensembles. One such association, the Contemporary a Cappella Society (CASA) aims to facilitate the practice of a cappella singing in all its forms. Founded in 1991 at Tufts

University by Deke Sharon, CASA provides a network for a cappella choirs as well as assistance and rewards for best recordings. From their site, Sharon describes the group as follows:

There are tens of thousands of contemporary a cappella groups around the US and world, ranging from high school and college ensembles to professionals and recreational groups. And CASA is their organization, providing help, guidance, advice, coaching, information, events, recordings, grants, workshops, critique, awards, arrangements, instructional videos, and just about everything else a group could need.12

On the competitive end of a cappella associations is Varsity Vocals, which sponsors the

International Championship of Collegiate a Cappella (ICCA). Their mission underscores their philosophy towards competition: “We believe that competition fosters growth — both in vocal performance and personal development. Our singers work hard and pull together to create incredible music and form lasting relationships.”13

In addition to hosting the ICCA, Varsity Vocals hosts the International Championship of

High School A Cappella (ICHSA) and The International Championship of A Cappella Open, the latter of which is accessible to a cappella teams of all ages and allows for exceptional singers of different groups to create “dream teams.”14

The story of the ICCA was fictionalized in the film Pitch Perfect and its two subsequent sequels. Varsity Vocals fully embraces the film, which featured their executive director as well as real ICCA performers. Varsity Vocals and ICCA have also taken to the screen in a docuseries

12 Deek Sharon, “About CASA,” Contemporary A Cappella Society, January 3 2009, Accessed March 27 2019, http://www.casa.org/about. 13 “About Us,” Varsity Vocals, Accessed March 27, 2019, https://varsityvocals.com/about-us/. 14 “Competitions,” Varsity Vocals, Accessed March 28, 2019, https://varsityvocals.com/competitions/. 23 called Sing it On which details the events of 2015 and 2016’s ICCAs.15 Celebrity John Legend, who was in the UPenn Counterparts, an a cappella group at the University of Pennsylvania, serves as executive director in this series. In a promotional video, Legend highlights some of the most attractive elements of competitive a cappella for college students. “Commitment…

Precision… Teamwork… Every note… Every practice… Every competition counts,” Legend notes, between short snippets of a cappella rehearsals and performances.16 Watching this video does elicit some excitement, but I doubt that this promotional media helped to reach the audience

Varsity Vocals might have liked.

I imagine for the current and former members of a cappella groups, consuming this kind of media reminds singers of the importance of their experiences. On the one hand, the experience of community and creativity foster a sort of second family for singers. On the other hand, I posit that the act of singing, so closely connected with the body, establishes between the singer and their lived experience a deep connection.17 This very literal embodiment of music, and by extension embodiment of a cappella, results in a profound connection between the self and the act of singing a cappella. This assertion has been observed in my fieldwork, which I discuss in chapter 4. Perhaps more importantly, though, I feel that this connection informs the performer’s sense of identity. To reference back to Stephen A. Paparo’s work, when his interviewee Randy says, “Being an Accafellow means I am awesome,”18 Randy’s sense of self is being clearly informed by his participation in this performance medium.

15 “We are Pitch Perfect and Sing it On,” Varsity Vocals, Accessed March 28, 2019 https://varsityvocals.com/about-us/sing-it-on/. 16 Pop TV, “Sing it On – Every Note Counts,” YouTube video, 0:30, Published July 11, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=30&v=FX690jSTg5o. 17 Harris M. Berger, “Phenomenological Approaches in the History of Ethnomusicology,” Oxford Handbooks Online, December 2015, DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935321.013.30. 18 Stephen A. Papparo, “The Accafellows: Exploring the Music Making and Culture of a Collegiate a Cappella Ensemble,” Music Education Research 15, no. 1 (2013): 28-29. 24

Moreover, a cappella has evolved into an art form that allows musicians of all ages, though particularly college-aged students, to participate in an intimate style of music making.

The groups foster community and a sense of identity, while competition fosters a sense of pride and purpose. The music performed by these choirs has transitioned from private and religious to emulations of popular music. For South Asian A Cappella singers, this deeply human means of doing music is an obvious template for designing a genre of music that celebrates the American college experience combined with a non-western cultural identity.

History of Indian Film Song as a Precursor Film was first witnessed in India on July 7, 1896, when a film titled “Baby’s Dinner” by

August Lumiere was shown in Mumbai, then called Bombay, where it was touted as a wonder of the modern world.19 Over the next decade, the first Indian films were created and distributed.

Harischandra Sakharam Bhatvadekar also known as Save Dada, produced the first Indian film which he titled “Wrestler,” as it depicted a match between Pundalik Dad and Krishna Nahvi.

“Wrestler” was shown alongside imported films at exhibitions hosted by Bhatvadekar.20

Bhatvadekar’s exhibitions became more popular as the films he produced encouraged

Indian nationalism. In 1902, he displayed a film called “Sir Wrangler Mr R.P. Pranjyp,” which depicted Raghunath Purushottam Paranjpye returning to India after being given the title of Senior

Wrangler, the first Indian to receive this title from the University of Cambridge.21

As westerners saw an opportunity in the Indian market, film exhibitions became even more popular. Missions from Europe and America traveled to India, bringing along projectors

19 Mihir Bose, Bollywood: A History. (Stroud, Gloucestershire, Great Britain: Tempus Publishing Limited, 2006) 38-39. 20 Mihir Bose, Bollywood: A History, 42-43. 21 “R. P. Paranjpye,” Indian Math Society, Accessed April 3, 2019, http://www.indianmathsociety.org.in/rpparanjpye.htm. 25 and films. These films were shown alongside other entertainment media such as plays, concerts, and magic shows. One such film exhibitor, called Abdulally Esoofally, came to the realization that the missing element from all of his shows was music. He hired local bands as he traveled through India showing films. He eventually settled in Mumbai and founded the Majestic Theatre, which showed the first Indian film with spoken words, Alam Ara, in 1931.22 Even this first

Indian sound film had someone in charge of music, Phirozshah M. Mistry,23 demonstrating the importance of music from the onset of Indian film.

1931 is typically thought of as the beginning of Indian film song, and the inextricable linking of film and song. This early era of the Indian film industry saw many developments to the philosophy behind the genre and the manifestation thereof. Gregory D. Booth describes the quickly developing technology surrounding filmmaking caused a demand for the various roles involved in film and music, saying:

the technological innovation that allowed filmmakers to record sound and image separately and later synchronize to make a film product; the separation of acting and singing in both the places and times of recording and the professional roles that defined these components of the filmmaking process; and the growth of film orchestras and the need for arrangers who notated compositions, orchestrated and harmonized melodies, and often composed some of the instrumental music.24

The needs of this genre were filled by composers, playback singers, and filmmakers that shaped the Indian film songs familiar to listeners today. As discussed in the introduction to this thesis, the beginnings of Bollywood were formed by several people who established the Indian popular sound, which combines elements of Indian music, western classical music, and western popular

22 Mihir Bose, Bollywood: A History, 47. 23 Kent Hunt, “Soundtrack to a Billion Lives,” in The Rough Guide to World Music, edited by Kate Berens, Peter Buckley, Duncan Clark, Tracy Hopkins, Matthew Milton, Neil Foxlee, Joe Staines, and Anita Singh (London: Rough Guides Ltd, 2009), 582. 24 Gregory D. Booth, "A Moment of Historical Conjuncture in Mumbai: Playback Singers, Music Directors, and Arrangers and the Creation of Hindi Song (1948–1952)," in More Than Bollywood: Studies in Indian Popular Music, edited by Gregory D. Booth, and Bradley Shope. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013) 21. 26 music. By the time Indian films were being produced, classical music traditions were not the music of the everyday people; only the upper Hindu castes had training or appreciation for it.

Another caveat to Indian classical music is that because the tradition relies so heavily on improvisation using the raga and tala systems, it produces teachers and performers, not composers.25 This situation forced the new genre of Indian film music, the sound of which, though influenced by outside cultures, is ultimately an Indian creation, with this identity fortified by its use of the Hindi language often accompanied by traditional dress and cultural values of family and romance.

As this thesis examines a fusion of current western and Indian popular music, I will focus my discussion of Bollywood on the music of the latter half of the 20th century to the present. The hub of Indian film production has historically been Bombay (now Mumbai), which is where the

“B” in Bollywood comes from. While the film industry is no longer so centralized, the draw to

Mumbai’s film industry remains.26 While the word “Bollywood” in the west is often used to generalize all Indian film song, it is actually a specific category of music, and “filmi” or “film song” are more encompassing to all Indian cinematic music.

As the 1940s and 1950s produced formulaic movies called “masala films,” the 1960s and

1970s were able to coast on this predictability and stability.27 This was a golden age for playback singers, whose recorded voices were dubbed over filmed scenes. Singers such as Lata

Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Mukesh, and Mohammad Rafi were some of the select few to secure roles as playback singers during the mid 20th century. While more than the four mentioned

25 Jill Westen, “Brief History of Bollywood,” The Jillbrary, accessed April 15, 2019, https://jillbrary.wordpress.com/bollywood-and-libraries/brief-history-of-bollywood/. 26 Ken Hunt, “Soundtrack to a Billion Lives,” 579. 27 David Courtney, “Overview of Filmi Sangeet – The Indian Film Song,” Chandrakantha.com, accessed April 15, 2019, http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/filmi.html. 27 playback singers have had successful careers as playback singers, the pool of singers remained limited.28 This limited group of playback singers helped to establish an ideal film song sound.

Transitioning into the 1970s and 80s, masala films began to incorporate another traditional folk art into its production: ghazal.29 This style of poetry traces its roots to Arabic poetry discussing loss and romantic love. Ghazal spread eastward, becoming popular in Persian culture,30 and eventually taking hold in Urdu speaking communities in modern day Pakistan.31

During this time, film composers wrote music with western-sounding orchestral accompaniment to accompany the singers. While improvisation would have been crucial to authentic ghazal practice, the compositional process made this aspect of performance unviable.32

Gregory D. Booth describes the 1950s through the early 1990s as the “Old Bollywood” period. During this time, film directors would hire music directors and pay them a fixed fee for each song written. Music directors were very independent in this process, with directors and producers having very little oversight. Arranging, recording, and paying the musicians and playback singers was a separate cost. This budgeted process of hiring music directors created something of a film director hierarchy, where film directors were more cautious about who they hired and music directors became ever eager to work with film directors with large budgets.33

The 1990s, Booth’s “New Bollywood,” saw the continued rise and popularity of specific film composers. Television during this time became more popular with Indian people, creating competition for the film industry.34 While few authors make it a point to describe the sonic

28 Ken Hunt, “Soundtrack to a Billion Lives,” 582. 29 Ken Hunt, “Soundtrack to a Billion Lives,” 584. 30 “Ghazal,” Poetry Foundation, accessed April 16, 2019, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary- terms/ghazal. 31 Ken Hunt, 584. 32 Ibid. 33 Booth, “Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai’s Film Studios,” (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), Kindle eBook Edition, location 1467-1500 out of 4244. 34 David Courtney, “Overview of Filmi Sangeet – The Indian Film Song.” 28 changes in this era of film song, simply listening can reveal outside influence. The songs of current Indian film are often dance-oriented. As was introduced in the latter half of the 20th century, the songs still rely on western-sounding harmonies over which Indian language lyrics are sung using inflection and melisma that I am not used to hearing in American popular music.

To me, they sound more “Indian,” almost reminiscent of the ornaments used in classical Indian performance. Similar to western popular music in the last two decades, sometimes the songs sound autotuned. In faster songs, it is not uncommon to hear the habanera or dem bow rhythms common in Latin and Caribbean music. I find that all these elements are indicative of outside influence, and these influences are typically introduced through composers or music directors.

Admittedly, my analysis is probably limited due to both a small listening sample size and to my performance training being exclusively in western art music. While I do have some experience learning about and performing non-western musics, my experience is not thorough enough to claim any ownership or expertise over this tradition. My observations are just that – observations. I highly encourage anyone who wants to study Indian film music further to delve into more readings and viewings of a variety of film.

South Asian Immigration to the United States While South Asian immigration to the United States is often associated with the 20th century, South Asian people have been migrating to the United States far longer than that.

During the late 19th century, South Asian immigrants settled in western Canada and later moved south to the west coast of the United States, many settling in California. In both Canada and the

U.S., Asian immigrants faced legal discrimination from the government and from Anti-Asiatic groups.35

35 “An Introduction to South Asian American History,” South Asian American Digital Archive, Accessed September 23, 2018, https://www.saada.org/resources/introduction. 29

Immigration halted when the 1917 Immigration Act was passed. This act barred a variety of “undesirables”36 from entering the United States. As the act is also referred to as the Asiatic

Barred Zone Act, people migrating from specific longitude and latitude lines that included most of Asia were barred from entering the United States. This region included the entirety of South

Asia,37 as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. Area of exclusion from the 1917 Immigration Act, retrieved from the South Asian American Digital Archive.

Access to immigration worsened for South Asians in 1923 through the case of The

United States vs. Bhagat Singh Thind, which found South Asians completely ineligible for citizenship, going so far as to remove citizenship rights from South Asian immigrants who had received them years before. This law was overturned in 1946 when President Truman signed into law the Luce-Celler Act which granted naturalization rights to South Asians and Filipinos but still limited the number of people from these regions able to migrate to the United States. In

36 Davis Tucker and Jessi Creller, “1917 Immigration Act,” Accessed March 31, 2019, http://library.uwb.edu/Static/USimmigration/1917_immigration_act.html. 37 “An Introduction to South Asian American History.” 30

1965, however, the Immigration and Nationality Act removed immigration quotas based on country of origin, which led to increased immigration by people from throughout Asia.38

According to the Migration Policy Institute, the number of Asian migrants increased from

491,000 in 1960 to 12.8 million in 2014. Migrants from South Asia make up 27.7% of total

Asian migration to America, and Indian migrants make up 17.6%, the largest group of all Asian migrants.39 The increase in Asian migration from 1980 to 2014 is seen in figure 2. Data for this graph was gathered from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Figure 2. Asian migration from 1980 to 2014. Retrieved from the Migration Policy institute.

The distribution of Asian migrants across the United States is of note as well, as it will be touched on again when talking about how the South Asian A Cappella choirs are spread across

U.S. colleges and universities. A map demonstrating states where Asian migrants have settled is seen in figure 3.

38 Ibid. 39 Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova, “Asian Immigrants in the United States,” Migration Policy Institute, Accessed April 1, 2019, Published January 6, 2016, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/asian-immigrants- united-states#Distribution%20by%20Region%20and%20Country%20of%20Origin. 31

Figure 3. Map of Asian migrant distribution across the United States.

While this map will become more important as I discuss the distribution of South Asian A

Cappella choirs across the country, it is valuable to notice that a majority of Asian migrants have settled in California, Texas, and New York.

The Migration Policy Institute also notes that Asian migrants, on average, have higher levels of education than others, stating, “Asian immigrants on average have much higher educational attainment than either all foreign- or U.S.-born adults. Half of Asian adults (ages 25 and over) had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2014, compared to 29 percent of the total immigrant population and 30 percent of native-born adults.”40 As South Asian A Cappella is a collegiate activity, this history of higher education points to a good reason for why this practice happens in educational spaces.

