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South Asians Rock Coachella
from SEEMA MAY 2023
by SEEMA
This year’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival lineup featured more South Asian performers than ever
The lineup and the audience featured plenty of South Asian power at this year’s Coachella. The line-up this year’s Coachella included Indian singer, actor and producer Diljit Dosanjh, Pakistani singer and songwriter Ali Sethi, British-Indian artist Jai Paul, Bangladeshi-American music producer Jai Wolf,
British-Bangladeshi singer-songwriter Joy Crookes and Scottish-Gujarati singer and songwriter Charlie XCX.
The festival, which began in 1999 and has become one of the largest and the most profitable music festivals in the United States, takes place over two consecutive weekends in April. It showcases established and popular artists along with upcoming talent at the nondescript venue in the Coachella Valley, CA. South Asian headliners at past Coachellas were few and far between.
This year had some major names from South Asia, performing in their own desi swag. Becoming the first Indian singer to perform at Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Diljit Dosanjh made a huge impact with his debut in a traditional all-black kurta-tamba set, replete with a turban. His performance was nothing less than spectacular, thrilling the audience with his hit songs and drawing shrieks when he spoke to them in Punjabi.
Another artist who performed in an allblack costume was Charli XCX, raising the temperatures further at the venue. Born to a Scottish father and Gujarati mother, the singer mesmerized the evening crowd with her performances on her songs “Boys, I Love It” and “Vroom Vroom.”
Pakistani origin Ali Sethi together with Indian-American Raja Kumari debuted at the festival and left everyone spell bound by the performance of his hit song Pasoori. The performance by the duo was of special significant considering the song is a musical metaphor for the conflict between Indian and Pakistan. “What we can’t do over there, we can do over here,” Ali proclaimed, holding Kumari’s hand on stage.
Sajeeb Saha (aka Jai Wolf) is the only artist from this year who has had the privilege of performing at the festival prior to 2023. Joy Crookes was another musician of Bangladeshi descent who performed at Coachella 2023. She has become one of UK’s most exciting new artists and dazzled the weekend audience with her powerful vocals.
