Berkeley Dil Se
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Dil Se is a coed South Asian a cappella team based in the University of California, Berkeley. It recently solidified its position as the top coed South Asian a cappella team in the nation by placing second at Anahat 2007[1]. It was founded in the Spring of 2004 by students at the university who wished to combine the melody-based raagas of Indian music with the depth and harmony that drive western music.
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[edit] History
Dil Se was founded by UC Berkeley graduate Arjun Ohri in the spring of 2004. He and his co-founders wished to fill the void on UC Berkeley's campus that had already been filled by then at schools like the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford; the lack of an a cappella team that incorporated the popular tunes of South Asia. The group thus played on the interests of second generation South Asians at Berkeley who wished to find a common ground between their western and eastern cultures through music.
[edit] Performances
The highlight of Dil Se's calendar is the annual Anahat, the only South Asian a cappella competition in the nation, incidentally hosted by UC Berkeley's Indus. The event is usually held late in the fall. Dil Se has placed second at three consecutive Anahats - 2005, 2006 and 2007. At the first Anahat in 2004, Dil Se performed as an exhibition act.
In the 2007 episode, the field, that was the largest it had yet been in history,included UIUC Chai-Town, Stanford Raagapella, UCI Haath, UCLA Naya Zamaana, Rutgers R.A.A.G., and UIUC Chandni. Dil Se placed second performing original arrangments of the songs 2 Step Bhangra by The Bilz ft. So-D/Kashif, Ek Mohabbat by A.R. Rahman, Bumbro from the award winning Hindi movie Mission Kashmir, The Way I Are from Timbaland's 2007 album Shock Value, and Vellai Pookal a Tamil song from the movie Kannathil Muthamittal.
In 2008, Dil Se performed as an exhibition act at the Hindi Film Dance competition Bollywood Berkeley, held at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Given the popularity of their set from Anahat 2007, they performed most of the same songs again for the crowd of over 1000. Dil Se followed up this performance with another exhibition at a dance competition. This time, at the Bay Area's only Raas competition, Rangeelo Raas, on March 1, 2008, Dil Se intoduced two new arrangements: Ajab Si from the award-winning movie Om Shanti Om, and Mitwa from the 2006 movie Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Dil Se then added a new version of their 2004 arrangement of its namesake, Dil Se, at Bombay in the Bay, on April 5th at Saratoga High School, Saratoga, California. They closed out the year with performances at the world-famous Zellerbach Hall for the From All Perspectives annual multicultural showcase hosted by UC Berkeley's ASUC and at the Alumni House of UC Berkeley.
[edit] References
- ^ "Anahat 2007 results", UC Berkeley Indus, November 21, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
