EP 78 with Leo Kalyan is here to bless your ears!
Bringing in wisdom, warmth, and undeniable skill is @leokalyan the singer, songwriter & music producer from London who has taken the world by storm with their Bollybeats, mashups, and uniquely playful renditions of classics old and new.
After a social-media hiatus over the pandemic, Leo transformed their Indian Classical training into a phenomenal series of Bollywood x chart mashups that explore the musical synergy between Afrobeats, Latinx & Indian music. Leo’s videos went globally viral on Tiktok & Instagram with support from respected musicians like Grimes & AR Rahman (as well as the rest of the world)!
Confidently and utterly themself, Leo is open about their gay & non-binary identities amongst the many facets that make up this brilliant artist. We caught up with Leo talking everything from bilingual and non-English music embedding into the mainstream, how gender-neutral pronouns are a part of ancient Indian language and 15th, 16th, and 17th century Punjabi Hindi poetry, and why queering fashion is a powerful tool to make people see and treat you differently.
Listen to Leo’s music, check out their IG & tiktok and like, share and subscribe to WITB for more insightful, honest, and hilarious conversations with South Asian people going against the grain. Thank you Leo!
Aaron, Almass & Reuben x
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Presented by Aaron Christian, Almass Badat & Reuben Christian
Produced by Surya Elango
