Discover South Asian fusion a capella music with UW Awaaz

Get to know the unforgettable musical group Awaaz, who will be bringing their unique voice to CulturalFest next Friday evening!

UW Awaaz is one of those musical groups that makes an impression. This will be their second year performing at CulturalFest, and it seems that every time past audience members hear that Awaaz is performing again this year, their faces light up and they're ready to buy their tickets.

Members of UW Awaaz show off the earned the "Best Arrangement" award that they won for a rendition of "Kannodu Kanbathellam" at Anahat 2012 in UC Berkeley

Part of the enthusiasm comes from the fact that most concertgoers haven't had a chance to hear "South Asian fusion acapella music" before - and might not even know what exactly that means. Here's how Awaaz describes what they do: "From popular Bollywood and Indian classical melodies to catchy American pop and hip hop tunes, the group covers many different genres of songs, adding their own flavor to the music they produce." The performances that result from this creative mixture of music, culture, and language are unique and memorable.

Awaaz (which means "voice" in Hindi) was founded at UW in 2009, and currently includes members from Pakistan, Indonesia, India, and Iran. The individuals who make up the group come from different musical backgrounds, but share a passion for celebrating and sharing their heritage and their experiences in the U.S. with listeners from the UW community and around the Seattle area.

Take a look at last year's CulturalFest performance (the singing starts at about the 1:50 mark on the video) - this year's will be different, but promises to be equally beautiful, energetic, and inspiring:

Don't miss out on Awaaz or the many other amazing groups performing at CulturalFest! Visit www.fiuts.org/culturalfest for more details. Hope to see you there!