INTERVIEW WITH
Penn Masala
Welcome back to India and congratulations on your new
album Yuva! We are delighted to have you back again this
year. Last year you came to India after a gap of three years.
What brings you back again this year and please tell us that
this is going to be annual tour now!
Hari: Last year’s tour was an amazing experience for
everyone in the group. We could not have anticipated the
kind of response we got, and we are lucky to have received
the opportunity to come back and perform for everyone
again this year. For most of us, this is a chance to be back
in a country that is in a sense another home outside the US.
From the rich artistic and musical environment to the family
we have here, there are countless things about India that we
love. We hope to be back as often as we can!
The Hindi and English songs in the mash-ups fit together
seamlessly despite different languages. How do you come up
with these incredible combinations of songs?
Praveen: Picking mixes is simultaneously one of the most
exciting and difficult aspects of the group. There are a lot of
factors to consider, such as audience appeal, the thematic fit
between two songs, and a potential song’s musical fit within
an album. At the end of the day, anyone in the group can
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suggest ideas for mash-ups, but we think critically about
styles that we haven’t covered recently and certain artists
we would like to cover before making a final choice on which
mash-ups we move forward with.
What is the idea behind the new album Yuva? Who came up
with this name?
Hari: After reflecting upon the variety of mixes on this
new album, the group came up with the name Yuva
together. Yuva represents a stage of life with which every
individual is familiar. In this album, we simply celebrate
youth, illustrating a natural progression from innocence to
independence. From ballads to party anthems, each track
on Yuva evokes in us visceral memories of youth, providing
different tastes of what it means to be young. No matter your
age, we hope you’ll enjoy it the same.
Last year, your show was sold out in Kolkata within seconds
of going live, leading you guys to have two shows! How was
the experience in performing here and how is performing in
India different from performing abroad?
Pranay: Performing in two shows back-to-back was an
unexpected but unbelievably exciting experience! We were