Dialled In Announce First Us Showcase @ Sxsw 2025 In Austin, Tx

Bridging Continents, Cultures, And Sounds With South Asian Artists And Luminaries Featuring Madame Gandhi, Pritt, Arushi Jain, And More…

On March 14, Dialled In — an artist-led initiative that creates spaces and opportunities for South Asian artists to display their talents, collaborate, and push creative boundaries — will host its debut US showcase as part of SXSW in Austin, TX.

Dialled In is an essential platform for South Asian artists to reach international audiences; their presence at SXSW this year reinforces that point. The caliber of artists from both the US and UK on the lineup this year — from headliner Madame Gandhi’s uplifting, percussive elctronic music to JAWARI’s Indian classical sounds that meet jazz and poetry — perfectly exemplifies the relevance and growing influence of South Asian artists in the current music landscape.

This year’s Dialled In SXSW Showcase is a microcosm of the larger cultural exchanges and awareness that the platform provides, allowing artists to reach a global audience without compromising authenticity.

Of the showcase, Dialled In’s co-founder Dhruva Balram says: “Bringing Dialled In to SXSW has been years in the making. We’ve always wanted to bring our vision to America, and we can’t think of a better way to introduce ourselves than in Austin and at one of the most prestigious festivals the country has to offer. The line-up we’ve pulled together speaks to the depth and breadth of South Asian culture today, and we’re excited to showcase these talents to a global audience.”

The unique lineup for March 14 includes both established and emerging artists, with a diverse range of musical styles that represent the breadth of South Asian music today:

Madame Gandhi

Madame Gandhi began producing music in 2015, after her story running the London Marathon free-bleeding to combat menstrual stigma went viral around the world. She has been listed as a TED Fellow, Forbes 30 Under 30 in Music, and BBC 100 Women; has been awarded the Songwriter's Hall of Fame Abe Olman Prize for excellence in songwriting and leadership and won the Jury Award at SXSW for her music video, "Waiting For Me.” On her latest song “In Purpose," in effort to raise awareness of climate change, NATURE is credited as an artist to receive a portion of all streaming royalties as part of Earth Percent's Sounds Right initiative. 

Pritt 

South London's Pritt continues to make her mark being Eelam Tamil; the Denmark-born artist uses her femininity to empower stereotypes of women and take an “Eastern meets Western” stand. Pritt has worked with the likes of BBC 1Xtra presenter Sian Anderson & Mayor of London on NEXXT STEP: Women in Music on a project called BEHIND EVERY GREAT CITY; with grime rapper Chip and his label, Cash Motto; featured as one of 8 Future Sounds artists for BBC Asian Network 2021 –  the first Tamil woman to ever do so. Pritt now has her own radio show on BBC Asian Network where she curates playlists to put Tamil & South Indian artists on the map.

She's toured the world, been named one of Amazon Music’s Breakthrough Artists, graced pages of GQ India, GUAP, Pop SUGAR, Clash Magazine, Trench Magazine, worked with brands the likes of Nike, Adidas, Apple, Mix Cloud, Pirate studios, PUMA, Levi’s, Kurt Geiger, and performed at The Great Escape and Reading & Leeds Festival. Pritt’s 1st Tamil cover “Unakkul Naane” has hit over 70 million streams, putting her on the map internationally; “Kaalam” sits at a half million+ streams,  With so much hype around her, Pritt is currently working on a body of work to be released in 2025 to showcase her talent in different styles, and this will definitely be worth the wait.

Arushi Jain

Composer, vocalist, modular synthesist, and engineer Arushi Jain's whose albums Delight (a document of her efforts to cultivate joy), and Under The Lilac Sky were named as some of the best albums of the week and month by Pitchfork, Fader, and The Guardian.  It took an evocative approach to the act of listening: how time of day influences the way a listener processes music. Her work draws as much from Indian classical musicians like Ustad Z.M. Dagar, Sharan Rani, Shiv Kumar Sharma and innovators such as Sheila Chandra, Terry Riley, Laurie Spiegel, Charanjit Singh as it does from artists like Aphex Twin, HTRK, Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Star, to name a few. Her music is less a form of “fusion” than it is an organic expression of taste, which she explores in depth on her monthly NTS Radio and Lot radio residencies.

