Meet Association of South-Asian A Cappella (ASA)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Association of South-Asian A Cappella (ASA) and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Association of South-Asian A Cappella (ASA), we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The South Asian A Cappella genre was pioneered by Penn Masala, an all-male student group founded in 1996 at the University of Pennsylvania. Inspired by their groundbreaking work of seamlessly performing Bollywood music with layered harmonies and vocal percussion, i.e. western a cappella style, enthusiastic musicians across the country formed their own collegiate South Asian A Cappella groups. By 2016, the community had grown so significantly that the need for a national entity to drive the genre’s development became evident. This led to the formation of the Association of South-Asian A Cappella (ASA), a national 501(c)(3) organization formed by a group of then recent graduates of collegiate South Asian A Cappella groups, and All-American Awaaz, the national championship competition for collegiate South Asian A Cappella.

Since then, the genre has evolved to incorporate a diverse range of influences, from regional film music to hip hop to South Asian classical music and everything in between. ASA aims to provide a unifying force for the growth of South Asian A Cappella music. We create a variety of learning, networking and performance opportunities for budding vocalists and vocal percussionists. Our organization now supports 85+ collegiate teams and several generations of alumni, judges and a cappella enthusiasts and are committed to nurturing this art form and community.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
South Asian a cappella is a unique blend of South Asian music, including a wide range of genres like South Asian classical music, film, and folk music, with Western a cappella. What sets the genre apart is the seamless fusion of art forms and cultures. With music performed in a variety of languages including English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Sanskrit, the art form particularly resonates with those of South Asian descent in the United States as the fusion aspect bridges the two worlds for South-Asian Americans, allowing them to find the perfect balance between their two cultures. Over the years, the genre has been inclusive and seen participation from people of all cultural backgrounds and identities, and provides them with a means to understand the complexities of South Asian music.

When ASA was first founded in 2016, we were a small executive board of 9 with lofty goals. Since then, we have expanded from being an organization overseeing our competitive circuit and hosting our national championship (All-American Awaaz), to fostering a 7500+ member nationwide community in 28 states and 83 universities, including an all-alum group, called Alumkaar. We have been able to collaborate with large corporations like JioSaavn, an Indian music streaming services company, and prominent musicians in the a cappella space like Ben Bram (2x Grammy and Emmy Award Winner), Shams Ahmed (Emmy Award Winner). We have also collaborated with SingStrong, an international a cappella festival, to host a South Asian A Cappella showcase at the festival. Amidst these successes, the COVID-19 pandemic did stall some of our growth plans, but our board was quick to adapt to virtual settings and which opened new doors for us to support our community online. This led us to host virtual collaborations and contests in the a cappella and vocal percussion space and we continue to look for ways to involve those interested in the art form no matter where they are. Today, we aim to not only support and spotlight individual singers, but also arrangers, vocal percussionists, event organizers, our alumni, workshop instructors and judges as well, recognizing their invaluable contributions to the community.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Our board is having its summer retreat in LA in a few weeks 🙂 Hit us up on Instagram (@desiacappella) at the end of the summer to hear about what we enjoyed!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We would love to give a shout out to the entire South Asian A cappella community – those who perform the art form, those who aspire to perform the art form, and those who appreciate it. Our gratitude extends to the competition and showcase boards, competition judges, supportive alumni, and all the talented artists, including singers, beatboxers, arrangers, choreographers, and videographers. We also appreciate their supportive friends and family who play a valuable role in our organization. Without them, our organization would not exist, and we would not be able to expand creativity and freedom of expression through this beautiful art form.

A special shoutout to our own board that works tirelessly outside of work and school full time to support this beautiful genre and community!

Website: https://desiacappella.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/desiacappella/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/desiacappella/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/desiacappella/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCP90LUL7keIOBeRUFHGxTg?app=desktop

Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/desiacappella
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@desiacappella?_t=8naX6iJ95FD&_r=1
Email: info@desiacappella.org

Image Credits
HG Films (for the performance photos only)