Moreover, the increase in Asian migration over the second half of the twentieth century as well as the Asian presence at colleges and universities enables an artform like South Asian A

Cappella to come to fruition.

40 Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova, “Asian Immigrants in the United States.” 32

History of South Asian Fusion A Cappella The development of a cappella, Bollywood, and South Asian migration to the United

States all enabled the development of South Asian Fusion A Cappella. The genre was started in

1996 at the University of Pennsylvania by a group that calls themselves Penn Masala. I had the opportunity to communicate with one of their members called Kushal via email. Our interview is transcribed below:

I know Penn Masala was founded in 1996, but who was it founded by? Do you know how many members there were in the first year? Masala was founded by four freshmen in a University of Pennsylvania dorm room in 1996: Naveen Wadhera, Himanshu Sheth, Deep Trivedi and Kunal Bajaj.

What prompted Penn Masala's founding? They saw other a cappella groups perform at Penn’s annual Freshman Performing Arts Night and wanted a way to incorporate their cultures into that music form.

What does it mean to you all, as a group, to be the first South Asian a cappella group? It has been incredibly humbling for the group to see the genre evolve and spread, and it is also motivation for us to constantly stay at the forefront of the industry and innovate with what we do.

Do you think your music has changed over the years? How so? The music definitely changes to reflect the personal tastes of each collection of members, but the core goal of connecting South Asian and Western cultures through music has not changed.

Since these beginnings in a college dorm room, South Asian Fusion A Cappella, typically just called South Asian A Cappella, has grown dramatically. The non-profit group associated with the choirs, the Association of South Asian A Cappella (ASA), says that there are over 200 choirs combining South Asian and western musics and performing them in an a cappella setting.

A variety of competitions have been established for performing groups of this genre, including a national competition called the All American Awaaz (A3). This style of music has continued to thrive over the nearly two decades it has existed. 33

Perhaps, though, this growth owes some credit to a larger appreciation of Bollywood in the United States. From the 1990s through the present, Americans have found an appreciation for the cultural product of the eastern world, including Bollywood film and music.41 In researching this phenomenon, David Novak found that Bollywood most often manifests itself in the western world removed from its original context. The sounds allow westerners to make cultural references without having a full understanding of the culture. This occasionally leads to backlash from Asian-American communities, such as protests that ensued after a remake of the Hindi song

“Jaan Pehechaan Ho” in San Francisco.42

While this brings up questions of cultural ownership and authenticity that merit their own independent study, I suggest that South Asian A Cappella is an artform that recontextualizes

Bollywood in a way that gives South Asian performers (or those of South Asian ancestry) agency in their own culture. At the end of his essay, Novak asks:

How much time, and how much space, is required to separate an object from its reiteration; an echo from the source of the sound? Through how many ears must that sound travel before its reverberation reveals more than repetitions, but begins to stand apart, in the new places in which it re-sounds?

The remainder of this paper investigates just that – how has South Asian A Cappella evolved in such a way that it honors the original musical product, but differs enough that a new genre which encompasses, both socially and musically, being a South Asian, an American of South Asian heritage, or an American without any cultural ties to South Asia. The practitioners of this music consider what they do a completely unique genre. In the places it re-sounds, it is well loved and inspires a sense of pride in the musicians who perform this music. This echo rings strong.

41 David Novak, “Cosmopolitanism, Remediation, and the Ghost World of Bollywood,” Cultural Anthropology, 25, no. 1, (2010), 40-42. 42 David Novak, “Cosmopolitanism, Remediation, and the Ghost World of Bollywood,” 58-59. 34

CHAPTER III

SOCIAL MAINTENANCE

In Modeling Ethnomusicology, Rice spends the least amount of time discussing social maintenance, nodding to the work of Merriam and other socially-minded ethnomusicologists:

Processes of social maintenance have been particularly well documented by ethnomusicologists in the years since Merriam’s The Anthropology of Music, and it is easy to construct at least a partial list of the way music is sustained, maintained, and altered by socially constructed institutions and belief systems.1

Rice’s statement inspired me to revisit Merriam’s seminal text, where he makes an important distinction, noting the differences between internal and external change:

Change can also be viewed as it originates from within a culture, or internally, as opposed to change which comes from outside a culture, or externally. Internal change is usually called ‘innovation’ while external change is associated with the processes of acculturation. … Types of innovation include variation, invention, tentation, and cultural borrowing. An innovation remains an individual habit, however, until a second process occurs, that of social acceptance, in which the innovation spreads from the originator to other persons until it may become universally practiced by all members of the society. 2

There are a few concepts in these two excerpts that are quite relevant to South Asian A Cappella.

First, I would like to address Merriam’s idea of internal as opposed to external change. South

Asian A Cappella’s most assertive change is internal; individual choirs decide what selections they will arrange and perform and how they will be performed. But with a broader perspective,

Rice’s comment on socially constructed institutions becomes more relevant. It is easy to see that

South Asian A Cappella would not be able to function without the institutions of Bollywood and other Indian film song structures as well as the popular music structures that produce western

1 Timothy Rice, Modeling Ethnomusicology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) 51. 2 Alan P. Merriam. The Anthropology of Music. Evanston (Northwestern University Press, 1964) 303-304. 35 popular songs. Additionally, the larger framework of South Asian A Cappella relies on the western university system for its recruitment and membership.

While the music and university systems offer external influence, South Asian A Cappella musicians have also created systems for internal change and maintenance. These include the

Association of South Asian A Cappella (ASA), the Network of Desi A Cappella (NDA), and the

All American Awaaz (A3) and associated smaller competitions. These three organizations were described to me clearly through a graphic I received from the ASA.

Figure 4. Association of South Asian A Cappella Graphic provided by the Association of South Asian A Cappella

The Association of South Asian A Cappella has a website that is updated yearly with new information concerning South Asian A Cappella. It is currently undergoing a change and does not have as robust information as it did when I first visited the site a little over a year ago, but it does give a more detailed description of the ASA, NDA, and A3. These descriptions are included below.

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The Association of South-Asian A cappella (ASA) is a non-profit organization that was founded in April 2016 by a team of alumni of South Asian A Cappella groups. The organization aims to foster the collegiate South Asian A Cappella community and build a nationwide network to unite the members and alumni of groups and strengthen the bonds not only between teams from universities across the nation, but also between the South Asian and Contemporary A Cappella communities. The ASA is the overseeing organization responsible for the creation of the NDA and the All-American Awaaz Championship.

The Network of Desi A Cappella (NDA) is an endeavor to bring together and foster relationships within the rapidly expanding collegiate South Asian A Cappella community. The NDA is a forum where one can share, observe, and participate in the multitude of ways people are experimenting with their music and storytelling. By bringing together this national (and one day, international!) community, we hope to facilitate a camaraderie that extends beyond competitions and showcases, leading to inspiration, and maybe even future collaborations. Click below to find us on facebook and stay updated with our events.

The South Asian A Cappella competitive circuit currently consists of established and nationally acclaimed competitions spread out across the nation. All-American Awaaz (A3) will be the national championship competition where groups will have the opportunity to perform in front of the biggest audience in the circuit and a panel of highly qualified judges to compete for a grand prize and the title of National Champion of the South Asian A Cappella circuit3.

The site also includes a description of the genre itself, noting the element of musical fusion that goes into a South Asian A Cappella performance:

The South Asian A Cappella genre was pioneered by Penn Masala, an all-male group founded in 1996 at the University of Pennsylvania. Now, there are over 200 groups nationwide and 5 established national competitions, with more on the way. The style establishes its unique identity by incorporating influences from both Eastern and Western cultures, carefully fusing the two in each performance piece. Everything from the languages to the choreography to the minute vocal inflections and techniques reminiscent of the traditional styles of music from the Indian subcontinent are woven together with western music that shares not just the same rhythm, but also theme. Each "mashup" is therefore musically cohesive and paints a story, whether it's of love, heartbreak or any other sentiment in a broad range of emotion. The genre is unlike any other.4

3 “About Us,” Association of South Asian A Cappella, Accessed May 17, 2019, http://desiacappella.org. 4 “About Us, Association of South Asian A Cappella. 37

While the ASA claims that there are over 200 groups that perform music in this genre, their current directory includes 49 choirs. I do not know whether or not other groups are just so limited in their size that they do not have an online presence, or if choirs choose not to participate in the directory as well as the other organizations the ASA sponsors.

In a sense, a delineation between choirs involved in this directory and those that are not makes it difficult to have a comprehensive and total view of what South Asian A Cappella is, so

I have decided to work with the choirs that are included in the ASA directory, last updated in the spring of 2018. Through content analysis collected from these choirs’ Facebook pages and a survey sent out to their official emails, as well as an analysis of the paradigm of South Asian A

Cappella competition, I will use this chapter to gain a further understanding of the current, internal social maintenance of South Asian A Cappella.

South Asian A Cappella by Directory Data In an attempt to better understand the scope of South Asian A Cappella, I chose to create graphs that show where in the United States these choirs operate, when they were founded, and how many have been founded each year. My decision to create and include these data is to establish a baseline for the geographic and temporal framework of the genre, as it has not been written about in an academic setting and therefore this information does not exist in one place.

Compiling these data also allows me to compare information about South Asian A Cappella to other a cappella choirs more broadly and to the distribution of Asian immigrants as discussed in the previous chapter.

The data in the following charts and images uses only information from the choirs included in the ASA’s directory. When attempting to track the growth of South Asian A

Cappella over time, I found that most choirs included the year they were founded on their 38

Facebook pages but not all did. I contacted through Facebook each of the choirs that did not have the year they were started on their page, and while a few did respond, not all did. Therefore, there are two choirs not figured into the numeric data.

Table I. South Asian A Cappella choirs founded by year, 1999-2018. Year Number of Choirs Founded Total 1999 1 1 2000 0 1 2001 5 6 2002 2 8 2003 1 9 2004 1 10 2005 1 11 2006 3 14 2007 4 18 2008 1 19 2009 3 22 2010 3 25 2011 6 31 2012 2 33 2013 7 40 2014 3 43 2015 3 46 2016 0 46 2017 1 47 2018 0 47

I plotted this information on a line graph to create a visual to demonstrate the growth pattern of

South Asian A Cappella. Interestingly, there is steady growth with certain years producing more choirs than others, but the overall growth has since plateaued. Due to the nature of this being a young musical genre with limited statistical information, it is difficult to understand if this pattern contains any meaningful information, though it could be revisited in several years to see if further growth has been demonstrated.

I have also decided to compare this to the work of Joshua S. Duchan, who, in his 2005 dissertation, authored the first comprehensive academic work on collegiate a cappella more 39 broadly. Duchan studied the growth of collegiate a cappella from its origins in the early 20th century, which showed dramatic growth particularly from the 1990s-2000s. With the popularity of collegiate a cappella in the 1990s, it is not surprising that South Asian A Cappella used this medium for expressing their ethnic identity.

Figure 5. South Asian A Cappella choirs founded from 1999-2018.

Figure 6. Growth of Collegiate A Cappella, 1909-2005. Retrieved from Powerful Voices: Performance and Interaction in Contemporary Collegiate a Cappella, 2007, Joshua S. Duchan.

40

In addition to using the information provided by the ASA’s directory to learn how South

Asian A Cappella has grown since its inception, I used the information to better understand where in the United States this type of singing is taking place. When compared to the map of

Asian immigration to the United States, the maps share some similarity. I have decided to include said map once again to facilitate comparison. South Asian A Cappella choirs are most common in California, Texas, and the Northeastern United States, which parallels the distribution pattern of Asian immigrants.

Figure 7. South Asian A Cappella Choirs by State created using mapchart.net.

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Figure 8. Map of Asian migrant distribution across the United States.

Understanding the temporal and geographical development of individual choirs informs me of two different things: South Asian A Cappella choirs have grown concurrently with collegiate a cappella broadly and with Asian immigration to the United States. The above figures demonstrate the ways in which South Asian A Cappella has been, to borrow from Rice’s discourse, sustained and maintained.

As it has been influenced by outside cultures is less obvious from these figures. However, this music has been influenced by “variation” and “cultural borrowing,” two of the types of innovation outlined by Merriam. Visual aids and content analysis, though, do little to unveil the social processes happening and how the practitioners of South Asian A Cappella feel about the work that they do. In an attempt to better understand that aspect of the practice, I conducted a survey using Qualtrics to understand the perspective of South Asian A Cappella singers.

Survey Analysis My primary aims of this survey were to understand who sings South Asian A Cappella and what their opinions of the music and their individual choirs were. I sent out the survey to the 42 forty-nine email addresses provided in the South Asian A Cappella directory twice, once before

A3 and once after. I requested that the recipient forward the survey link to the individual members of each choir. Unfortunately, I did not receive the response I had hoped, receiving only thirty responses. While this is not a substantial enough sample to draw broad conclusions about

South Asian A Cappella practitioners, treating each response as an individual case study did illuminate patterns about South Asian A Cappella.

Of the thirty responses I received, twenty-three individual described themselves as South

Asian. Only one student described themselves as an international student, but that person did not describe themselves as being South Asian. All of the participants reported that their universities had other options for a cappella besides the choir they belonged to. This information becomes more relevant when participants answered the question, “What made you want to participate in this a cappella group?” Eight participants answered specifically placing importance on their culture or ethnicity as a reason for joining. I have decided to include these answers below:

“As a South Asian, I get to explore music of my culture through my a cappella group.”

“Being connected to my culture and the people within it.”

“Getting to meet more people in my community and also learning more about the music from my culture.”

“I really wanted to participate in this a cappella group because I felt like it complimented my South Asian roots.”

“I saw that they needed a better beatboxer so I thought I could offer my skills! Also, a chance to reconnect with my culture.”

“It was a unique blend of South Asian music and Western music which really blends my two cultures.”

“Meeting people. Staying in touch with culture.”

“To connect with my roots and keep in touch with my Carnatic background.”

43

Ten additional participants reported that the culture, South Asian music, or diversity informed their decision to participate in South Asian A Cappella. When asked “What is the most rewarding part of being in your a cappella choir?” five participants discussed either the cultural component or the South Asian music. One specifically described the duality of their multi- cultural upbringing, saying, “Hearing two sides of music you were raised with to come together.”

The totality of these responses informs me that the cultural blending is a significant aspect of performing this music, but more importantly, it suggests a pattern that performing this music is a way for people of South Asian ancestry and American nationality to balance the duality of their ancestral and geographic cultures. For people who are not of South Asian ancestry, this survey did not yield any particularly informative results.

Competition Another, and more direct, means of social maintenance in South Asian A Cappella is its system of competitions. Several universities sponsor smaller competitions that eventually lead to the A3 competition. In the 2018-2019 competition year, seven preliminary competitions were held. Jeena and Awaazein were held in Texas, Anahat, Mehfil, and Sahana were held in

California, Sangeet Saagar was held in North Carolina, and Gathe Raho was held in Iowa.

