Hyderabad: Browsing on Facebook, you might have spotted a video, the thumbnail of which shows six boys dressed in vintage 60s style. That is the latest genius from Penn Masala, a five minute video that summarises the evolution of Bollywood music which has already got over a quarter of a million views.
The world’s first Hindi a cappella group comprising students of University of Pennsylvania also finds its roots in Hyderabad, through its member Anil Chitrapu. Penn Masala is an evolving group with the current members being Akiff Premjee, Varshil Patel, Anil Chitrapu, Dilip Rajan, Ashwin Muthiah, Prashant Ramesh, Chetan Khanna, Aneesh Kanakamedala, Brendan McManus, Pranay Sharma, Hari Ravi, Praveen Rajaguru and Kashish Hora.
The video, The evolution of Bollywood, has taken the social networking sites by storm, with even top singers and music directors from India praising the group. “We had been brainstorming this idea for a while, ever since we saw another cappella group (Pentatonix) do a history of Western Music video. We started discussing and thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be incredible if we could show how Bollywood music evolved over time?’” says Akiff Premjee.
While the group’s success might be news to Indians, it has already tasted success in the US with its meeting with the US President Barack Obama.
Varshil says, “That experience was unlike any other. We were fortunate to be asked to perform at the White House for President Barack Obama’s Diwali celebration and the signing of an important Asian-American initiative… It’s actually funny, because later that year we went on to give a similar performance for UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon and he asked us ‘Was this as exciting as performing for Mr Obama?’”
Penn Masala had also toured India in 2013 and even had a show in Hyderabad. Talking about the experience of performing in Hyderabad, Akiff says, “Hyderabad was absolutely incredible when we visited last winter. The audience was phenomenal and we could tell how hospitable every one was when we met fans after the show. If only we could have spent a day or two longer!”
Anil Chitrapu, the music director and only Hyderabadi of the group, says, “Much of my family is in Hyderabad, and I try to visit as often as I can to see them. Whenever I’m in the area, I make sure to get myself a fix of Hyderabadi biryani from Paradise Hotel and chai from around Charminar,” he says.
Anil has learnt Indian Classical (Carnatic) music and studied under Sri D. Seshachary of the Hyderabad Brothers. “This style of music has helped me immensely with my vocal tone and ability to sing in Hindi and other South Asian languages. Also, I really like Vijay Prakash in his Telugu songs! He has an extremely versatile voice."
