Sangeet Saagar, the first South Asian a cappella competition on the East Coast, will be held at UNC for the first time on Saturday in Memorial Hall.
The competition, organized by UNC's and N.C. State University's chapters of Delta Sigma Iota, will host six competing national teams. UNC Samaa, a South Asian fusion a cappella group on campus, will open the competition with both the American national anthem and the Indian national anthem. There will also be a special appearance from an exhibition a cappella group from Chicago called Chai Town.
“I hope (the audience) will be transported to a whole other world because that’s what it is. It’s an entirely different world even in the a cappella community,” said senior and music director of UNC Samaa, Sukriti Bagchi.
Senior computer science major and vice president of UNC's Delta Sigma Iota Fraternity, Brian Lobo, said he had a vision to bring an a cappella competition to the Triangle area three years ago. For the past two years, the competition has been held on the N.C. State campus.
“We are a pretty new competition, so we are trying to get everyone to know about it, get them to come out and enjoy it," Lobo said. "Once they do, they will fall in love with the amount of talent we are bringing in."
This year's competition at Memorial Hall will be the biggest venue the event has taken place in.
“There are a lot of families in the area with interests for South Asian classical music, and this competition is a fusion of both South Asian classical indie songs along with modern music,” Lobo said.
Senior computer science major Alan Koruth, president of the UNC Delta Sigma Iota chapter, said the top six Asian a cappella groups in the nation will compete against each other. Each group will get 15 minutes to perform, and they must perform a mashup of a Hindi song and a popular English song. The first place team will win $1,500 and a free recording of a single, while the second place team will win $800.
“Students just need to give it a chance, and I think they will be coming back in the next years 'cause it’s really just an incredible event,” Koruth said.
