May 14, 2016
Their first May 19 concert in Calcutta was sold out in 57 seconds. And they upped their strike rate when the second show (also on May 19) was sold out in 28 seconds! This means there will be NO empty seats at GD Birla Sabhagar when Penn Masala take the stage for back-to-back shows. Credited for pioneering fusion music trends in the genre, this will be the a cappella — songs performed without instrumental accompaniment; it involves vocal percussion, beatboxing and other techniques — band’s second visit to Calcutta (they were here for two shows way back in January 2006). But the line-up will be completely different as the all-male ensemble is replenished every year with students joining the University of Pennsylvania. And yes, there is a strong Calcutta connect: Yamir Tainwala, whose alma mater is La Martiniere For Boys. Over to group member Brendan McManus, who took on a few questions from t2 over email before ‘Penn Masala Live in Calcutta’ (a Ronak Mehta production; official online partner SeenIt), in association with t2, hits the high notes. The group had been to Calcutta in 2006. What’s on your to-do list this time? Unfortunately, I’m not sure we’ll have much time to really explore Calcutta. But if we do, we definitely hope to eat some of the street food like kathi rolls, phuchkas, and chaat (as long as it’s safe for us to eat), check out Victoria Memorial, go to the Kalighat temple, and visit the Indian Museum. We’re open to suggestions though! One of the group’s members, Yamir Tainwala, was born and raised in Calcutta. Can we expect some Bengali songs a cappella-style? Although some of us have listened to assorted Bengali music growing up, none of us are too familiar with it, so we haven’t incorporated it very much. Delving into different languages is sometimes challenging because you sacrifice universal appeal. However, you can hear some Bengali during our track, Fix You-Ishq Bina. You’ve covered pop to rock to R&B. What’s the most challenging genre? Each genre has its own challenges, but hip-hop/dance musically is typically the hardest to arrange due to the complexity of the music. It’s really hard to replicate dance beats and electronic instruments in a cappella, but when it works, it’s a ton of fun. For example, check out Tonight (I’m Lovin’ You)-Dilliwaali girlfriend or La La La-Bang bang from our latest album, Resonance. Since Penn Masala’s formation in 1996, there hasn’t been a single girl in the group. Why?! The main reason we don’t have girls in the group is because we have really come to appreciate and treasure the all-male sound that is iconic to Masala. However, we recently collaborated with Jonita Gandhi for the track Manwa laage, off Resonance. She has a tremendous voice that really added some beautiful elements to the song. We really enjoyed what she brought to the song (she was also great to work with) and are hoping to collab with more female artistes in the future. So... I guess adding a female member isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. How does one join the group? Is it something out of the Pitch Perfect films? Because we are affiliated with Penn, our auditions are very similar to most other a cappella groups on campus. Our first round of auditions is open to any male Penn student — no singing experience required! We ask them to prepare a verse and chorus of an English and/or Hindi song, and if we like what we hear, we invite them for another more intensive round of auditions where we look at factors like vocal range, versatility of styles, pitch accuracy, and overall fit in the group. Based on what the group needs at the time, the group chooses about three-four people each year. What are the biggest differences between real-life a cappella and movie a cappella? I think the two main differences are that in real life a cappella isn’t as dramatic and competitive as it seems in movies. For the most part, the a cappella world is filled with people who are fun, love music, and are looking for a good time — there is friendly competition, but it’s really about connecting through music. Also, things like the riff-off you saw in Pitch Perfect 2 are definitely not very possible in real life. It’s near impossible to do a complex, synchronised arrangement right off the cuff. Masala also does a cappella a bit differently than most groups. We don’t include choreo in our pieces and we have tried to create a live performance and experience more akin to that of a band — I think that’s part of what makes us unique. This being the 20th year of the group, how do you plan to celebrate? Any chance of former members joining in for a big gig? Each year we have an annual large show at Penn when a lot of the alumni come back. Because this year was our 20th anniversary, we went all out and really tried to get as many alumni to come as possible. We ended up having about 40 alumni in attendance, including our founders, and we planned a bunch of special events. The weekend was filled with reminiscing old stories and singing a bunch of our old songs with everyone. We can’t get everyone back together for a big gig, but we always invite our alumni on stage for our alumni song, Mere sapno ki rani. How do you maintain quality even when the group keeps changing with each graduating batch? It’s definitely tough sometimes, especially when you have really talented or notable lead talent in the group leaving. However, more often than not, the loss of a lot of major talent really drives people within the group to practise even harder to fill those lead gaps so there isn’t a drop in quality. In regards to background vocals, we are always vigilant about which parts are hard to find and which ones we might be losing in the next year or two. More than that, as soon as you join Masala you have a group of brothers deeply invested in your development as a singer and a person. It’s that culture, which the group has always taken really seriously that has really allowed us to not only maintain our quality, but also push the boundary of our sound and brand. You sometimes have members who are not of Indian origin. How do these individuals relate to the Bollywood/Hindi music? We have always welcomed all males to try out, regardless of ethnic origin. The members of non-Indian origin that have been a part of the group have come in with a passion for Indian culture and Bollywood music, making it easy for them to relate. But, above all, we are all connected by our love for music, and that’s what drives our love for Penn Masala.