Some of these competitions have existed long before the ASA, such as Gathe Raho, held annually in Iowa City for eleven years. I had the opportunity to attend this competition to better understand the competitive element of South Asian A Cappella. The competition was held at a small local theatre in Iowa City. The host choir, University of Iowa’s Iowa Agni, performed both the American and Indian national anthems, and most of the audience sang along with both anthems. Seven choirs performed, with two emcees introducing each choir and telling corny jokes between performances. When the competing choirs finished, the host choir gave an exhibition performance while the judges deliberated. 44

Figure 9. 2018-2019 South Asian A Cappella competitions, retrieved from the Association of South Asian A Cappella Facebook page.

Figure 10. Gathe Raho advertisement, retrieved from the Gathe Raho Facebook page.

45

The competition was as much a general performance as it was a competition; local people and students with little to no affiliation with the competing choirs came to enjoy the show. In the balcony, where the judges and choirs sat, however, the competitive spirit was alive. In a conversation over Facebook with the organizers of Gathe Raho, I learned that the judges were selected after they applied for the position. They fill out a form via GoogleDocs and the host committee then chose the best candidates. Figure 10 contains the information and requirements for being a judge.

Figure 11. Gathe Raho Judges Application.

While the requirements do not explicitly state that the judges must hold singing experience, questions in the application do ask applicants to describe all singing and judging experience, as well as explain their interest in being a Gathe Raho judge. The three judges for the 46

2019 Gathe Raho competition were Vidhaath Sripathi, Jeremy Gussin, and Travis Brockett.

Gathe Raho introduced each of the judges on their Facebook page with a brief biography for each judge. Sripathi is a law student at the University of Iowa who sang in a South Asian A

Cappella choir as an undergraduate, Gussin is a doctoral student studying voice at Indiana

University, and Brockett is a commercial vocalist who lives in Iowa City.

While the judges’ backgrounds all suggest that they have some level in authority in judging a singing competition, they are still confined by the rubric created by the ASA, exhibited in Figure 12.

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Figure 12. South Asian A Cappella Judging Rubric.

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The elements of the above rubric, while detailed, are often subjective. For instance, under

“Musical Nuances,” the rubric asks “Dynamics – is there variety? Are they appropriate to the piece being performed?” The answer to this question would vary depending on the kind of musical training a judge holds. Additionally, different judges would prioritize different elements of performance depending on their backgrounds. To make up for this subjectivity, the ASA created a system of tabulation and normalization, seen in Figure 13. This is meant to even the playing field for competing choirs, making it so that choirs who perform for more critical judges still have an opportunity to perform at A3.

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Figure 13. The A3 Bid System, retrieved from the Association of South Asian A Cappella Facebook page.

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While this system is intended to effectively standardize a national competition circuit, it is not a perfect system. Choirs can perform in only one competition and if they do particularly well, make it to A3, while choirs that participate in multiple competitions could hinder their chances of making it to A3. Since there has been a different system each year the ASA and A3 have existed,

I expect to see another judging system for 2019-2020.

Returning to the rubric, however, offers another interesting topic: fusion. While most of the categories are assigned 10 points, two categories, professionalism and fusion, are assigned only 5. The genre differentiates itself from other a cappella traditions by the fusion of South

Asian and western popular music traditions. On one hand, fusion is a difficult concept to articulate, but on the other hand, the decision by the organizing body to articulate a specified lesser value on fusion is incongruent with both the values of the practitioners who responded to the survey I sent and with the description of the genre on the ASA’s website.

This type of fusion, in particular, is different than other cultural blending studied by social scientists; it is not syncretism, which has its roots in European religious blending and is most frequently used to describe a subversive act where people of African descent maintain their religious beliefs under the guise of European religions forced upon them.5 Nor is it acculturation, which is typically described as a one-way process of cultural influence, typically from a more powerful culture to a less powerful culture, forcing the less powerful culture to acquire the more powerful culture.6 Lastly, it is not transculturation, a process defined by Fernando Ortiz that includes not only the acquiring of an outside culture, but the uprooting of the original culture.7

5 Stewart, Charles. "Syncretism and Its Synonyms: Reflections on Cultural Mixture." Diacritics 29, no. 3 (1999): 46. 6 Gowing (1971) quoted in Margaret Kartomi, “The Processes and Results of Musical Culture Contact: A Discussion of Terminology and Concepts,” Ethnomusicology 25, no. 2, (1981): 232. 7 Fernando Ortiz, “The Social Phenomenon of ‘Transculturation.’ in Cuban Counterpoint, Tobacco and Sugar, Durham: Duke University Press, 1995, 102-103. 51

Instead, I understand this kind of blending to be a reflective fusion, aligned with

Merriam’s discussion of innovation. Ethnomusicologists rely on this idea of reflectivity, that aspects of a culture are translated into the sonic experience of the music. In the space of South

Asian A Cappella, the music is reflective of the balancing of ethnicity and nationality discussed previously in this chapter. There is an agency in this type of fusion that is not discussed in the other processes. It is this agency, perhaps, that makes the fusion element of this genre so crucial.

Why then, I must ask, does it only receive 5 points in the ASA rubric?

I do not know the answer to that question, and I do not think it is my place to ask a question that I feel could be quite sensitive and have more influence that I intend to have as an observer. However, judging fusion may be difficult because determining what qualifies as being western popular music with South Asian influence as opposed to an effective fusion of the two is difficult to ascertain. The rubric asks, “Do the arrangements highlight aspects of South Asian music?” Even this question is filled with subjectivity. What is a highlight? What aspects of South

Asian music are the most South Asian? The rubric also asks, “Do the arrangements creatively integrate the genres while maintaining the integrity of each?” This question is also subjective, as each judge could have a different opinion on creativity and integrity relating to the music.

The subjectivity is furthered by the backgrounds of the judges. As the judges may or may not have any familiarity with South Asian A Cappella or South Asian culture more broadly, how can they be expected to accurately answer the rubric’s questions about fusion? This dependency on outsiders to judge cultural and ethnic representation they may have no connection to is the element of this music that moves away from agency. It is not represented in the innovation that

Merriam details. 52

South Asian A Cappella is maintained through its organizing bodies, the ASA, NDA, and

A3, the American university system, as well as other competitions more broadly. This tradition has been growing concurrently with collegiate a cappella in general, and the places these choirs are formed parallels the immigration pattern of Asian peoples in the last century. As an activity that takes place across the United States, it is difficult to create a concise picture of what South

Asian A Cappella looks like as a whole, but it is enjoyed by people of South Asian heritage as well as people with no claim to South Asianness. For participants who are of South Asian ethnic ancestry and American nationality, this music tradition allows them to see a reflection of themselves in the music they produce. But what qualifies as being sufficiently representative of

South Asian and western is a grey area not easily determined by the organizing bodies or the judges who listen to competing choirs. Whether these standards will become more direct or modified in the future will depend on the work of these young musicians, modeling their cultural values through their performance. The choir that I will discuss in the next chapter,

Dhamakapella, certainly does models their value of fusion in their musical performances.

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CHAPTER IV

INDIVIDUAL CREATION/EXPERIENCE

In this chapter I discuss my experience as an observer in the rehearsal, performance, and competition spaces occupied by Dhamakapella, Case Western Reserve University’s (CWRU)

South Asian A Cappella Choir. The focus group aspect of my research has been, perhaps, the most enlightening opportunity to better understand how the singers of South Asian A Cappella understand themselves and their participation in a multi-ethnic performance art.

Following this introduction, I will organize my experience around different events that happen over the year-long cycle of a South Asian A Cappella choir. The year begins with auditions for the choir and for solos within the repertoire, followed by a rehearsal phase that focuses on learning the music and applying for competitions. Third is the competition phase, which happens when the choir returns from winter break, and after the competitions are over, the group records an EP of their show.

My opportunity to work with Dhamakapella came about through email during the summer of 2018. I was reading about identity theories at the same time I saw a video about

South Asian Fusion A Cappella and immediately realized the opportunity for a project that sought to better understand the dynamics of ethnicity in a style of music that has one foot in western popular music, and the other in South Asian film song. I contacted the choir through their email address and their Facebook where I was in contact with Aashna, who then put me in contact with Gavin. From there, I began attending rehearsals in late September.

When I talked to Dhamakapella about how they would like to be represented in my writing, they gave me permission to use their first names. Table I introduces the singers of

Dhamakapella for the 2018-2019 academic year. 54

Table II. Dhamakapella members for the 2018-2019 academic year. First Name Year in School Major Years in Home City and Dhamakapella State Gavin 5 Computer Science 5 Akron, Ohio Grace 4 Computer Science 3 Richland, Washington Naya 4 Psychology/Medical 3 Naperville, Anthropology Illinois Shilpa 4 Biology/Psychology 4 Boston, Massachusetts Vasu 4 Systems Biology 4 North Potomac, Maryland Aashna 2 Anthropology, Pre- 2 Naperville, med Illinois Kevin 2 Accounting 2 Danville, Illinois Komal 2 Neuroscience 2 Westchester, New York Antonio 1 Biomedical 1 West Chester, Engineering/Finance Pennsylvania Divyam 1 Aerospace and 1 Kota, Rajasthan, Mechanical India Engineering Eric 1 Computer Science 1 Radnor, Pennsylvania Kasey 1 Computer 1 Canton, Ohio Science/International Studies Lewis 1 Civil Engineering 1 Green Springs, Ohio Pavani 1 Psychology 1 Not shared Savannah 1 Theatre/Civil 1 Charleston, Engineering South Carolina Shwetha 1 Biomedical 1 Overland Park, Engineering/Music Kansas

My work with these singers has been important in the development of my understanding of identity in this style of performance.

Audition Phase At the beginning of the school year, the members of Dhamakapella who were still attending school after the 2017-2018 academic year sought to find new members to fill out their 55 choir. While I started working with them after this initial audition phase, I learned from the new members that Dhamakapella performed for incoming CWRU students, encouraging them to audition for the group. As shown in Table I, many freshmen joined Dhamakapella in the past academic year.

After auditions to be a member of Dhamakapella finished, individuals were auditioned to perform solos in the group’s existing repertoire. Gavin, who was serving as the group’s president at the time, told me that the rehearsals in the fall semester were relaxed compared to those in the spring. Still, the choir worked hard to be productive. The first day I attended a rehearsal, the members of Dhamakapella was conducting these auditions. For each solo, everyone who wanted to audition to sing it went outside the main rehearsal space. The rest of the non-auditioning members sat in a row on one side of the room. When each singer entered for an audition, they were given a pitch on a phone app pitch pipe before singing. After all the auditions were done, the non-auditioning members discussed specific details about the auditions. They all had computers or tablets open, using Google Docs to take notes in a shared file. A few themes came up in these discussions.

While the other singers were acute in their comments, they brought up ideas that I was not familiar with or would not prioritize as a western art musician. The first and most interesting to me was discussion on “power” in the voice. Power is discussed in opposition to the idea of a choral-sounding voice. It references an ability to project that would be more common to a successful popular singer, combining not just vocal projection but also a kind of emotional projection that conveys a sense of individuality and direction to the listener. Often, singers were described as “not putting their whole self into the music.” Other concerns included pronunciations and melodic runs in the solos. A run is a succession of notes within a solo, and to 56 sing a run in a pleasing fashion involves singing accurate notes (often an elaborated arpeggio) and transitioning smoothly between the notes.

While the function of vocal power proved interesting, discussion on pronunciation yielded an even more interesting discussion of ethnicity. During the audition process, one member sent video recordings, as they could not be at the rehearsal. After listening to the videos, one member, who is white, said “Is he Indian?” The Indian singers all responded, “No!” with disbelief. It was obvious to them that the other member was not of South Asian ancestry, whether that be through appearance or pronunciation of Hindi words, I am not certain. But as an observer, a sense of anxiety took over that this interaction would lead to a heated discussion about ethnicity and identity, something that may cause a rift in the group dynamic. Instead, there was a discussion about culture and ethnicity that was inclusive, not exclusive. The conversation was an explanation, something maybe more commonplace than I realized as it did not cause a lasting shift in the rehearsal’s social dynamic.

After the soloists were selected from the auditions, rehearsal as normal began. The group sang in a circle, with Shilpa, one of two music directors, leading the group in warmups. After that, the group sang their repertoire from the 2017-2018 school year with the newly selected soloists singing their solos in the center of the circle. Kevin, the second music director, and

Gavin made sure the group stayed on task, but did so in different ways. Gavin urged the group to move as they sang, saying “Move! You need to feel the tempo,” and “It’s more fun if you move.” Kevin was more direct, returning to the theme of expression saying, “If you’re boring, the audience is bored and then you’re bored.” While the tone of these two leaders proved quite different, they both aided in getting a certain energy out of the group. 57

Rehearsals in the fall semester were relaxed, as Gavin told me they would be. Meeting three times a week for two hours at a time meant that music could be learned well, but left space for the cultivation of a community. The group typically sang in a circle, helping them hear the other parts and blend as a group. The singers used laptops, tablets, and phones to read sheet music. They conducted mini-sectionals with the oldest member of each voice type leading the others, ensuring they knew each other’s parts. This often ended in boisterous discussion, forcing a leader to guide everyone back to a productive rehearsal. This pattern repeated throughout the audition phase and the rehearsal phase.

Rehearsal Phase After the audition phase, the group found a sense of routine. Rehearsals began with a few minutes of warmups, moving to rehearsals of each song in the group’s repertoire. I had the opportunity to attend one rehearsal and performance in October, where Dhamakapella sang at

CWRU’S “Showcase of the Stars,” a performance for visiting alumni. Prior to the performance, the group met to have a brief rehearsal. While they sang a little bit, they talked to their own alumni, tracing their lineage based on voice types. They talked about who sang which parts in different years, who had solos, and special moments during past performances. When I asked about this, Gavin stressed that this discourse was not as strict as the lineage of fraternities and sororities, but it is a meaningful way to understand the past choirs.

After the brief rehearsal, we all walked to the Tinkham Veale University Center where the performance was put on. In a banquet hall, there were several tables with white table cloths.

Dhamakapella was one of the first groups to perform. They went back stage, where several other groups were preparing for their performances. A coordinator hushed the performers in order to give instructions. After an introduction, Dhamakapella took the stage singing selections from 58 their 2017-2018 set. It was a good opportunity for the singers to have their first performance in a space with less pressure, but it was also an interesting research tool for me.

Several other groups performed on the same stage as Dhamakapella, mostly a cappella groups and dance groups. This piqued my curiosity because it showed me that the member of

Dhamakapella had other opportunities for singing, forcing me to wonder Why Dhamakapella? I assumed that it would have something to do with South Asian ethnic representation, but as we were getting ready to leave, an Indian dance group took the stage. This informed me that not only were there other opportunities to sing, there were other opportunities to perform South

Asian ethnicity through the performing arts. This led me again to consider Why Dhamakapella?

As the rehearsal phase continued, rehearsals slowly became more serious. The members occasionally each acted like teachers, commenting on each other’s tone, volume, and overall delivery. They spent these rehearsals pushing each other to do their best so that they can record videos to submit as part of their applications for competitions. I had the opportunity to record a video for them to use in an application. They wore all black and stood in two lines. Soloists came forward when it was their turn to sing. It was imperative to the group that they sang as a singular cohesive unit, but also that their movements were equally unified and compelling. It was imperative that each individual performs for the benefit of the team.

