The South Asian artistes redefining visual identities through heritage and sound

Hindustan Times

4 hours ago

It's been a long time coming, but South Asian musicians are finally having their moment in the sun as they take over airwaves and top playlists. We speak to musicians who are reinventing what it means to have a distinct visual identity that evolves with them, both sonically and sartorially. L-R: Dohnraj, Dhee, Yung Raja Photo: Instagram/dohnraj
With structured blazers, metallic makeup and offbeat charm, Delhi-based Dohnraj seems like he's stepped out of an '80s synth-pop dream — but he's quick to clarify, 'I wasn't consciously thinking about the '80s at all, because what do I know about the '80s?' His music, much like his aesthetic, is a touch enigmatic. 'It's emotional music, something cinematic [with a] slightly off-kilter edge,' he explains, adding, 'I like things that feel intimate but a little strange, the kind that sits with you after the lights go out.'
The singer-songwriter, who also fronts Dohnraj and The Peculiars, is especially inclined towards exploring the human condition with the sounds (and shapes) of years bygone — something that shines on his last album, Gods & Lowlifes. And while he might not have been consciously aiming for it, the old-time rocker vibe is unmistakable. 'I don't know about being a rockstar; all I know is I'm definitely a star in my world, and that's how I hope people can feel about themselves. I don't think about perception too much; I have so many curiosities to attend to, to wonder about how I am being perceived,' he muses.
The flamboyance is just the tip of the iceberg. It might be a lot for some, but for Dohnraj, it's a reflection of his curiosity and creative instinct. While his creative process has been one of 'stumbling, stretching and slowly figuring it out', his current sartorial sense came naturally. 'It wasn't some big aha moment,' he says. 'It just came together over time — what I felt good in, what felt true. I started noticing patterns in what I gravitated towards: stuff that holds a little weight, a little texture, maybe a story. I'm not trying to look like anyone else — just trying to look like myself, more and more. Some days it's clean, some days it's chaotic. But it's always me.' Dhee Photo: Madhavan
Dheekshitha Venkadeshan's musical breakthrough has been a long time coming. The Australian-Tamil singer began singing playback around 2013, but it was with Rowdy Baby (2018) and Enjoy Enjaami (2021) that her unique alto broke through to a larger audience. Her move to English pop with the upcoming album Jackfruit might seem like a major pivot, but Dhee says there couldn't have been a more natural progression: 'I grew up listening to South Indian music and English pop so it doesn't feel like much of a departure. I've also been working on these songs since I was 19; I've grown with them.'
While she laughingly describes her current sound as 'a colourful bag of jelly beans,' a common thread through the 26-year-old's multicultural musical sojourn has been the search for 'home'. I Wear My Roots Like a Medal, one of the two singles from her album, was shot at her maternal grandmother's house in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Dhee admits that navigating a sense of belonging has been a significant challenge, but she's quick to acknowledge that it's evolved into a talent.
This gives her music an emotional, storytelling quality that translates to her wardrobe, too. 'I like feeling like I'm dressed like a character — fashion is such a joyful thing. Currently, my style feels like I'm in a Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie, but in everyday street style!' she says. A lot of that self-expression comes from the women in her life, particularly her mother: 'When I was younger, mum would wear butte (South Indian style earrings) with normal clothes in Sydney in the early 2000s and she would rock it. So now doing that for me is a no-brainer. Now I want to be way more expressive with my fashion.' Yung Raja Photo: Instagram/yungraja
Rapper-songwriter Rajid Ahamed Yousuf Arafat's Tanglish flows aren't the only thing making noise. Since first rising to fame with his 2019 track Mad Blessings, the Singaporean has been synonymous with a vibrant sonic and visual style — and growing up as part of the Tamil diaspora has been foundational to this journey. Now, eight years into his music career, the 29-year-old's fashion is a riot of colour and cultural callbacks.
'My parents and sisters played dress-up with me when I was a kid. It became second nature,' he says. That early exposure, layered with the larger-than-life presence of Rajinikanth on-screen and the audacity of American hip-hop giants such as Ye and Jay Z, built his fashion sense into something vibrant, unpredictable and entirely his own. It now reflects in his style philosophy: 'Rajinikanth would rock anything and make it look super cool. His aura and swagger were extremely foundational. My style principle is to be able to pull anything off, contextualising it in my own way.'
Whether he's in co-ord sets drenched in neon or sporting jewellery that nods to his Thanjavur roots, his style walks the same tightrope his music does: part heritage, part hype. His goal, Yung tells us, is to take Tamil culture to the world (case in point, NALLA NERAM, his collab with rapper Prabh Deep). 'I've always believed that you don't know where you're going if you don't know where you came from. It's always front and centre in my mind that I wouldn't have had the opportunity to approach my art the way I do [if it were not for my background],' he adds. BombayMami Photo: Instagram/bombaymami; @alma.amalla
On the face of it, the idea of someone barreling down the Swiss Alps in a lehenga is a visual gag. It's exactly what Indo-Swedish rapper BombayMami did for Fire In Delhi. 'Snowboarding in a lehenga,' she previously explained to us, 'was born out of my desire to merge two integral parts of my identity — Swiss and Indian heritage — in a way that felt bold, unexpected, and deeply personal,' she told us of her now-viral music video. And that duality runs deep.
Formerly known as Ta'shan (an anagram of her name, Shanta), her artistry was, in part, born out her desire to see South Asian women in spaces she wanted to be in when she was growing up. 'There was always this unspoken rule about how we should behave, dress, or dream. I wanted to break that and change the narrative,' she noted. Her latest release, Hot Boyz, is a Pride Month anthem — an R&B track set to live instrumentation that includes a sitar, a sarod and a tabla — that turns desire on its head, and towards the female gaze.
Her musical influences (pioneering female rappers such as Missy Elliott, Aaliyah, and M.I.A, coupled with years of Hindustani classical training) show up constantly in her fashion, too. This balancing act comes in full force in her style, where dupattas become capes, jhumkas dangle against tracksuits, and bindis hold their own against bucket hats. Whether she's raiding her parents' wardrobes or bending genres, it's all done 'in ways that feel unique to me,' she said. Gayathri Krishnan
With a distinctive blend of pop, R&B and neo-soul influences, it's difficult to box Los Angeles-based Gayathri Krishnan into a single genre. With a bright sound offset by her Carnatic training, the singer has been taking the scene by storm since she dropped her 2020 EP, Create To Express.
Gayathri has more than once described growing up in her South Indian household as being 'literally surrounded' by music. Take into account the fact that she learnt Bharatanatyam during her formative years in Irvine, California and the sonic big picture comes right into focus. Last year's single F*** S***! was an anthem of rebellion, her April release Made It is experimental through and through — a love letter to her roots and firm assertion of her right to be in the spaces she carves for her self in Western music.
Bridging the gap between the East and West was less an intentional choice and more 'subconsciously woven' into her tastes and her fashion shifts as often as she genre-jumps. Her current style has moved away from the earthier, more Bohemian aesthetics of Create To Express and Arunachala (2023) to channel old-school West Coast hip-hop. Think oversized varsity jackets and baggy silhouettes, all softened by distinctly South Indian flourishes. A long braid adorned with a jada and a delicate nose ring accompany her onstage and off, subtly anchoring her in heritage in her experiments. Her fashion, much like her music, feels less curated than instinctive.