0:00

Wali Shah: I think it’s great that 
this is so collaborative and 

0:02

I’ve gotten the chance to 
work with so many great people 

0:04

It’s been a little challenging to 
say the least definitely a point  

0:06

of opportunity for me as a performer

0:08

We hadn’t done these mashups before

0:12

[Artist 1 singing hit Bollywood song Pyar Do Pyar Lo]

0:17

[Artist 2 rapping]

0:30

Vikas Kohli: Every year we do an original production 
of music and this year we are mashing up  

0:35

urban music with Bollywood songs and 
that’s what we’re here to rehearse today  

0:40

[upbeat fusion music playing over video]
[artists collaborating and harmonizing to music]

0:47

I’m trying to figure out like 
specific sounds for the slow one  

0:50

specific sounds of the fast one 
and then like that last 16 count  

0:54

when you both are going at the same time like 
I’m trying to do both of them at the same time

0:58

[Artist 1 beatboxing over hit Bollywood song, Dhoom Machale]

1:03

[Artist 2 sings over Artist 1 beatboxing]

1:11

so many gigs you play the same material okay 
I’ve done a gig like this before okay it’s just like that  

1:16

some gigs you don’t even really have to 
rehearse on your own.

1:19

You rehearse with the band put it together and tighten

1:20

for this it was fun 
because it was creative because I got to make up  

1:24

my own beats for it but definitely I had to do do 
some homework before I showed up at the rehearsal  

1:32

Vikas Kohli: most skilled musicians walk in with a little bit 
of nerves on these rehearsals and that’s okay  

1:37

because we know we’re asking people 
to move out of their comfort zone  

1:40

as soon as we start playing
everybody is having so much fun and the musicians love it

1:45

and they’re excited

1:47

[Wali Shah rapping live]

1:53

[Artist 2 joins Wali’s English rap with Punjabi]

1:56

[Artist 2 does a Punjabi solo to hit song “Mundian to Bach Ke”

2:04

I’m going through double languages too 
so I’m going from using a Hindi word or  

2:09

you know, Punjabi word then going back to using 
English and going back to using that word  

2:14

Vikas Kohli: it takes a special breed of artists to accept 
our call you know because it’s always us asking  

2:21

them to go beyond what they’re normally 
used to doing so they called me they’re  

2:25

like hey we’d like you to sing you know the 
male English parts. Now little did I know that  

2:28

I was going to be singing some Hindi parts 
as well, but so I freaked out a little bit

2:35

[live performance of hit song Mauja Hi Mauja from the Bollywood movie Jab We Met]

2:46

Host: We’re talking about the planning and organizing

2:48

Host: how did this work during the lockdown 
Speaker: okay so uh Emily actually bless her soul  

2:55

um recorded all these demos for the singers 
she recorded a set for each singer differently  

3:02

with the background vocals panned to one side 
and like your parts panned to the right side  

3:08

so that you can hear what’s going on but also 
hear your part the most

3:11

New speaker: I can’t believe her. She’s a machine

3:13

The amount of information she stores 
and then she sings all the parts up for a scratch  

3:20

track for us to practice along with
obviously she put a huge amount of work into it listen to those  

3:25

recordings but it definitely helped

3:27

Emily: so the second time that he does the really cool the really cool  

3:31

lick that’s when you guys come in

3:33

there’s one one part that you sing and then there’s one one part that he sings with you

3:38

Artist: oh okay so I did do that correctly?

3:40

Emily: Yes, yup

3:42

Emily: Okay all right let’s go from the top

3:45

Vikas Kohli: on top of the mash up  

3:47

and the vocalists and the instrumentalists we’re 
gonna have some dancers and that’s a whole another  

3:51

level rehearsal while we’re doing our rehearsal 
they’re preparing in parallel on their end  

3:55

and then we’re all gonna come together and 
work it out together. So many layers that  

3:59

happen to to making people happy.

4:02

finding a way to 
um navigate the South Asian cultural implications  

4:06

of Bollywood along with the other styles we were 
using was something that we were having a lot of  

4:10

conversations about as a company especially 
because i’m the only South Asian member of  

4:15

course everyone not having done Bollywood before 
we started off our process with just learning  

4:21

a few counts of eight of strictly Bollywood 
movement and really fine-tuning different  

4:26

details within that
definitely a challenge and  uh we’re really excited to have done that and  

4:32

have that experience into our belt for sure  

4:34

I’m happy to do it I’m like yes I can play this now 

4:37

and the music is great the people I’m working with 
are great so I’m really grateful

4:40

it’s definitely exceeded my expectations.

4:43

I just love working with MonstrARTity, so it’s always a pleasure

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