The participation of all Dhamakapella’s members for their success is apparent not only in their interactions, but also in their music. Everyone has a seat at the table during the entire process, from selecting songs to blend to final performances. The music this group produces reflects that reality. The first day I visited the group, Gavin and Vasu, two senior members, spoke to me about the idea of “true fusion.” This is an idea that has come up several times. By a

“true fusion,” the members mean a song that most effectively blends the original Hindi song with 59 a western song. By the time I began preparing questions for my group interview, this concept of

“true fusion” had come up several times, so I knew it was of upmost importance.

I conducted the group interview at the end of a rehearsal just before winter break. My goal in this endeavor was to understand why these students chose to participate in Dhamakapella and to better understand the concept of fusion from their perspective. The first question I asked was, “What made being a member of Dhamakapella a natural choice for you?” Several Indian students mentioned their culture’s representation as being an important factor in their decision to join Dhamakapella.

Vasu: The fact that it was, like, music from my own culture just made me naturally gravitate towards it.

Divyam: I just wanted to be part of some sort of Indian community on campus because that’s the only way I can feel like I’m home sometimes. It just makes me feel happy… so I searched and I found Dhamakapella and I saw all their trophies and I was like… I have to join that.

Naya: I really liked how it was fusion element of it. There weren’t a lot of Indians around me where I grew up in Arizona so I felt very disconnected from my identity, but when I came here, everyone embraced it. It’s a big part of [CWRU] life, people know what Dhamakapella is.

Other members expressed their agreement with these statements by nodding or making brief interjections.

While many of the South Asian members were drawn to the popular and fusion elements in Dhamakapella’s performance, others sought a more classical experience.

Shwetha: I first learned about Dhamakapella, I think, in May… I had no intention of joining. I actually wanted to join Indian classical music and dance group but then I found out they discontinued that this year so then I thought this is pretty close because I heard the recordings and a lot of what they do… sounds classical, kind of, and they’re actually good so I thought I’d try out. 60

Pavani: Same story. I had no intention of joining, I really wanted to join like a choir or an Indian classical group, but I thought this group offered challenge for me. Mixing two genres is very challenging, so I thought that was a very cool challenge.

From these statements, and the sense of agreement most students expressed through gestures, I maintain that performing in Dhamakapella is in itself symbolic behavior used to express South

Asianness. It is a way for South Asian members to embrace and underscore the ethnic element of their identity in a way that they are recognized and supported by their university community. The non-South Asian members had very different reasons for joining which came down to two things, the interesting and varied music and the element of competition.

Grace: Out of all the a cappella groups that we have on campus this is the only one that competes… I was like “hell yeah competition let’s crush some people.”

Kevin: If it wasn’t competition-based I probably wouldn’t do it… In other collegiate groups, it’s like the competition pushes you to look better. That was something I was looking for, I didn’t want to sing the same three songs each year.

Antonio: Singing is more fun when you can learn other languages and cultures

Grace: I came an actual rehearsal before I decided to join ... On top of it being [in] different languages, [the music] was so much more complex than the music other people were singing, so much more challenging and so much more, like, interesting.

Savannah: In the same vein, I didn’t know about any of the a cappella groups until I saw Dhamakapella perform at one of the orientation week events and I literally stopped breathing… they took my breath away (the rest of the members responded with an “aww”) and I got chills and teared up…. I pictured myself being up there with them and I knew I had to join.

Gavin: Savannah I hate to break it to you, but that performance was awful.

Despite the reality that the other members thought their performance was not great, it left an impression on Savannah. As I continued the interview, I was interested to know whether or not the members of Dhamakapella used their singing to express their identity and in what capacity.

Prompt: So, is performing in this group important to expressing who you are and how so? 61

Vasu: I think it’s like actually completely central to where I am right now because it helped me find this confidence on stage and transferred to offstage and became my new personality so like yeah, Dhamaka kind of shaped who I am and it gave am n outlet to continue singing Indian music which I, you know, loved to sing as a kid but now I perform it.

Naya: Basically, along the same lines, it definitely gave me a lot of confidence. I didn’t really sing much before, so I felt pretty intimidated before I came to the group, but everyone was really about helping me, and everyone was really welcoming. I was happy that I found something that I enjoyed as much as dance… and it’s definitely central to my identity.

Kevin: I like, basically, like a lot of us grew up singing, show choir, theatre, dancing, all the stuff. So when I went to school I needed a performing outlet or else I’d go insane (many members responded by saying ‘yeah’)

Grace: So like, last year I wasn’t in the group. I was in it freshman, sophomore year but I quit because it was getting to be too much with school and everything so last year I quit to just focus on school. And I realized that I was like missing that though… I had no intention of coming back honestly… I hate CS anyways… I was kind of focused on like, just getting out of here, but last year I was really depressed and I was watching a couple videos of us performing and I saw myself and I was like ‘oh I’m actually happy here’ so I decided to come back and re-audition.

Shilpa: I was gonna say the same thing. My sophomore year I wasn’t on campus so I didn’t get to be in Dhamaka and it literally like I was so, first of all I had a lot of FOMO, second of all I was like, I need a creative outlet otherwise I’m just like not able to function properly. Dhamaka gives me that.

Pavani: Ok, in high school, this is a little change in direction, I feel as if you weren’t allowed to use your hands when we’re singing, and sometimes, I felt as if we weren’t able to truly express the music properly without using our hands… or any type of body movement, it was like ‘strand straight, sing out’ but I think the hand gestures really help and kind of give the music a little umph and I respect that.

Savannah: I feel like expressing emotion, I feel like in high school if you were in chorus or anything you had to be perfectly balance in choir and it was really boring… but then in Dhamaka, the whole point is to be the opposite of boring… it’s really freeing to be able to do that.

Kasey: And like this may be going off what you guys are saying too, but like I particularly like how this group is entirely student run. I think this makes it a better creative outlet, because it’s like the supervisors are us, like, we run the show ourselves, which I think makes the experience better for all of us. 62

Shwetha: I cannot be part of a group that is very basic because I see a lot of things that need to be fixed and it really frustrates me and that’s how I felt in high school choir. The teacher would never really call on me when we were critiquing ourselves… I feel like this group is very preceptive.

I had anticipated the responses to highlight the importance of performing music in line with ethnic identity, and while it did begin this way, the conversation quickly moved towards the concept of expressing oneself more generally and then to agency. I find Pavani’s comment as pivotal in this conversation, as she mentions the use of bodily actions in the role of expressing music. Previously in this thesis, I discussed the act of embodiment that singing is – by virtue of the music being created directly from the body, it is a deeply personal act. From this comment, other members discussed the importance of being able to govern themselves and choose their own music that is meaningful and interesting to them, adjusting their performance to their own standards.

This idea of having agency over their own performance reminds me more broadly about the agency of fusion discussed in the last chapter. The few other choirs I have communicated with are also student-run school organizations, implying that this agency over the music-making process is not limited to the work of Dhamakapella. It was not until after continuing my field work and writing other parts of this thesis that these statements became important, but this idea of agency is certainly relevant.

Moving forward with the interview, I sought to better understand the members’ of

Dhamakapella’s opinions on competition, especially as it is a unique and, as gathered from their responses to my original question, important facet of this music-making practice.

Prompt: How do you feel about the competitive aspect of what you do and do you think that it would be difficult for your group with the fusion element to compete against other, non-fusion a cappella groups?

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Gavin: So yeah I have a lot to say about this. So, to address the first part of your question, I think it’s really cool that here’s a fusion circuit. Just that there’s, I mean this started from a couple groups… who were like we want to have a competition… because everyone else has competitions and we want to have a competition. So they started Gathe… I think having the competitive aspect really drives the genre forward in a couple ways. One, it allows the other groups to see all the other groups and learn from them… but it’s helpful because, you get to, when you have a competitive aspect and you have the groups coming together you always have groups learning from each other and hearing different techniques and being able to implement them into their own songs and you also get, like, the desire to get better, and you get, you see the importance of fusion so, but for a while, to address the second part of your question, it has kind of been this like niche where we only compete in fusion comps and we don’t compete in the standard ICCA competitions uhm, there is one group that got all the way to ICCA semifinals a couple years ago they placed second at their semifinal… but they did it with an all English set, so,

Shilpa: There were very tiny elements of Hindi

Gavin: Yeah, no no no… they had like a 10 second swaram1, and they were like now we’re done… we’re a fusion group. So that’s been kind of the approach of a lot of groups, all the groups going into ICCAs who are like we’re gonna do an English set this year, we’re gonna do ICCAs, because when you judge fusion, uhm, it’s always, it’s kind of true for when you do a mashup but especially fusion, because the two songs and the two styles are so different it is off putting to hear a fusion song, and a standard all straight-English or even straight-Hindi song will always sound better than a fusion song, so, the reason why people haven’t been going into the ICCA competition is because they, they’re like we don’t wanna go in with a disadvantage and we’re automatically gonna get shut down, so, but, we think what we try to do with like making a new song so we don’t have those jarring transitions and the songs kind of flow together more naturally and it doesn’t sound so jarring that we think we can compete on the same level. Because in the end, if you think about it as like a new song instead of struggling with a couple different songs and how to integrate them, then, I think the fusion genre has a lot of potential because we get to use elements from both western and Indian music.

When I asked this question, several members raised their hand with something to add. After

Gavin spoke, however, no one else had anything more to add. While Gavin had much to say about single-language songs in ICCA competitions, he later told me that Dhamakapella decided to participate in the ICCA circuit with their fusion set for the 2018-2019 year. Gavin’s passion for effective fusion arrangements was echoed by the other singers in the room who nodded or

1 In this context, a swaram refers to a run or succession of notes that sounds “Indian,” something that may be used to embellish an Indian film song. 64 whispered to each other in agreement. When I was packing up my belongings and getting ready to leave, I was approached by a few singers who tried to reinforce the idea of fusion for me.

Savannah, a freshman, made a salient analogy, saying, “When other groups make stripes of red and blue, we make purple.”

The dedication Dhamakapella has towards arranging, rehearsing, and performing “true fusion” is a group effort that each individual singer must participate in. I would like to take an aside here to discuss the importance Dhamakapella places on “fusion” to Goffman’s dramaturgical theory, using his concept of teams to further understand the shared value of fusion.

I am of the persuasion that the music they choose to perform is an intentional act to affect the impression of listeners. Goffman identifies “performance teams,” which Dhamakapella is in a literal and figurative sense. Goffman has the following to say about group performances,

Whether the members of a team stage similar individual performances or stage dissimilar performances which fit together into a whole, an emergent team impression arises which can conveniently be treated as a fact in its own right, ... It may even be said that if our special interest is the study of impression management, of the contingencies which arise in fostering an impression, and the techniques for meeting these contingencies, then the team and the team-performance may well be the best units to take as the fundamental point of reference.2

Dhamakapella, I believe, stages similar individual performances to intentionally manage the impression of listeners that they are an effective example of fusion between South Asian and western popular music. They work together in their social and musical performance interactions musical fusion unlike similar groups.

2 Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (New York: Anchor Books, 1959) 80. 65

Competition Phase After the winter break, I met with Dhamakapella after they had just come back from

Sahana, a competition in Los Angeles. In the elevator going to rehearsal, I spoke with Naya, who was not terribly interested in talking about how they were scored at Sahana. When we walked into rehearsal, a few members were missing and the members who were there were tired and irritable. Most of them had caught a bad cold during their travels and had not quite recovered.

Gavin told me when I first started working with the group that rehearsals in the fall semester were relaxed, but rehearsals in the spring semester were much more focused, and that was certainly the case. Even with a few members missing, warmups began only a few minutes after rehearsal officially began. More than in the previous rehearsals, members addressed each other’s behavior in an effort to maintain focus during the rehearsal. This behavior is another example of agency, as each member has equal opportunity to offer a suggestion to redirect the rehearsal.

The musical work was far more detail-oriented than before. Small sections of each song were rehearsed repeatedly with members making suggestions for improvement with each run- through. In the brief moments between songs, I was able to hear the conversations the singers had. As I was writing down observations, I heard Aashna, one of the two music directors for the spring semester, say to another singer “That’s too Carnatic! When you sing Carnatic or any other classical music, the vibration is in the front of your face. You need to vibrate your soft palate.”

She then modeled singing a vowel in a way that sounded more like western popular music than the classical tradition of South India. Not long after, another singer caught himself doing the same, holding his face and saying “Ahh! I’m singing too Carnatic!” This sonic preference, what I consider to be a desired timbre, is derived from the ideals of collegiate a cappella more broadly, not of Indian singing traditions. 66

Towards the end of rehearsal, they worked on a song I had not previously heard. It was sung entirely in Hindi, and I did not understand a single word, but I found it immediately captivating. “Can we have a drone?” someone asked, and Lewis, also one of the music directors, used the room’s audio-visual equipment to play a drone from Youtube.com to help the singers sing in tune. As an instrumental musician, I also use drones to help me play in tune, and I usually prefer a neutral sounding drone, typically an electronic sound or the sound of a cello. But when

Lewis went to the computer, he used a tanpura drone.

Figure 14. Tanpura drone screenshot from Youtube.com.

I recognized the tanpura from performances of classical Indian music I have heard before. It is a four-stringed lute used in both northern and southern India. In Indian music, it also serves as a drone; the four strings are tuned to the tonic and the dominant, helping a musician establish the appropriate tonal center.3 It makes sense to use it, as it works just as well as other drones, but it

3 Alastair Dick, “Tambūra,” Grove Music Online, 2001, Accessed May 26, 2019. https://www- oxfordmusiconline-com.proxy.library.kent.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo- 9781561592630-e-0000027446.

67 was an obvious sign of an Indian cultural product, and its use an example of symbolic behavior that distinctly demonstrated the concept of Indian music to me.

This was the first of many signs expressed in the spring semester that aided in my understanding of Goffman’s dramaturgical theory. I entered this project using Goffman’s ideology to view identity as a performance, specifically that belonging to a music group that in itself is symbolic of an ethnic identity provides musicians an opportunity to perform that identity.

Beyond the use of the Hindi language in film song, the use of this drone was one of the first instances of this symbolic behavior that I could analyze. I maintain that this is a sign or sign- vehicle used in the performance of South Asianness within South Asian A cappella. Searching for a means to analyze this symbolic behavior, I decided to borrow Thomas Turino’s interpretation of the Piercian semiotic triad from his 1999 article, which is illustrated in Figure

15.

Figure 15. Piercian semiotic triad interpreted by Thomas Turino.

Using the triangle, the sign is the tanpura drone, the object it represents is Indian music, and, as I was the observer in this situation, the interpretant is the idea of specific Indian influence in the rehearsal space of Dhamakapella. The use of this drone in a closed rehearsal space indicated to 68 me that, even though Dhamakapella values fusion in the literal performance space, it is more than a mask they put on at competitions – it is part of their everyday performance behavior.

