Good news, fans of a cappella and of South Asian music! Penn Masala, hailing from the University of Pennsylvania, is coming to Gaston Hall tomorrow at 6 p.m. for what is sure to be a riveting performance, thanks to Deloitte, Pratham DC, GU Jawani and the SAPAN Institute. Unfortunately, tickets are sold out, but for those lucky enough to be attending or to anyone interested in the group, 4E interviewed Penn Masala’s business manager, Pranay Sharma, and the group’s President, Dilip Rajan.

For those not familiar with Penn Masala, could you describe your group in a few words?
Penn Masala is the world’s first and premier South Asian a cappella group (no instruments, just voices). By combining the best of Bollywood with Western popular music, we’ve been able to release 8 albums and perform around the world.

Have you ever performed in DC before? Are you guys going to see the sights while you’re here?
We have performed in DC before and love the city! Unfortunately, I’m not sure if we’ll have time on this trip to do the sightseeing so we’ll have to come back some other time for that.

Where was the coolest place you’ve ever performed?
The coolest place we’ve performed in recent times was definitely at IIFA (the Indian International Film Awards). It was unreal to be singing songs on stage that were originally performed by the actors that were sitting in the first row!

What are your favorite songs as a group?
We all have our own favorites but as a group we all love performing “Fix You – Ishq Bina” (Coldplay and AR Rahman) and “Distant Places” (written by the group).

Who would be your dream singers to work with?
Working with Arijit Singh or Shreya Ghoshal would be a dream come true!

You can check out more about Penn Masala here, including videos of their performances. The concert tomorrow will be raising money for Pratham USA, the largest educational movement in India. Thanks Pranay and Dilip and the rest of Penn Masala – we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s concert!

Photo: myspace.com