Indian American Musicians and Punjabi Canadian Singers Rock First Weekend at Coachella 2024
- Performances included those by carnatic musician Sid Ram, No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal, and singer A.P. Dhillon and rapper NAV.
Several artists of Indian origin performed at Coachella, the annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, this past weekend. Indian American Carnatic musician Sid Ram made his festival debut on May 12, the opening day. He performed ‘Do The Dance’ from his album, and the Tamil song, ‘Kannalanae,’ from the film “Bombay.”
Ram achieved overnight fame after his superhit track “Srivalli” for Allu Arjun-starrer “Pushpa: The Rise.” The singer was born in Chennai and moved to California with his parents at the age of one. He currently resides in Chennai. In 2012, the Berklee College of Music alumni, first sang for A.R. Rahman. He has since lent his voice for songs in several Tamil and Telugu films.
The following day, April 14, British American musician Tony Ashwin Kanal reunited with his No Doubt bandmates Gwen Stefani, Adrian Young, Tom Dumont, Stephen Bradley and Garbial McNai. Kanal is bassist and co-writer of the Grammy Award winning rock band, formed in Anaheim, California in 1986. Born in Kingsbury, London, Kanal moved with his family to Southern California at age 11,
At Coachella, No Doubt “put on a show that could have been plucked out of someone’s garage back in Anaheim in the late 1980s,” The Desert Sun noted, adding that “the sound, the look, the vibe, it all felt familiar.” The band played all their biggest hits from their seminal album “Tragic Kingdom,” along with some songs from the early 2000s. Audience grooved to “Just a Girl,” “Spiderwebs,” “Bathwater,” sung by Stefani and guest performer Olivia Rodriguez; and other hits. The last time the band performed together was Sept. 18, 2015 at the KaaBoo festival in Del Mar, California.
April 15 saw performances by two Canadian Punjabi singers — A.P. Dhillon, and rapper Navraj Singh Goraya, known professionally as NAV. He has played the festival once before in 2017. He is signed to The Weeknd’s XO Records, This past year, he was featured on Metro Boomin’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” soundtrack He debuted at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with his album “Demons Protected by Angels.
Dhillon, who is based in Vancouver, paid tribute to the late Punjabi-Canadian music icon Sidhu Moose Wala, whose 2022 murder in India remains unsolved. As he performed performed his hit “Brown Munde,” a message took over the screen behind him in all capitals — “JUSTICE FOR SIDHU MOOSEWALA,” Billboard Canada reported. “The message was a powerful moment in a strong performance from Dhillon, who brought back-up dancers, a live band, and collaborator Shinda Kahlon to the Coachella stage on Sunday,” the Billboard Canada report said.
However, he received flak for breaking his guitar as a part of his performance, as netizens criticized him for his act, reports in Indian media. “Internet users from India cited Indian values and said that although this is a part of rock culture where the guitarists break their guitars on stage after the performance, Dhillon being an Indian doing something like this is totally uncalled for,” NDTV reported.
Ram will perform again at the festival on April 20, while Dhillon and NAV will take the stage on April 21.
(Top photo, screen grab of A.P. Dhillon at Coachella 2024).