Before I could process the use of the drone any further, Vasu took a package of ear plugs from his bookbag. He handed a pair out to each of the members and turned off the lights. They stood shoulder to shoulder in a tight circle with only the light of the computer screen providing me with a means to see what was actually happening. Again, they started to sing the song I had not heard before, one called “Khwaja mere Khwaja.” I thought it was exceptionally beautiful, and the mood set by the lighting sent shivers down my spine. After rehearsal, I spoke with Gavin about it, and about the Sahana competiton.

Gavin told me that the judges at Sahana were split about their performance. Two judges gave them very positive comments, and two were not as approving. One judge in particular did not like Dhamakapella’s performance of “Khwaja mere Khwaja,” because she did not feel it was representative of the original. This further blurred the idea of fusion for me, and Gavin was frustrated about it as well.

At the end of February, Dhamakapella traveled to Iowa City to perform in the competition Gathe Raho. I went also, and I decided to bring along my friend Jessica, an almuna of Astha A Cappella, St. Louis University’s South Asian A Cappella choir. We almost went to the wrong venue, but we ran into a local family who were also going to Gathe and helped us get to the theatre. I purchased my ticket and found seats along the center aisle. The show was introduced by the two emcees and the American and Indian national anthems were performed. I realized at that moment that I had never heard the Indian national anthem before, but almost everyone in the theatre was singing, including Jessica, who is not of Indian ancestry. We sat 69 down and the first group was announced. There was not a program, which frustrated my classically-trained sensibilities, so each performance offered its own surprise.

Dhamakapella performed second. Before they took the stage, an introduction video they made was played. It features each of the members on the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel with a dance mix of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony playing in the background. I felt their performance went especially well, and a few moments really excited the audience.

It was in this competition that symbolic behavior and true fusion became clearer to me.

The competition provides a platform for South Asian A Cappella choirs to perform socially and musically for each other, which is of a heightened performance since most of these groups are spread across different universities. As far as performing fusion, the elements of costume and music were the most informative examples of symbolic behavior.

Costume Of the seven groups performing at Gathe Raho, four groups, including Dhamakapella, dressed so that the women wore Indian clothing and the men wore western clothing. The men’s clothing typically consisted in button down shorts with bow ties and dress pants, though some groups also wore suit jackets. One group included both women and men wearing Indian clothing, and two groups wore all western clothing.

Traditional clothing serves as an important symbol of South Asian culture, especially as western influences continue to pervade South Asian popular culture. Researching glocalization, the idea of maintaining traditional values during the process of globalization, journalist

Shakuntala Rao found dress served as an important cultural signifier in Bollywood film. Rao, through her consumption of Bollywood film and by interviewing Indian people, has noticed that protagonists in modern Bollywood film can frequently wear western clothing like jeans and t- 70 shirts, but they must wear something that signifies their Indian culture at least once. Two of her interviewees had the following to say:

Mona: If you watch old movies, Saira Banu or Tanuja will wear skirts or pants only in one or two scenes. Now a heroine can be in jeans and skirts in most of the film.

Nancy: But, at least, in one scene she has to be seen wearing a sari or salwar kameej. It is what makes her Indian.4

Rao similarly found that Indian audiences look for clothing that demonstrates worldliness without sacrificing an Indian feel. She writes, “while Indian clothing is adopting global styles, audiences nevertheless desire that sari, choli, and sherwani continue to mark simultaneously both the cosmopolitan and Indian attributes of the characters and that clothing remain a sign of global sophistication and Indianness of characters.”5

This is not surprising, as the sari and other Indian clothing often serve as a sign of South

Asian ethnicity. Anthropologist Karen Hansen recognizes the sari and other traditional Indian clothing styles as “dress icons” of India, especially as it has remained a constant over India’s colonial and globalized history.6

From these two discussions on Indian clothing, it would be an obvious choice for

Dhamakapella to utilize this sign in their performances. At a competition this past spring, members of Dhamakapella wore both western and Indian-inspired clothing, depicted in figure 2.

The men wear western clothing while the women wear garments reminiscent of what would be seen in Bollywood cinema.

4 Shakuntala Rao, “’I need an Indian Touch’: Glocalization and Bollywood Films,” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 3, no. 1 (2010): 7. 5 Shakuntala Rao, “I need an Indian Touch,” 8. 6 Karen Tranberg Hansen, "The World in Dress: Anthropological Perspectives on Clothing, Fashion, and Culture," Annual Review of Anthropology 33 (2004): 369-92.

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Figure 16. Dhamakapella at their Gathe Raho performance in Iowa City, Iowa.

If I revisit the Piercian semiotic, the sign is the combination of western clothing in the form of button-down shirts, bow ties, and dress pants, and Indian clothing in the form of a ghagra choli, without the scarf commonly worn with this outfit. The object the dress represents is both western formal wear and Indian formal dress, similar to what might be used in a Bollywood film.

The interpretant is that the dress offers a sense familiarity of the men’s clothing and for westerners, a curiosity of the women’s clothing, though the Indian people in the audience likely saw familiarity in both styles. The women’s clothing does remind me of South Asian culture, especially with the midriff revealing cut and the bright colors of red and gold.

While it could be said that my interpretant leads me to see the clothing as a blend of western and Indian elements because I am already familiar with the group, there are certainly reasons beyond that that prompt me to make this connection. 72

The women’s clothing certainly signifies the South Asian element of the group’s costume. The bright colors remind me of brocades such as the one in figure 3., a heavy material,

“with woven borders and cross borders, created in the tapestry technique with a combination of gold thread creating the background and the patterns worked in multicolored bright-hued silk, are some of the earliest examples of gold weaving.”7 The application of this style of fabric and colors to the choli ghagra (an outfit with a similar cut is exhibited in figure 4) creates an even more powerful symbol. The fabric and style together create the sign.

Figure 17. (Left), Stitched Brocade retrieved from the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: South Asia and Southeast Asia. Figure 18. (Right) Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra wearing a design by Ritu Kumar at India Couture Week, Mumbai, 2008. Retrieved from the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: South Asia and Southeast Asia.

7 Jasleen Dhamija, "History of Textiles of South Asia," in Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: South Asia and Southeast Asia, ed Jasleen Dhamija (Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010) 30-37.

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The men’s clothing is very familiar to me as a westerner. It is somewhat formal apparel of a neutral color, excluding the golden bowtie. It is reminiscent to me of something a young man would wear to a high school dance.

Music The music is certainly the most important part of this performance. All of the groups performed some combination of western and Indian popular musics, but the degree to which they combined the two elements varied greatly. While the following chapter will analyze the music at this competition further, in this chapter I write about music as a sign.

Dhamakapella’s commitment to fusion musical selections are the most important way the singers perform their fusion of ethnic identities. From the original song selection process to the finished product, all members have a chance to make their voice heard, both literally and figuratively.

When talking with Shilpa, Dhamakapella’s music director, she informed me of the song

selection process,

Any member of the group can suggest new fusion ideas. We have a document on our Google Drive where people can suggest ideas and others can commit to arranging them. When we are pairing songs, we look for similarities in lyric meaning, musical key, and tempo. We try to fuse songs so that Hindi words can be sung over motifs from the English song and vice versa. Even with songs that are in all one language, we use classic English a cappella motifs in the background to create a fusion piece.

After a fusion is selected, it is sent to Shaun who then arranges it. This is where the “true fusion” element that I have previously discussed is manifested.

As an example, I will use one of their 2018 arrangements which blends the songs

“Madness” by Muse and “Phir Le Aya Dil”, a song from the 2012 Bollywood film titled Barfi!

Both of the songs have a relaxed mood, and the lyrics from both songs discuss memory and lost love being brought back together. 74

The similar meaning between the lyrics of the two songs as well as their similar tempo and feel make them great candidates for fusion. Shaun’s arrangement begins with the melodic opening of “Phir Le Aya Dil” and almost immediately juxtaposes it with the background content of “Madness.” The background material stays fairly consistent throughout the song, tying the melodic content from both songs together.

Due to past experiences where other South Asian A Cappella choirs have taken ideas from other choirs, Shaun elected not to share the entirety of his score with me. He did, however, share with me a segment that I think illustrates well what Dhamakapella means by “true fusion.”

Their arrangements all have this degree of fusion, where the songs are really blended together.

The climax of this song, as seen in figure 7, has the melodies from both “Madness” and “Phir Le

Aya Dil” sounding at the same time.

Figure 19. Excerpt from “Madness/ Phir Le Aya Dil”

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This short example continues for the final 20-25 seconds of the song. The two songs playing at

once is what the members of Dhamakapella mean when they say “true fusion.” This selection,

as well as its two component songs, are available for listening on Youtube.

Interpreting this use of music through the lens of the Piercian semiotic triad, the subject is

the combination of the two songs, “Madness” and “Phir Le Aya Dil, the object of their

combination, then, is both western and Indian popular culture. The combination of different

language and different melodic material immediately forces the listener to experience elements

of both western and South Asian cultures simultaneously, resulting in an interpretant that is both

western and South Asian.

Language is the most crucial element of fusion in this situation, as language is the most

obvious sign of non-western culture in the performance. When studying the Turkish call to

prayer, Eve McPherson found that in the religious context of the call to prayer, the language is

the most salient aspect of performance.8 In the case of the Turkish call to prayer, the timbre of

the language used is what makes it salient. In South Asian A Cappella, language is also the most

salient aspect of performance, but that is because of its symbolic importance. There are no

instruments to provide a South Asian timbre, and Indian film music’s own western influences

can blur the distinction between what is Indian and what is western. As Indian film music has

gradually endured western influence, the use of the Hindi language still functions as a sign of

Indian culture. It also serves as a sign of Indian culture in South Asian A Cappella. This is

certainly the case with Dhamakapella. Recalling Johnstone’s work with the ceremonial use of

8 Eve McPherson, “The Etic Voice: An Ethnomusicological Perspective on Voice Research in Turkish Secular and Sacred Practices,” in Singing: The Timeless Muse, ed. Darlene C. Wiley (Gahanna, Ohio: Inside View Press, 2018) 33. 76

the Welsh language, I asked Aashna if the members of Dhamakapella actually spoke Hindi. She

told me:

"Divyam and I are actually the only members of Dhamaka that know Hindi at all, and I think Divyam is the only person who actually uses Hindi in communication with his family. I speak Gujarati with my parents (sometimes), and I know some of the other members speak in Telegu and Kannada among other languages. Hindi is definitely only used among us in terms of singing."

This quote further suggests that language can serve a ceremonial purpose in South Asian A

Cappella and may be the most important distinction between western and South Asian presence in the music.

Dhamakapella placed third at Gathe Raho, a rating that was better than Sahana but not

what the singers would have wanted. I felt that their performance was deserving of a higher

score as well but having seen the group grow over the previous semester, I was likely biased. I

asked Jessica what she thought of the performances. She was particularly impressed by choirs

that had a specific theme to their performances. While themes are not a part of the judging

rubric, I understood what drew her to those kinds of performances. But Dhamakapella placed,

which helped them make it to the 2019 A3.

After Gathe Raho, Shaun, the Dhamaka alumni and arranger, came to give a

demonstration about how to create South Asian A Cappella arrangements. His process has four

steps – the idea, the scratch, the instrumental, and the notation.

When trying to find an idea, Shaun listens to as much music as he can. Listening to a

variety of western, Indian, and a cappella music often gives him ideas of what songs would

sound good together. He warned the members that just because two songs sound good together

does not mean they should be arranged together. It is important to make sure the songs work

well on multiple levels. 77

The scratch is the most essential part of the process. A scratch is an arrangement of the selected songs using a program like Garageband or Ableton where individual parts of the song are taken apart and reattached like sections of a quilt. During the instrumental portion of the process, Shaun uses his piano skills to make smooth transitions between the different sections of the scratch. It helps to finalize and smooth out any musical ideas in a way that makes musical sense.

The last step is the notation. Shaun encouraged the current members of Dhamakapella to learn to effectively notate music, especially rhythms, a set of skills that would provide them with their own agency in the arranging process. Shaun took it upon himself one summer to familiarize himself with music theory and notation. He credits this endeavor for his ability to create arrangements.

When I first started this project, I had the chance to talk with Shaun about his process from a philosophical perspective, especially as it relates to true fusion. He communicated with me via email, saying:

As an arranger, I have been fortunate to have written and received recognition for both types of arrangements [fusion and single genre/language]. These experiences have helped me discover the intrinsic strengths and weakness in each. I cannot speak for other arrangers within the genre, but I find it objectively easier to write and edit single- song/single-language arrangements. There is an entire layer of ideas that I do not have to necessarily think about such as the raag/melodic interplay, chord progression clashes, and phrasing/structural differences between the source genres. "True" fusion arrangements are challenging to write due to the presence of the aforementioned layer, especially those that move beyond the classification of a "mash-up." However, when I am successfully able to weave source and original material together, I feel that the arrangement moves beyond the classification of a “medley” or a “mash-up.” I feel a greater sense of gratification because I have created a “new” song, rather than a novel cover/interpretation. This plays out in my arranging by aiming to artfully incorporate different elements (sourced and original) to create a unique-sounding background texture that supports a well-thought-out exchange of soloist lines and lyricism.

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Shaun puts a great deal of work into his arranging process; his commitment to well-arranged fusion is clear in his words and in the demonstration he gave. Dhamakapella had such faith in his arranging abilities that they took his fusion set to the ICCA competition circuit. They took second place in their regional competition and had the opportunity to perform at their semifinals.

For the second half of the rehearsal with Shaun, Dhamakapella performed their set and received comments from Shaun to improve their performance. Having been accepted to perform at A3, it was crucial that each rehearsal was even more focused on detail-oriented work.

Rehearsals continued in this fashion for the weeks leading up to A3.

Rehearsals before A3 occasionally became more tense. Seniors reminded the younger members that it would be their last competition with Dhamakapella in a way to inspire more focused behavior in rehearsal. Single vocal parts and short sections were rehearsed aggressively.

Members would step to the side to watch the rehearsal more closely, checking for places where they could make improvements.

They went to D.C. for A3 which took place on April 13. While they did not place, they clearly left everything they had on the stage. Their performance was recorded and uploaded to

Youtube.com. Their musical performance in this recording is excellent. I am proud to have worked with such an exceptional group of musicians and people.

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Figure 20. Official notice of Dhamakapella’s status as an A3 competitor.

Recording Phase After all the competitions had ended, the last few weeks of the semester saw

Dhamakapella draw their year to a close. They performed in a few exhibition performances at

Case Western Reserve University and had officer elections for the following year.

One of the last things they did was record their 2019 set for a new EP. They record one each year using money they receive as a student organization. In a parallel to the beginning of my time with Dhamakapella, they had solo auditions for the recording session. Multiple singers 80 had sung the same solo at different points during the competition season. After they decided who to give the solo to, they discussed the process of recording, helping each other prepare for a new experience for many of the singers.

After my last observation with Dhamakapella, I sent them an email to bring my work to a close. As I had come to the conclusion that South Asian A Cappella is likely a musical practice that allows singers of South Asian ancestry and American nationality to perform both cultures they connect to. With that in mind, I asked them “Do you see yourself reflected in the music you perform?” I did not receive many responses, but one by Aashna was aligned with my suspicions:

My answer is that I do see myself reflected in South Asian A Cappella music and performance. This genre of music is very representative of my background and is something that I grew up surrounded by. The fact that we fuse South Asian music with Western music makes this style even more important to me, as it melds two very different cultures that I interact with every day. Performing this music really gives me an outlet to express myself through a unique style of music.

