Fans Show Up to Support Coachella’s South Asian Lineup
Writer Anjana Pawa shows off her festival 'fits and shares the joy of seeing so many South Asian artists
The author at Coachella.
Courtesy of Anjana Pawa
Words by Anjana Pawa
Growing up with access to the infinite styles and trends coming from the East, I’ve always incorporated small parts of South Asian cultural attire into the clothes I wear out into the Western world. Whether it be a pair of jhumkas, a style of earring that is centuries old from the Indian subcontinent, paired with a dress, or wearing a kurta, a comfortable, loose-fitting top that comes in bright colors and embroidered designs, with a pair of jeans, the standout pieces always made a statement.
It was only about seven or eight years ago when these same standout pieces became a norm in the festival world. This past weekend, Coachella marked the 2023 festival season officially beginning and it’s time for us to take a deep breath as we see pictures on our timelines of attendees in their outfits, hoping and wishing we do not see something that crosses the appropriation line and steers into blatant racism, like someone with no Native roots in a Native American headdress, or headpieces that resemble matha pattis from South Asian culture that have become commodified into festival wear. People from outside of the culture, unaware of the significance and history behind them, began to wear bindis across their foreheads and mehendi in mandala designs all over their bodies, materializing and commodifying something with much more significance than they cared to understand.
The author in her festival makeup and earrings by Shriya Singhi to ward off the evil eye.
Courtesy of Anjana Pawa
When this year’s Coachella lineup dropped, it was an easy decision to choose to go when seeing the lineup and the South Asian artists that would be represented on the stages. Another fun aspect of festivals is the clothes, and as someone who loves to find an excuse to dress up, especially in traditional South Asian attire, I knew I wanted to incorporate jewelry, and South Asian textiles into my outfits. I wore jhumkas on my ears, a traditional necklace along my collarbone. When possible, I picked pieces that valued comfort in the dry desert heat but also incorporated traditional designs, like a comfortable dress from Target’s latest designer collaboration with Rhode, who’s co-founder Purna Khatau is Indian American, or stylish earrings from Shriya Singhi that will also help keep away the evil eye.
During the festival, my group ran into 20-year-old Jaiden Purewal and her friends, who were dressed to the nines in cultural attire for Diljit Dosanjh’s set. “We’ve had people come up to us, to me and my mom, and say they love it. And we get to tell them about our culture and talk about my mom’s earrings and my necklace,” she says. The mom and daughter pair have been coming to Coachella for years from their home in Fresno, California. This year was special for them though, as their whole family decided to come together after seeing that Dosanjh was going to be on the lineup. “Showing up here and seeing our community show up and wear what we’re proud to wear? It’s so cool,” Purewal shares.
When Dosanjh’s set started, the mountains were visible in the background and the crowd erupted in cheers and whistles with some patrons yelling the Punjabi exclamation to mark celebration, “chak de phatte!” “If anyone doesn’t understand what I’m saying, that’s okay. Just match my vibe,” Dosanjh said on the Sahara stage in Punjabi at the beginning of his set. He graced the stage in full Punjabi attire, wearing a black kurta and tamba. The 39-year-old Indian singer, whose career has spanned 20 years, made history on the first weekend of Coachella by being the first Punjabi artist from India to play the festival.
The author at Coachella.
Courtesy of Anjana Pawa
Not only were the musicians and dancers on stage in head-to-toe cultural attire, but so were the members of the audience. The singer hired a full bhangra dance troupe to accompany his performance and the energy was cranked up to maximum. Around were groups of friends and families from varying generations dancing to bhangra moves—a crowd that I didn’t expect to see in the middle of the hot Indio desert for the world’s most popular music festival. Standing in front of me were two friends, one was wearing a kurta, and his friend wearing a replica of an outfit from Blackpink’s Kill This Love music video (the global hit K-Pop group was set to headline Coachella’s main stage later that night). The exchange of community and culture was palpable in the moment, and it would only continue as the festival continued.
Since Coachella’s inception in 1999, this has been the biggest year for South Asians on the stages of the festival, with six artists of South Asian heritage performing. Along with Dosanjh, British Indian producer Jai Paul, Bangladeshi American producer Jai Wolf, British Bangladeshi singer-songwriter Joy Crookes, Pakistani folk singer Ali Sethi, and Charli XCX, who is of British and Indian descent, were also performing.
Joining Dosanjh in making history for artists from South Asia this weekend was Ali Sethi, the first Pakistani singer to take the Coachella stage. Sethi’s set was on a dry, hot Sunday afternoon under the shaded tents of the Gobi stage. The air was comfortable and the wind was blowing as Sethi’s smooth voice filled the space. Canadian Punjabi singer Raja Kumari joined him on stage during his set and together, they sang his mega-hit “Pasoori,” a song that surpassed borders and topped charts, notably about forbidden love. “What we can’t do over there we can do over here,” he said before the two performed the song to close off Sethi’s historic set, alluding to the fact that on one of the world’s biggest stages is a Pakistani and Indian singer performing a song together. “There’s all kinds of forbidden love represented here today.”
During the electric performance of the song, fan Raja Kumari twirled around in her red anarkali top from Indian design house Verb. She’s doing traditional dance moves, allowing the fabric to flow to show it off a bit. The bottom flared out as she danced on stage to accompany her friend on the angsty, folk track. Community was once again palpable.
Thirty-year-old Navi Singh, who attended the festival and went to Dosanjh’s and Sethi’s sets, showed photos and videos to his father when he went home. “It was powerful seeing Diljit wear a dastaar (a traditional Punjabi headwear) on a stage like Coachella,” he said. The turban is a significant part of Sikhism, the religion that his family identifies with. “My father taught me how to tie a turban and he wears one every day.” This fabric that one wears on their bodies, the one that Dosanjh wrapped around his head, the ones that Kumari adorned their bodies in, the ones that were worn in the audience, represents so much more than just a trend or fashion—it’s generations of stories, spirituality, and ancestry passed down and it’s what allows us to embrace and find community, even on a 90-degree day in the middle of California.
Published on April 20, 2023
Words by Anjana Pawa
Anjana Pawa is a Brooklyn-based culture reporter who regularly covers music, entertainment and beauty. You can find her on Twitter at @apawawrites.