Chalo

As a co-founder, I spearheaded fundraising efforts, curated the compilation, and managed the entire project. From conceptualising the name to selecting the charities, I was intimately involved from ideation to completion. Through this initiative, we raised over £6000 for two charities in just six months and successfully sold out the vinyl.

Chalo strengthened cross-cultural bonds by showcasing the vast breadth of talent with the community. The volume featured artists with heritage in Pakistan, India and Kashmir. The first volume of chalo comprises Pakistani, Kashmiri and Indian artists across classical composers and underground hip-hop, visual artists and videographers, journalists and illustrators.

Featuring an all-star cast of artists like that range from the cerebral (V.S Narasimhan), to meditations on immigrant culture (Riz Ahmed), to post-modern pop (Kavya), to Kashmiri hip-hop (Ahmer), floating left-field electronica (Nabihah Iqbal) to meditative jazz (Sarathy Korwar) to tunes that will leave you sweating on the dance floor (MadstarBase), chalo vol. 1 showcases the diversity and musical range of South Asian artists. It dispels the notion that an often overlooked culture can be painted by one brush, a single narrative.

Chalo went on to be listed as The Guardian’s 6th best global album of 2020.