Dhamakapella’s year is complete as the spring semester ended and the summer started.

Eric and Divyam will take over writing arrangements and all of the returning members will plan their next year. In the fall, they will audition new members and rehearse new music. I look forward to seeing what they accomplish in the future.

Dhamakapella’s unique creation and experience in South Asian A Cappella has demonstrated to me the importance of the concept of fusion in all elements of performance, both musical and social. Their work as a team during rehearsals, utilizing the skill sets of each individual, is just as blended as the performances they give at competitions. Their passion for competition seems to be rooted in a desire to express what they feel they do best, perform “true fusion.” In the following chapter, I will use listening guides to better investigate the concept of 81

“true fusion,” comparing the work of Dhamakapella to that of the other two groups that placed at

Gathe Raho. 82

CHAPTER V

MUSIC: COGNITION, BEHAVIOR, MUSIC SOUND

Academic work in ethnomusicology is seldom complete without a discussion of the sonic expression of the music itself. For this chapter, I will discuss the process of Dhamakapella’s music creation using the Merriam model as described in Timothy Rice’s Modeling

Ethnomusicology. This model is a continual loop of cognition to behavior to music sound. The important factor of the Merriam model is that it is a feedback loop; the music sound will then influence cognition and behavior to produce a different, more desired sound. Attending

Dhamakapella’s rehearsals has given me the opportunity to watch the music make subtle shifts, and watching an arrangement presentation given by Shaun, alumn and arranger, has given me valuable insight into the processes surrounding Dhamakapella’s musicking. In this chapter, I will discuss the cognition, behavior, and music sound of Dhamakapella, using descriptive analysis as part of a listening guide.

In an attempt to further unravel the concept of “true fusion,” I will also create listening guides for the performances of Saint Louis University’s Astha A Cappella and the University of

Miami’s Tuufan. Tuufan, Astha, and Dhamakapella were the first, second, and third place winners of Gathe Raho respectively. It is from this performance that I will create these listening guides. My decision to create listening guides comes from the fact that this music is easily accessible for listening purposes as it is archived by the competitions themselves and by the musicians who perform this music. Additionally, creating listening guides as opposed to scores makes it easier to observe the interplay of language, which, as previously discussed, is the most salient sign of culture in this tradition. Following each listening guide, I provide a narrative description of one of the selections included in the listening guide. These narratives will include 83 a brief transcription of a solo line, bringing attention to elements that I consider particularly

South Asian. The arrangers treasure their written scores and are in the interest of protecting them. Attempting to create a full score could misrepresent the music and betray the trust of those who write it.

Cognition – Behavior – Music Sound; Dhamakapella’s Sonic Shifts As discussed in the previous chapter, Dhamakapella spent the fall semester practicing ensemble singing by performing songs they already knew and by preparing their 2019 set. They recorded videos of these older tunes to submit applications for competitions in the spring. Once they had been accepted, they began learning and rehearsing their new set, arranged by Shaun.

For this discussion, I consider “cognition” to be the thoughts and ideas surrounding music creation and music learning. “Behavior” comprises all of the individual and collective acts in rehearsing and refining the music. Lastly, “music sound” is the resultant product of the cognition and behavior used in its creation.

As far as cognition and behavior are concerned, Dhamakapella makes a concerted effort to further the agenda of fusion in this music. When thinking of possible arrangements, the members look for songs that blend well both sonically and in lyrical meaning. When arranging,

Shaun meshes the source material songs in a way that both songs are highlighted and interwoven so that the lines between the songs are blurred and something new is created. Dhamakapella then rehearses the song with sensitivity so the new song effectively showcases all the source material.

Dhamakapella refers to this as “true fusion,” something they feel is demonstrated in the music sound of their final product.

Analysis Demonstrating the concept of “true fusion” is difficult because while I have an idea of what it is, as an outsider to this tradition, it is still not firm in my mind. Additionally, I do not 84 have a grasp on what might be the most representative aspect of each selection – is it still fusion if some parts of a melody are used as accompaniment, or does the melody need to be present? If an Indian melody is used but words are not, is it still fusion? There are several questions I have about what justifies the term fusion that further work may demonstrate.

In my decision to analyze fusion in this thesis, I am going to work with the use of language. This decision comes from the way members of Dhamakapella use language to separate western and South Asian music in the fusion genre. To a varying degree, the accompaniment for each of these listening guides uses western chordal structure and often nods to the source material songs to create texture in the accompaniment. However, trying to assign each of these a value in respect to fusion would be to use my own bias in an unfair way. Instead, I will create listening guides using lyrics and time stamps from the Gathe Raho 2019 competition which the organizing body of Gathe Raho has uploaded to Youtube.com. From this, I can use time to measure how often Hindi is used as the solo voice, English, and both simultaneously.

Admittedly, this is still an imperfect science. Dhamakapella has relayed to me that interchanging the solo and accompaniment of the source material songs is also an important part of fusion, but when Indian film song has been so influenced by the concept of western harmonic structures, trying to include this variable is beyond the capacity of this thesis. While I may not be measuring “true fusion” as fluidly as participants in this music may define it, I am doing justice by measuring what is on the foreground: language.

The transcribed excerpts are used to demonstrate the South Asian elements that make the music unique from the western elements. In Table III, I provide a guide to better explain how I use the western notation system to transcribe ornamentations. The ornaments are the most significant influence from South Asian music.

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Table III. Guide to Ornament Notation.

Dhamakapella At Gathe, Dhamakapella placed third. Their 2019 set featured four selections:

“Treasure” by Bruno Mars and “Locha-E-Ulfat” from the film 2 States

“Fool for You” by Zayn, “Soch na Sake” from the film Airlift, and “Judaai” from the film Judaii

“Open Arms” by PrettyMuch and “Chand Sifarish” from the film Fanaa

“Khwaja Mere Khwaja” from the film Jodha Aakbar

Table IV. Listening guide for Dhamakapella’s 2019 Gathe Raho performance. Time Hindi Solo English Solo 49:02- Introduction Introduction 49:28 49:28- Eklauta Mera Dil Tha 49:46 Bhola Bhaala Simple Tha Tujhse Main Takraaya Sar Phira Ho Gaya Mujhe Pyaar Laga Jo 86

Tujhe Laga Bhai-Chara Armaan Toh Jaage Main Magar So Gaya

My heart was all alone It was naïve and simple But when I crashed into You It (my heart) became crazy What I felt as love You felt that as brotherly affection My desires awakened But I went to sleep1 49:46- Banke Museebat, Peechhe Padi Hai I know that you don’t know it but you’re fine so 50:00 Yeh Comedy Hai, Ya Tragedy Hai fine Banke Museebat, Peechhe Padi Hai Oh girl I’m gonna show you when you’re mine oh Na Hona Tha Kyun Ho Gaya… mine

Like some trouble, it’s/You’re after me Is this some comedy or a tragedy? Like some trouble, it’s/You’re after me It wasn’t bound to happen and yet it has happened 50:00- Locha-E-Ulfat Ho Gaya 50:02 The problem of/called love has happened 50:02- Treasure, that is what you are 50:26 Honey, you’re my golden star You know you can make my wish come true If you let me treasure you If you let me treasure you 50:26- Pretty girl, pretty girl, pretty girl, you should be 50:42 smiling A girl like you should never look so blue You’re everything I see in my dreams I wouldn’t say that to you if it wasn’t true 50:42- Banke Museebat, Peechhe Padi Hai 50:58 Yeh Comedy Hai, Ya Tragedy Hai Banke Museebat, Peechhe Padi Hai Na Hona Tha Kyun Ho Gaya…

Like some trouble, it’s/You’re after me Is this some comedy or a tragedy? Like some trouble, it’s/You’re after me It wasn’t bound to happen and yet it has happened 50:58- You are my treasure 51:15 You are my treasure You are my treasure Yeah you, you, you, you are You are my treasure You are my treasure You are my treasure

1 “Locha-E-Ulfat,” Bollynook, accessed May 27, 2019, http://www.bollynook.com/en/lyrics/14190/locha- e-ulfat. 87

Yeah you, you, you, you are 51:15- Yeh Haal Behuda Hai You are my treasure 51:33 Kis Mood Mein Khuda Hai You are my treasure Kyun Dil Ki Dhadkanon Se You are my treasure Maze Mein Khele Yeh Ludo Samjhaao Yeah you, you, you, you are Kya Khaak Dosti Hai You are my treasure Daftar Ki Naukri Hai You are my treasure Karne Ko Dil Nahi Hai Magar Kare Jaoon… You are my treasure Yeah you, you, you, you are This condition of mine is pathetic In what mood God is? With my heartbeats Why is He happily playing Ludo (a board game)? Please someone explain me this Friendship with You is pointless Even if I don’t want to do, I keep on doing it 51:33- Locha-E, Locha-E, Locha-E-Ulfat Ho Gaya 51:37 The problem of/called love has happened 51:37- Treasure, that is what you are 51:59 Honey, you’re my golden star You know you can make my wish come true If you let me treasure you If you let me treasure you 51:59- Locha-E-Ulfat Ho Gaya Treasure 52:02 The problem of/called love has happened 52:02- Pause between selections Pause between selections 52:16 52:16- Introduction Introduction 52:42 52:42- Tennu Itna Main Pyaar Karaan 53:11 Ek Pal Vich Sau Baar Karaan Tu Jaave Je Mainu Chhad Ke Maut Da Intezaar Karaan

I love You so much A hundred times in one moment If You leave me and go I’ll just wait for my death2 53:11- When the darts just miss, I just can’t resist it 53:22 53:22- Cause I’m a fool for you 54:27 And the things you do I’m a fool for you And the things, the things you do The things you do The things you do When you’re looking like this I just can’t resist it I know sometimes I hide it But I can’t this time cause it’s gonna defeat me

2 “Soch Na Sake,” Bollynook, accessed May 27, 2019, https://www.bollynook.com/en/lyrics/18373/soch- na-sake/. 88

But you won’t believe me Believe me 54:27- Chadariya Jheeni Re Jheeni 54:53 Chadariya Jheeni Re Jheeni Aankhein Bheeni Yeh Bheeni Yeh Bheeni Yaadein Jheeni Re Jheeni Re Jheeni

The bed sheet is finely woven These eyes are wet The memories are all finely woven (in the bed sheet)

Chadariya Jheeni Re Jheeni Chadariya Jheeni Re Jheeni Aankhein Bheeni Yeh Bheeni Yeh Bheeni Yaadein Jheeni Re Jheeni Re Jheeni

The bed sheet is finely woven These eyes are wet The memories are all finely woven (in the bed sheet)3 54:53- Gair Sa Hua Khud Se Bhi, Na Koi Mera 55:17 Dard Se Kar Le Chal Yaari, Dil Ye Keh Raha Kholun Jo Baahein… Bas Gham Yeh Simat Rahe Hai Jaane Kaise Koi Sehta Judaaiyaan

I’ve become a stranger to my own self, no one is mine Become friends with pain, my heart tells me this When I open my arms, grief is the only one who comes and embraces me How can one bear separation (only God knows) 55:17- Ki Teri Ore Mujhko Leke Chalein 55:30 Ye Duniya Bhar Ke Sab Raaste Main Tujhko Kitna Chaahta Hoon Ye Tu Kabhi Soch Na Sake

They all take/lead me towards You All the roads of the world I love You so much You can’t ever imagine how much 55:30- Tere Liye Duniya Chhod Di Hai 55:41 Tujhpe Hi Saans Aake Ruke Main Tujhko Kitna Chaahta Hoon Ye Tu Kabhi Soch Na Sake

For You I have left the world My breath stops at You I love You so much You can’t ever imagine how much

3 “Judaai,” Bollynook, accessed May 27, 2019, https://www.bollynook.com/en/lyrics/16146/judaai/. 89

55:41- I’m a fool for you and the things you do 55:54 55:54- Chadariya Jheeni Re Jheeni I’m a fool for you 56:08 Chadariya Jheeni Re Jheeni And the things, the things you do Aankhein Bheeni Yeh Bheeni Yeh Bheeni The things you do Yaadein Jheeni Re Jheeni Re Jheeni

The bed sheet is finely woven These eyes are wet The memories are all finely woven (in the bed sheet) 56:08- This love is tainted 56:21 56:22- Pause between selections Pause between selections 56:31 56:31- Introduction Introduction 56:56 56:56- Chand Sifarish Jo Karta Humaari Deta Woh 57:09 Tumko Bataa Sharmo Haya Ke Parde Giraake Karni Hai Humko Khata

If the moon would speak for Me, it would tell You this I want to drop the veil of modesty and transgress and do a mischief4 57:09- Now you got me cuffed, and you ain’t even know 57:23 me Got me slippin up, and now I need you on me I just wanna touch, but I keep being turned away, woah 57:23- Girl you could tear me apart 57:51 But I can’t help it I’m waitin’ Here with open arms, oh So when you’re ready You know where to find me Got that key to your heart Scrape my knees on the pavement Here with open arms So when you’re ready you know where to find me 57:51- So I’ve been waiting by my phone 58:08 For that ringtone So you just don’t know what to so No, its not like I’m asking for much 58:08- Now you got me cuffed, and you ain’t even know 58:20 me Got me slippin up, and now I need you on me I just wanna touch, but I keep being turned away 58:20- Teri Ada Bhi Hai Jhonke Wali Chu Ke Guzar Oh you know where to find me, oh 58:32 Jaane De Teri Lachak Hai Ke Jaise Daali Dil Mein Uthar Jaane De

4 “Chand Sifarish,” Bollynook, accessed May 27, 2019, https://www.bollynook.com/en/lyrics/6427/chand- sifarish/. 90

Your charm is just like wind that touches and passes away Your movement is like a swaying branch which gets absorbed in the heart 58:32- I been waiting by my phone 58:49 Waitin’ for you call Waitin’ for you to call baby, oh Baby let me know, yeah When you’re ready 58:49- Subahnallah 59:03 Subahnallah

Praise the Lord Praise the Lord 59:03- Subahnallah 59:08 Praise the Lord 59:08- Single pitch carried over Single pitch carried over 59:13 59:13- Khwaja ji, Khwaja 101:20 Khwaja ji, Khwaja

Khwaja ji

Ya Gharib Nawaz Ya Gharib Nawaz

Khwaja ji, Khwaja

Ya Gharib Nawaz

Khwaja ji (3x) Khwaja ji (3x)

Ya Moinuddin Ya Moinuddin

Ya Khwaja ji (3x)

Khwaja ji 6x

Khwaja mere Khwaja

Khwaja Mere Khwaja, Dil Mein Samaa Ja Shaahon Ka Shah Tu, Ali Ka Dulara

Lord, Oh Lord Lord, Oh Lord

Oh Lord

Benefactor of the Poor Benefactor of the Poor

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Lord, Oh Lord

Benefactor of the Poor

Oh Lord (3x) Oh Lord (3x)

Oh Assister of the Faith Oh Assister of the Faith

Oh Lord (3x)

Oh Lord (6x)

Lord my Lord

Oh my Lord! Come and reside in my heart You are the king of kings, You are the God's beloved one

Figure 21. Language use distribution of Dhamakapella’s 2019 Gathe Raho performance. Dhamakapella

Indian Language English Both Neither

Narrative Description For Dhamakapella’s performance, I found their arrangement of “Chand Sifarish” and

“Open Arms” particularly interesting in that it is a very enjoyable arrangement to listen to and the Hindi solo also features several ornaments.

