Anjali Taneja’s latest single, “Golden Linings,” is a soulful reminder that there’s a powerful beauty in surviving and growing from the hard shit that life throws at us. Co-produced and written with producer Mars Today, guitarist Joel Van Dijk, and Charlie Sierra, the single provides a conversation about pain. As her lyrics go, “golden linings, … Read More
Mequitta Ahuja’s 2019 painting Xpect depicts a woman in a red dress reclining on two chairs that have been draped with bright blue fabric. The large painting directly behind her, the smaller painting on the floor in the background, and the lack of furniture around the woman imply that we are in an art gallery. … Read More
Since the 1940s, the beginning of the Golden Age of Hindi cinema, the Sufi song form of qawwali has been a prominent feature in Bollywood film. Due to the rich sociocultural and religious history of qawwali in the subcontinent, it is easy, even for South Asians, to picture the qawwali as a solely Islamic sacred … Read More
We’re missing songs of the summer. And, for many of us still in lockdown, we’re missing the summer entirely. Rafi’s new single “Dumbfound” gives us back some of what we’ve lost this year in ease and carefree spirit. With his friends on the beach, and shot simply by Bledar Fida and Thalia Perez and edited … Read More
A syzygy occurs when three planetary or celestial bodies are in alignment — when the sun, earth, and moon are in a straight-line configuration. Qais Essar and Alam Khan’s latest single, “Syzygy,” brings their traditional rabbab and sarod instruments into a new kind of alignment. They wrote and recorded the song all in quarantine, from … Read More
As a book of poetry, Megan Fernandes’ Good Boys presents a prescriptive examination of the self. But as a body with life in it, it shatters what is known by intentionally moving through its own tempers. What does it mean to be good, and who assigns this meaning? In all its messiness, Good Boys lays … Read More
I called my therapist on the third day of the coronavirus lockdown, starting with “Hey. I’m not panicked and I don’t know what to do about that.” There was a voice inside of me saying I ought to jump into the whistling fear-kettle for my virtues to be valid. But there was also a wisdom … Read More
The 9-track R&B collaboration Blue Hour, a joint venture from Atlanta producer Hazi and Houston recording artist Noel, wouldn’t be possible if a mutual friend didn’t introduce the two musicians to each other. An instant familiarity with one another and compatible approach to music allowed Hazi and Noel the gravity required to make emotionally self-aware … Read More
One Piece By… is an interview-column by Kajal arts contributor Sarah Burney. In each piece, Burney will have an in-depth discussion with a South Asian artist about one work of art they have created. Pakistani-Canadian artist Zinnia Naqvi mines her family album for inspiration and source material. In her photograph The Wanderers – Niagara’s Falls,1988, … Read More
There is something about this time that feels interminable – the repetition of state violence, the close-quartering during a mass plague, the forced abrasion of our political climate, it all seems to extend forever. There is no expiration date because, in truth, it never had a start date. One of the things I miss most … Read More
