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NewsvineOriginally, they were NAAM — Not Another Arranged Marriage. Then came Browntown, a tongue-in-cheek reference to skin color. After the realization that a little self-censorship was needed, they settled on their current and more politically correct name: Raagapella.
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Raagapella is a group of 14 South Asian guys who sing a mix of Indian and English songs wearing black shirts and khaki pants. It’s the latest addition to Stanford’s already crowded a cappella scene.
The group was formed in October 2002 with four members and has now grown to 14 undergraduate and graduate students. All members have prior singing experience, ranging from classical Indian training to choral music to college a cappella.
“Being a member of Raagapella is awesome!” said sophomore Salim Dhirani. “It’s like a big family — we all look out for each other and try to distribute the solos evenly so that everyone gets a chance. I think Raagapella provides an opportunity for students to express one of the integral aspects of South Asian culture — music.”
Currently, the members are all South Asian, but according to Raagapella president Bobby Ghosh, a sophomore, the group is not limited to people of South Asian descent.
“We had quite a few non-South Asian people try out,” said Ghosh. “We do look for some sort of an interest in singing Hindi music, but a number of our members do not even speak Hindi. This was a myth we tried to dispel during auditions, as many people thought speaking Hindi was a requirement to try out.”
Much of Raagapella’s inspiration came from a University of Pennsylvania group called Penn Masala. Hindi a cappella groups also exist at USC, the University of Texas, Cornell and Northwestern.
“It is a growing phenomenon, especially with the booming Bollywood film and movie industry and the increasing confluence among different types of music,” Ghosh said, referring to India’s cinematic answer to Hollywood.
Responding to questions about the group’s cultural foundation, Ghosh responded, “The group is not formed on any cultural or racial basis at all, but rather simply on a style of music. We can be compared to Talisman in the way that they generally sing music of an African origin.”
After rotating through a series of different names last year, the groups’s members finally decided on Raagapella. Musically, a “raaga” is a set of notes that is supposed to evoke certain emotions. The Stanford group combined this word with the name of the famous a cappella group, “Rockapella,” to form their name.
“We don’t limit ourselves to Hindi music,” said Ghosh. “We select our pieces from music that we listen to, and think would be enjoyable to sing. The Hindi songs come mainly from Bollywood movies and singers.”
So far, Raagapella has performed in cultural shows like Diwali and Mela sponsored by Sanskriti, the South Asian student group on campus. The group also performed at the Asian-American Awards Ceremony last year.
“This year is still a building year for us as we expand our repertoire and improve on our musicality, but we hope to be performing with other groups on campus very soon,” said Ghosh.
Students have been appreciative of the new group’s performances so far.
“I thought Raagapella was an interesting direction for an a capella group,” said sophomore Eric Lee, who saw the group perform at Saturday’s Diwali show. “It’s cool to see a group that showcases a culture that doesn’t get as much attention in more mainstream circles, sort of in the same vein as Talisman. It helps underscore the diversity of Stanford’s student population.”