The song opens with the soloists of the previous selection singing short melismatic phrases on neutral syllables. After three of these phrases, the rest of the choirs join in on “ah.” 92

The vocal percussionist transitions the group from the more free sounding “ah” to a metered section where the background vocalists sing “da da um da de,” a figure found in “Open Arms.”

After this figure is established, the soloist sings from “Chand Sifarish.”

Figure 22. Excerpt from “Chand Sifarish/Open Arms”arranged by Shaunak Roy performed by Dhamakapella.

After the Hindi-language section, the English-language solo from “Open Arms” takes over. After the chorus, verse, bridge, and chorus of “Open Arms,” the “Chand Sifarish” solo returns. This section has even more of the ornaments featured in the opening solo, but due to the microphone balance being off, it was hard to hear them in detail. During this time, the two soloists are very much singing with each other in a conversational manner.

After the duet, the English-language solo is most present as the singer sings another verse from “Open Arms.” After she is done, the Hindi-language soloist from this arrangement and her partner in the previous song sing “Subahnallah” twice together and the “Chand Sifarish” soloist sings it once on her own. This is a very dramatic part of the arrangement. At the beginning of each “Subahnallah,” the rest of the choir drops out for a moment, returning in “ah.” The final

“Subahnallah” is more reserved and almost defeated. It also serves as a transition into the next selection.

Astha A Cappella Astha placed second at the 2019 Gathe Raho competition Their set included the following songs:

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“Heathens” by 21 Pilots, “God is a Woman” by Ariana Grande, and “Endaro Mahanbhavulu” a traditional Carnatic hymn by Tyagaraja

“Ra Ra” from the film Chandramukhi

“Garands” by Young the Gianta and “Vande Mataram,” and arrangement of a setting by A. R. Rahman

Table V. Listening guide for Astha A Cappella’s 2019 Gathe Raho performance. 2:28:22- Introduction Introduction 2:28:45 2:28:45- All my friends are heathens, take it slow 2:29:08 Wait for them to ask you who you know Please don't make any sudden moves You don't know the half of the abuse 2:29:08- I don't wanna waste no time, yuh 2:30:06 You ain't got a one-track mind, yuh Have it any way you like, yuh And I can tell that you know I know how I want it Ain't nobody else can relate Boy, I like that you ain't afraid Baby, lay me down and let's pray I'm tellin' you the way I like it, how I want it

And I can be all the things you told me not to be (Yuh) When you try to come for me, I keep on flourishing (Yuh) And he see the universe when I'm the company It's all in me

You, you love it how I move you You love it how I touch you My one, when all is said and done You'll believe God is a woman And I, I feel it after midnight A feelin' that you can't fight My one, it lingers when we're done You'll believe God is a woman 2:30:06- Chanduru varuni yanda 2:30:43 Chanduru varuni yanda Chandamunu hrudayaara Chandamunu hrudayaara (Love in the moonlight) joochi Brahma Nandam anubhavinchu varu

Those men will feel the moonlike beautiful form of God in their hearts and will be enlightened about it5

5 “Song: Endaro Mahaanubhaavu,” KarnATik, accessed May 31, 2019, https://karnatik.com/c1006.shtml. 94

2:30:43- You love the way I move you 2:30:54 You love the way I touch you My one, when all is said and done You’ll believe God is a woman 2:30:54- Endaro mahanubhavulu 2:31:05 Endaro mahanubhavulu

There are many great men There are many great men6 2:31:05- All my friends are heathens take it slow 2:31:08 2:31:08- God is a woman 2:31:10 2:31:10- Wait for them to ask you who you know 2:31:14 2:31:14- Mahanubhavulu 2:31:17 2:31:17- God is a woman 2:31:24 God is a woman 2:31:24- The soloist singing in Telugu joins the English It lingers when we’re done 2:31:29 solo here, but the microphone balance makes it When all is said and done, you’ll believe God is a difficult to hear the words she is singing. woman. 2:31:29- Pause between selections Pause between selections 2:31:37 2:31:37- Introduction Introduction 2:31:55 2:31:55- Raa raa… 2:34:58 Raa raa… Raa raa… Raa raa…

Nee pondu ne kori Abhisaarikai nenu Vechaanu sumanoharaa

Kaalana marugaina aananda raagaalu Kanipincha nilichaanu raa Vayasu jaala mopaledu raa Marulu unna chinnadaanni raa

Anuvu baadhaa teercha raave raa raa raave raa

Salasalasala ragilena Paruvapu sodha idi thadipodi thadipodi tapanala swaram idi raa raa raa raa Raa raa... Raa raa...

Raa raa, sarasaku raa raa Raa raa, chenthaku chera vaa

6 “Endaro Mahanubhavulu,” Shivkumar, accessed May 31, 2019, http://www.shivkumar.org/music/endaromahanubhavulu-new.htm. 95

Gaaname needira Yeluko ra dora Swaasa lo swaasai vai

Raa raa...

Ye bandhamo idi ye bandhamo Ye janma bandhaala suma gandhamo

Ye swapnamo idi ye swapnamo Nayanaala nadiyaadu tholi swapnamo...

Virahapu vyadhalanu vinava Ee tadabadu tanuvunu kanavaa

Maguvala manasuna thelisi Nee valapunu maruchuta suluvaa

Idi kanivini erugani Manasula kalayika

Sarasaku pilichiti Virasamu tagadika

Jigi bigi jigi bigi sogusula moravini Mila mila magasiri merupula meravaga...

Raa raa raa raa Raa raa...

Come… Come… Come… Come…

I've desired you I've became a lover I've waited for you, heart stealer

The joyous songs that flew with time came back when we met My youth is a burden And my passion hurts me

Put a little balm on my wound, come

It's the history of youth These are the notes of despair, come, Come...

Come, come near me Come, come close to me

This song is dedicated to you Rule me, my prince Let our breathes become one 96

Come...

What's this relationship? From where does this sweet perfume of relationship come?

What's this dream? Is it the first dream of those wandering eyes?

Listen to your desperate love's pain Look at this graceful body

By understanding a woman's heart Is it hard to forget her love?

Two hearts become one Everybody has heard about it

I've seduced you Stop being so stubborn

Look at my sparkling beauty As our sparkling madness is spread everywhere

Come... Come...7 2:34:58- Pause between selections Pause between selections 2:35:11 2:35:11- Vande mataram (12x) 2:35:59 Mother I bow to thee (12x) 2:35:59- Interlude Interlude 2:36:03 2:36:03- Vande mataram (2x) 2:36:18 Mother I bow to thee (2x) 2:36:18- Go bright light 2:36:48 Scour the forest Through the night Searching for a Sign of life Memories of fears and strife Keep his legs from Turning blue Broken bones and muddy shoes Running through the fields I knew Join the ranks of the favored few 2:36:48- Vande mataram (2x) What have I become? 2:37:04 Before the day is done Mother I bow to thee (2x) 2:37:04- Now that we have

7 “Raa Raa,” Chandāga Bollywood Traductions, accessed May 31, 2019, http://chandagabollywoodsubtitles.blogspot.com/p/raa-raa-en.html. 97

2:37:34 Got what's left Lost my rights when I was young Taken by the Ones I trust Long before I knew of love All the things I understood Fighting for the greater good Now tell me why this feels so wrong Feels so wrong, to hold this gun 2:37:34- Interlude Interlude 2:37:57 2:37:57- Solo “Vande Mataram,” transliteration not 2:38:14 available 2:38:14- The cold wind, you notice 2:38:30 The sky It blows in to show us The sign 2:38:30- Solo from “Vande Mataram,” transliteration not The cold wind, you notice 2:38:46 available My eyes The cold wind, you notice My eyes 2:38:46- Outro using lyrics from “God is a Woman,” Outro using lyrics from “God is a Woman,” 2:39:20 “Vande Mataram,” and “Garands” “Vande Mataram,” and “Garands”

Figure 23. Language use distribution of Astha’s 2019 Gathe Raho performance. Astha

Indian Language English Both Neither

Narrative Description For Astha’s performance, I will look more closely at their first selection, which features three songs – “Heathens,” “God is a Woman,” and “Endaro Mahanbhavulu.” I chose this selection because the Carnatic hymn “Endaro Mahanbhavulu” uses many ornaments, as would be expected from a more classical tradition. 98

The opening of this arrangement is very eerie. Different vocal parts come in terraced on

“ooh.” After this introduction the “Heathens” solo comes in and is sung very briefly. The eerie feeling of “Heathens” quickly dissipates as the selection quickens, changing feel completely for

“God is a Woman.” The “God is a Woman” section is powerful and has a consistent groove beneath the solo. The groove lifts as the “Endaro” solo becomes prominent. This line is very beautiful and delicate compared to “Heathens” and “God is a Woman,” and the accompaniment is careful to not cover the soloist when she enters.

Figure 24. Excerpt from “Heathens/God is a Woman/Endaro” performed by Astha A Cappella.

Following the entrance of the “Endaro” solo, the accompaniment gradually builds back up again in intensity. The selection ends with moments from all three solos being juxtaposed, as each comes to the forefront one last time before the song is over. This juxtaposition is particularly notable as Astha blends all the selections easily despite each original song having a very different feel.

Tufaan Miami Tufaan took first place at Gathe Raho. Their set included the following selections:

“Pyramids” by Frank Ocean and “Door se Paas” from the film Musafir

“The Hymn of Acxiom” by Vienna Teng

Reprise of “Pyramids”

“Rind Posh Maal” from the film Mission Kashmir

99

Table VI. Listening guide for Tufaan’s 2019 Gathe Raho performance. 1:57:59- Introduction Introduction 1:58:25 158:25- Door se pass bulane aaye 1:58:41 Door se pass bulane aaye Door se pass bulane aaye Door se pass bulane aaye

Translation not available 158:41- Pal me nas nas me bas jaye 1:58:56 Hasaye rulaye apnaye thhukraye 1:58:56- Interlude Interlude 1:59:04 1:59:04- Set the cheetahs on the loose 1:59:35 They have taken Cleopatra Run run run, come back for my glory Bring her back to me Run run run, the crown of our pharaoh The throne of our queen is empty

1:59:35- Interlude Interlude 1:59:42 1:59:42- We'll run to the future, shining like diamonds 2:00:30 In a rocky world, rocky rocky world Our skin like bronze and our hair like cashmere As we march to rhythm on the palace floor Chandeliers inside the pyramid, tremble from the force Cymbals crash inside the pyramid, voices fill up the halls

Set the cheetahs on the loose They have taken Cleopatra, Cleopatra 2:00:30- Vocal percussion solo Vocal percussion solo 2:00:44 2:00:44- Ye paheli hai sirf isko sochenge 2:01:34 Ek jhaunka hai kaise jisko rokenge

Door se paas bulane aaye Pal me nas nas me bas jaye Hasaye rulaye apnaye thhukraye 2:01:34- Solo using Indian classical music syllables 2:02:04 2:02:04- No more she lives no more serpent in her room 2:02:19 He has killed Cleopatra, Cleopatra, yeah 2:02:19- Interlude Interlude 2:02:41 2:02:19- Somebody hears you. you know that. you know 2:05:09 that. Somebody hears you. you know that inside. Someone is learning the colors of all your moods, to (say just the right thing and) show that you're understood. Here you're known. 100

Let our formulas find your soul. We'll divine your artesian source (in your mind), Marshal feed and force (our machines will) To design you a perfect love Or (better still) a perfect lust. O how glorious, glorious: a brand new need is born. Now we possess you. you'll own that. you'll own that. Now we possess you. you'll own that in time. Now we will build you an endlessly upward world, (reach in your pocket) embrace you for all you're worth. Is that wrong? Isn't this what you want? Amen. 2:05:09- Big sun coming strong through the motel blinds 2:05:50 Wake up to your girl for now, let's call her Cleopatra, Cleopatra I watch you fix your hair Then put your makeup on in the mirror, Cleopatra Then your lipstick, Cleopatra Then your six-inch heels Catch her

She's headed to the pyramid She's working at the pyramid tonight 2:05:50- Interlude (vocal solo with drone) Interlude 2:06:17 2:06:17- Phir zara zara mahakega 2:06:43 Khusbuu ke mausam aaenge Rind posh maal gindane drai lo lo

Flowers will sweetly scent the air. Once more the seasons of fragrance will come. A refrain to welcome spring.8 2:06:43- Rind posh maal gindane drai lo lo 2:07:00 Sargam ke miithe miithe sur gholo

A refrain to welcome spring Let the sweet notes of harmony mingle. 2:07:00- Ae aaya huun main pyaar ka ye nagama sunaane 2:07:16 Saarii duniya ko ik sur men sajaane Sabke dilon ko nafrat ko mitaane Aa'o yaaron mere sang sang bolo

I've come to sing a song of love, To embrace the whole world with one melody, To wipe out hatred in every heart. Come, friends, sing with me!

8 “Rind Posh Maal Song Lyrics Translation,” Hindilyrics.net, accessed May 31, 2019, http://www.hindilyrics.net/translation-Mission-Kashmir/Rind-Posh-Maal.html. 101

2:07:16- Hey! Rind posh maal gindane drai lo lo 2:07:24 A refrain to welcome spring 2:07:24- Interlude showcasing vocal percussion and Interlude showcasing vocal percussion and 2:07:56 konnakol konnakol 2:07:56- Sangiit men hai aisii fuhaar 2:08:12 Patjhad men bhii jo laae bahaar Sangiit ko na roke diiwaar Sangiit jaa'e sarhad ke paar

Music is a sweet rain That turns autumn into spring. No wall can hold back music; music leaps across borders... 2:08:12- Sangiit maane na dharm jaat 2:08:53 Sangiit se judi kaayanaat Sangiit kii na koii zubaan Sangiit men hain giita quraan Sangiit men hain allah-o-raam Sangiit men hai duniya tamaam

Sangiit maane na dharm jaat Sangiit se judi kaayanaat Sangiit kii na koii zubaan Sangiit men hain giita quraan Sangiit men hain allah-o-raam Sangiit men hai duniya tamaam

Tuufaanon ka bhii rukh modta hai Sangiit tuute dil ko jodta hai

Music knows no caste or creed. The world is joined by music Music has no language. Music has within it the truth of the Gita and the Quran. Music has in it both Allah and Ram. Music has in it all creation!

Music knows no caste or creed. The world is joined by music Music has no language. Music has within it the truth of the Gita and the Quran. Music has in it both Allah and Ram. Music has in it all creation!