Kapil Seshasayee

British-Tamil artist Kapil Seshasayee tells the stories other artists are afraid to tell with a guitar style all his own, combining Carnatic Indian classical music, R'n'B and jazz fusion. He has been featured at Rolling Stone India, BBC Radio4, Bandcamp, The Quietus, The Hindu, BBC Radio6 Music, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Asian Network for his recent LP Laal, a concept album about the influence of Bollywood and Indian cinema — platforming conversations around censorship, nationalism and caste which aren’t discussed often in mainstream media circles, and celebrating unsung heroes of the Indian film industry. Highly sought after for session work due to his idiosyncratic guitar playing, Kapil has amassed a number of high profile collaborations and commissions including a rework of a Ravi Shankar composition to commemorate his 100th birthday for BBC Asian Network, and collabs with LIL B, Billy Bragg, Mogwai, and Belle & Sebastian.

Grewal Twins

The Grewal Twins are British born and bred sisters, singers, and storytellers best known for their dedication in promoting the vibrant cultural history of Panjabi folk music and sharing the mysticism of Sufi devotional music. Over the years, the sisters have performed at Rajasthan International Folk Festival, Wembley Stadium, Royal Albert Hall, V&A museum, British Library, and Guildhall. They collaborated with KRUPA 432 to score a short film on Netflix called KAUR, have been featured in a major and first-of-its-kind London exhibition at the Royal College of Music called Awaken: Sufi Women and Music of South Asia. They are currently working on their first EP Love Legends of Panjab.

JAWARI

JAWARI is a London-based interdisciplinary collective redefining the boundaries of Indian classical music, jazz, and poetry. Their music is a bold expression of the interplay between tradition and experimentation, weaving sitar melodies, latin-inspired rhythm, and electronic textures into an immersive sonic experience. With their debut album, ROAD RASA, JAWARI has crafted a dynamic narrative of global collaboration, with recent performances at the India House during the Paris 2024 Olympics further expanding their international reach. JAWARI combines a foundation in Indian classical music with a desire to broaden the horizons of the sitar. For their SXSW debut, the lineup features Tommy Khosla on sitar, Latin Grammy awardee and Aterciopelados (Europe) member Gregorio Merchán on percussion, Taylor J. Frost on guitar, Somatic on electronics, Nirmal Chohan on tabla, Ella Sophoclides on vocals, and Nashville’s first Youth Poet Laureate Lagnajita Mukhopadhyay. Together, they cultivate a distinctive, global-centered sound that bridges cultures and creates a shared space for musical innovation.

ABOUT DIALLED IN

Dialled In is an artist-led platform, showcasing the depths of South Asian artistry; its team is made up of some of the brightest minds and creatives within the diaspora. Heading into its 5th year, Dialled In has solidified its reputation as an important and truly inspiring event celebrating South Asian culture through music and art. A staple in the cultural calendar, Dialled In is so much more than a series of events –– it is a feat of skill and a community, with the collectives, artists, crews, venues, performers, staff, volunteers, and food vendors all playing a crucial part in making it so special.

Cementing their role as cultural curators and as a platform for South Asian talent since their inception in 2021, alongside their own "Dialled In" festivals, they have programmed a classical concert with a Pakistani band at the Union Chapel in London, a stage at Printworks, a V&A late and the inaugural Boiler Room Pakistan, as well as produced an artistic residency in Nepal which brought together South Asian creatives from around the world. This summer, Dialled In will also be a part of Boiler Room's annual festival.

Connecting the dots between culture, communities and creatives of the South Asian diaspora across the world, Dialled In’s work is essential in showcasing the rich heritage of South Asian culture and arts in the UK and across the globe. From partnering with leading institution Southbank Centre for 3 sold-out events at their inaugural South Asian Sounds festival and selling out Queen Elizabeth Hall at a 1000+ capacity last year, to hosting a curated stage at intimate electronic festival Field Maneuvers, the platform excels in the curation of important cultural spaces, amplifying South Asian art in both world-leading venues and underground settings.