Pakistani musician Ali Sethi took to the stage for the second weekend of Coachella, singing to a packed tent of festival-goers. He commemorated the performance in an Instagram post, writing how there can be “no representation without inclusion.”
“Coachellva Balamva,” wrote the singer on Instagram. “Thank you, Fahad Hussayn for sending this Mughal angarkha in the mail.
“Thank you Raja Kumari and Leo Kalyan for singing with me onstage, and thank you Coachella for the cute pictures. There is no representation without inclusion, and I was so thrilled to see our manifold, many-splendoured family light up the gobi tent.
“Also thanking Pooja in the last slide, twaada jazba bemisaal.”
Sethi opened his set with an ‘alaap’, a complex melody from Indian classical music, before launching into a folk song from Punjab. He then performed his global hit ‘Pasoori’ that got the crowd on their feet.
Sethi is the second Pakistani artist to perform at Coachella, after musician Arooj Aftab.
Pakistan’s Ali Sethi draws large crowds at Coachella
“I thought it was going to be this like, indie, niche thing that a bunch of my nerdy fans were gonna like,” Sethi was quoted as saying by AFP earlier on his ‘Pasoori’ hit.
“I’m just astounded by how many people around the world – particularly in India – loved it and embraced it.”
Ali Sethi’s infectious hit ‘Pasoori’ reverberates from Pakistan to Coachella
Of the performance on the second weekend of Coachella, Sethi said, “To be connected to tradition does not necessarily mean that you have to be orthodox or conservative. I think that’s my message,” he was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.
“Stay with me as I morph, as I speak in tongues, as I switch, as I adapt, as I reveal, as I cocoon. Every artist wants to be able to have that journey,” he said. “I want to be known by that and not by some preconceived idea of what I’m supposed to do.”