Music turns away storms; Music mends broken hearts. 2:08:53- Rind posh maal gindane drai lo lo 2:09:12 Rind posh maal gindane drai lo lo Rind posh maal gindane drai lo lo

A refrain to welcome spring A refrain to welcome spring 102

A refrain to welcome spring

Figure 25. Language use distribution of Tufaan’s 2019 Gathe Raho performance. Tufaan

Indian Language English Both Neither

Narrative Description The first selection in Tufaan’s performance featured a solo using svara, a syllable system in Indian classical music. This clear reference to Indian music was particularly interesting to me because it uses the voice to mimic what would typically be heard on an instrument, in a way bypassing the need for language to serve its symbolic function. This solo occurs in Tufaan’s first selection, an arrangement of “Door Se Paas” and “Pyramids” which I will discuss here.

The performance starts with an introduction that references “Pyramids” followed by a solo from “Door Se Paas” over a very minimal accompaniment. The accompaniment comes in on with terraced entrances on the lyrics “thhukraye.” After a brief interlude that accelerates slightly, the “Pyramids” solo enters. After another brief interlude, the “Pyramids” solo returns, including the chorus from the song.

Following the “Pyramids” solo is a vocal percussion solo. This solo is in the style of dubstep and sounds quite electronic, which is impressive considering that it is coming from the human voice. Following this solo is another solo from “Door Se Paas” during which the 103 ensemble moves into two lines behind the soloist. As the soloist finishes singing, another soloist comes forward. His solo is built on svara and begins with a call and response, as seen in Figure

26.

Figure 24. Excerpt from “Heathens/God is a Woman/Endaro” performed by Astha A Cappella.

The first two statements of the solo are call and response, with the responses being harmonized by the accompanying singers. Following these two statements is a rapid succession of notes using the svara syllables with the accompanying singers occasionally making rhythmic interjections. The selection ends with a short return of the “Pyramids” solo.

Conclusion Looking at this music through the lens of language use, I calculated how often the choirs sang with Hindi or another Indian language such as Tamil or Telugu was used as the dominant voice in the texture, English as the dominant voice, both an Indian language and English sung simultaneously, and when a solo line was not dominant. The end results are in figures 21, 22, and

23 following each listening guide.

Using Savannah’s earlier quote about making purple from red and blue stripes, I created these charts to illustrate how these three South Asian A Cappella choirs use language in their performances. I used the numbers from the time markers of the listening guides above, only taking the most prominent language into consideration. This, again, is an imperfect way of 104 analyzing this music in an attempt to better understand “true fusion.” For instance, while both

Dhamakapella and Astha utilize Indian languages and English simultaneously, they do so in different ways. Dhamakapella prefers to have two solos being sung simultaneously to create a dynamic duet, while Astha devoted thirty seconds of their show to a grand, cascading finale that drew on words from English and Hindi language songs they used.

While language is the most forward sign of Indian or western culture, it is not the only sign. Both Astha and Tufaan had sections of their performance that utilized konnakol or svara, the syllables used in learning rhythmic and melodic aspects of classical Indian traditions respectively.9 Depending on the listener’s familiarity with Indian musical traditions, the use of these syllables may create a stronger interpretant in the listener. It may seem “more Indian.”

While it is easy to listen to these performances and find their similarities, a closer listen reveals each choir’s nuances. These nuances are derived from the makeup of each choir in a given year. In the previous two chapters, I discussed South Asian A Cappella as a performance stage for acting out an Indian ethnicity and American nationality. Each choir has a different makeup of people with different ethnicities, nationalities, and musical experiences. The music they produce, then, is a reflection of these varied identities. A choir that has more non-South

Asian members, for instance, may have fewer solos in Hindi or Tamil or Telugu, instead of giving more weight to English language solos. Differently, a choir that has someone with extensive training in Hindustani or Carnatic music may find an opportunity for that individual to showcase their specialized skills.

Similarly, excluding the “Endaro Mahanbhavulu” hymn Astha used, all the Indian language songs were from films, though they were not all in Hindi. Whether the film songs are

9 Ashwin Batish, “Music of India – Glossary,” last modified 2012, accessed June 3, 2019, http://batish.com/archives/arcgloss.html 105 more Indian due to their consumption by wider audiences or the Carnatic hymn due to its longer history as an example of Indian music is in itself a matter of opinion. This small sample, though, still demonstrates the breadth of Indian culture; it is not a monolith, rather, it possesses a great deal of diversity in its own right. Depending on a person’s individual ancestry, different languages may sound more Indian. Moreover, the concept of “true fusion” likely varies from choir to choir and looking deeper into the music created by these choirs suggests that each choir has its own ideal for the sound of South Asian A Cappella. Due to this, as well as the relative newness and decentralized nature of this genre, whether or not all the participating choirs will come to a unified consensus of what fusion is, as opposed to influence or “stripes,” as Savannah might say, is certainly unclear. A further investigation into this in later years could reveal the answer. 106

CHAPTER VI

CONCLUSION

When I decided to study South Asian A Cappella, I assumed that a tradition that involved the music of two different cultures would reflect the cultural backgrounds of the participants.

Using the lens of dramaturgical theory is a fitting choice for something as vulnerable as performance art, especially one that would specifically allow for the performance of certain cultural markers. But I have learned through the past year of working with Dhamakapella and listening to the music of several South Asian A Cappella choirs that this assumption lacks nuance. While I assumed that singers of a broadly western cultural background would contribute and see themselves reflected in the western elements of the music, letting those with a South

Asian cultural background contribute and see themselves in the South Asian elements, the reality is that this music provides an avenue for people of South Asian ethnic ancestry and American nationality to perform this duality. This is supported by the many quotes from singers that reference participating in two or “both” cultures they have a connection to.

The way this duality is performed is unique to each choir’s makeup during a given year.

Dhamakapella sees themselves best reflected in the concept of “true fusion,” which aims to represent both South Asian and western musics equally, often blending the two simultaneously in duets. Other choirs, however, practice fusion differently. As it currently stands, there is not a gold standard for fusion in this genre. Perhaps this is why fusion is allotted fewer points in the competition judging rubrics, as each choir’s ideal is unique and not every judge is equally familiar with South Asian music. The genre will continue to move forward, this will likely change, especially considering that the current competition system is only three years old and has had a different rubric each year. The Association of South Asian A Cappella will likely continue 107 to modify their grading rubric, taking into account the varied aspects of the ideals and individuals who perform this music. A later review of this genre will reveal these changes.

This agency that I see in the ability of students with South Asian ancestry and western nationality is, in a sense, subverted by the competitive system. Outsiders are given the power to judge the musical and social performance of each ensemble. Future research could investigate the relationship between this agency and the power given to cultural outsiders. There are South

Asian A Cappella choirs that do not participate in the competitive circuit, including Penn Masala, the choir that founded the genre. Talking to these choirs might reveal an answer to this question as well as other motivations to participate in South Asian A Cappella.

While I feel confident about why those of South Asian ancestry and western nationality participate in this music, I am still unsure of why those who have no claim to South Asian culture participate in this music. For Dhamakapella, it is the complexity of the music and the opportunity to travel and compete. The story is not always a fairy tale of outsider participation, however. My survey also revealed a few comments about the difficulties of being in a South

Asian A Cappella choir, as singers said, “The hardest part is being the only non-South Asian,” and:

“This might sound blunt, but many of the South Asian Fusion a cappella teams have at least one white… girl who did choir in high school and loves to sing and be a part of a great group. I do feel more pressure to only sing the English solos since I don't speak any other language, but at the same time I wish I could try.”

Further investigation into this genre could look into the participation of non-South Asian individual to further understand their desire to participate in this music and the obstacles they face as outsiders to the culture. This question could also be asked more broadly in the field of ethnomusicology itself, but our participation in musics outside our own culture are often academically motivated; this is not the case in South Asian A Cappella. An academic’s desire to 108 study unfamiliar musics of the world is typically fueled by Mantle Hood’s concept of bimusicality. Hood advocated for the study of music performance as a bridge to studying the historical and theoretical concepts of music.1 For those who are new to performing Indian music, though, the performance is not a means to understand the inner workings of the music. This music is meant to be experienced and enjoyed.

The above singer’s quote, with worry about singing solos that are not in English, may reveal a communication problem more than a cultural one. For instance, while Dhamakapella sings exclusively in either English or Hindi, only two members speak any Hindi. This could lead to further study investigating language use among South Asian A Cappella singers outside of music performance. Future research could also investigate other ways South Asian A Cappella singers relate to their culture, including generational status.

The music itself also reveals that what creates a South Asian interpretant is different for each choir, which only serves to demonstrate the diversity of South Asianness as understood by

South Asian A Cappella singers. These musics come from across the South Asian subcontinent and are diverse in their own right, consisting of film song, treasured classical songs, and improvisation in Indian classical traditions. Film songs certainly dominate in this tradition, as the popular music is more compatible with western popular music than classical traditions. What is appropriate to this genre varies considerably across the many groups that sing this music. Further research could also look into better understanding what kinds of South Asian music are the

“most South Asian” as understood by people of various backgrounds.

This thesis was also limited in scope, especially in regard to the survey discussed in

Chapter III. Not only were there few participants, but there was little control over who actually

1 Mantle Hood, "The Challenge of "Bi-Musicality,” Ethnomusicology 4, no. 2 (1960): 55.

109 responded. Furthermore, only one South Asian A Cappella choir was interviewed, and a limited number completed the survey. As such, future research could yield different results. However, the case study executed for this thesis did reveal the dual musical and social nature of the artform, especially for the participants of South Asian ancestry.

In close, this thesis discusses the historical, social, and individual ways South Asian A

Cappella has been brought into existence. This music is diverse and dynamic, constantly evolving to create something newer, better, and more interesting in an effort to expand the concept of a cappella and fusion more broadly. It is crafted with sincerity and love by people who have the agency to put these two musics together. There is not a power imbalance between a dominant culture and a submissive one, but rather, a music that reflects the results of immigration and globalization in the last century. This differs dramatically from the standards of western music making, where a single individual typically holds the power and leads the rest of the ensemble. A look at other a cappella groups or student-run music groups may show a similar agency in the musicking process, but the agency in the act of fusion is what makes this tradition stand out from other historical examples of fusion across the globe. While I cannot say how the genre will change in the future, I am confident that its practitioners will continue to do amazing things. 110

APPENDIX A.

Choirs in the Association of South Asian A Cappella 2018 Directory

Andaaz, University of California, Irvine Anokha, University of Maryland Astha A Cappella, Saint Louis University Avaaz, University of Pittsburgh Awaaz, University of Washington Basmati Beats, Rice University Chai Town, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chicago Aag, University of Chicago Deewane A Cappella, Carnegie Mellon University Dhadkan, The Ohio State University Dhamakapella, Case Western Reserve University Dhun A Cappella, The University of Houston Dhunki A Cappella, University of Texas at Dallas Dil Se, University of California, Berkeley Fanaa, The Pennsylvania State University Gator Awaaz, University of Florida Hum A Cappella, The University of Texas at Austin Husky Hungama, University of Connecticut Illini Awaaz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Iowa Agni, University of Iowa Jawaani, North Carolina State University Jhankaar, University of California, Davis Junoon, University of Cincinnati Kahaani, University of Central Florida Kalakaar, University of Georgia Kranti, Johns Hopkins University LUC Raag, Loyola University Chicago Maize Mirchi, University of Michigan Naya Zamaana, University of California, Los Angeles New York Masti, New York University Nuttin But V.O.C.A.L.S., Rutgers University, New Brunswick Ohms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Purdue Taal, Purdue University RAAG, Rutgers University Raagapella, Stanford University RaagCity, New York University Rang, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Saans, Carnegie Mellon University Samaa, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Sitaare, University of California, San Diego Spartan Sur, Michigan State University Suno, Boston University 111

Swaram A Cappella, Texas A&M University Taal Tadka, Georgia Institute of Technology Tarana, Cornell University Tufaan, University of Miami Vandy Taal, Vanderbilt University Wayne Ki Awaaz, Wayne State University

112

APPENDIX B.

Survey Questions

Performing Desi: Music and Identity Performance in South Asian Fusion A Cappella Welcome to "Performing Desi: Music Identity and Performance in South Asian Fusion A Cappella," a web-based survey that examines the experience of South Asian Fusion A Cappella performers. Before taking part in this study, please read the consent form below and click on the "I Agree" button at the bottom of the page if you understand the statements and freely consent to participate in the study. If you do not agree, please close this window.

Consent Form

This study involves a web-based survey designed to understand the different opinions and experience of South Asian Fusion A Cappella performers. The study is being conducted by Nicole Christine Muffitt of Kent State University, and it has been approved by the Kent State University Institutional Review Board. No deception is involved, and the study involves no more than minimal risk to participants (i.e., the level of risk encountered in daily life).

Participation in the study typically takes 20 minutes and is strictly anonymous. Participants begin by answering a series of questions about their demographic background, and then answer questions about their musical experiences in both Western and Eastern traditions. Lastly, participants answer short essay questions that give them an opportunity to express their thoughts and experiences as participants in South Asian Fusion A Cappella.

All responses are treated as confidential, and in no case will responses from individual participants be identified. Rather, all data will be pooled and published in aggregate form only. Participants should be aware, however, that the survey is not being run from a "secure" https server of the kind typically used to handle credit card transactions, so there is a small possibility that responses could be viewed by unauthorized third parties (e.g., computer hackers).

Participation is voluntary, refusal to take part in the study involves no penalty or loss of benefits to which participants are otherwise entitled, and participants may withdraw from the study at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which they are otherwise entitled.

If participants have further questions about this study or their rights, or if they wish to lodge a complaint or concern, they may contact the principal investigator, Nicole Christine Muffitt, at [email protected]; or the Kent State University Institutional Review Board, at (330) 672-2704.

If you are 18 years of age or older, understand the statements above, and freely consent to participate in the study, click on the "I Agree" button to begin the experiment.

What is your gender? Male Female 113

Agender/Nonbinary Other

How old are you? 18-24 25-39 40-60 Over 60

What year are you in school? 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th or higher Graduate student Not attending college/university

What degree are you pursuing? Ex, BA in Psychology.

Do you have a job outside of school? Yes No

In what state is your university located?

Do you consider yourself South Asian? Yes No

Are you an international student? Yes No

Have you ever participated in a music ensemble besides your a cappella group? Check all that apply. Yes, a choir Yes, a wind band Yes, an orchestra Yes, a non-western ensemble. Yes, another a cappella group, show choir, or glee club. Yes, other. (Please specify) No.

Have you ever taken private lessons for a western musical instrument or vocal tradition? Yes 114

No Have you had any training in South Asian classical music? Ex, Carnatic or Hindustani music Yes. (Please specify) No.

Including this year, how many years have you been a member of your South Asian A Cappella group? 1 2 3 4 5+

What part do you sing in your a cappella group? Soprano 1 or 2 Alto 1 or 2 Tenor 1 or 2 Bass Beatboxing Other. (Please specify)

Are there other options for a cappella at your university? Yes No

What made you want to participate in this a cappella group?

What are the most rewarding parts of being in your a cappella group?

What are the challenges of being in your a cappella group?

Has participating in this a cappella group made you think about the world differently? How so?

Describe your ethnic background.

Thank you so much for participating in this survey! Your time is greatly appreciated!

115

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