HT Kala Ghoda Arts Festival: Bopping to Sehgal’s beat

Musician Baba Sehgal draws cheers with rap about fried rice, Rihanna and working out; singer Shilpa Rao ends the night on a high note

Chicken fried rice, Donald Trump, Vin Diesel, Beyoncé, Rihanna — how could they possibly be linked? Well, they were all part of musician Baba Sahgal’s rap as he entertained hundreds at the HT Kala Ghoda Arts Festival on Saturday.

Singer Baba Sehgal performs at the HT Kala Ghoda Arts Festival on Saturday. (Pratham Gokhale/HT)

Sahgal performed as part of the LIC Music Festival co-powered by Fox Life, at an event hosted by Radio Nasha RJ Anmol.

The crowds at the Asiatic Library steps danced, cheered and rapped along to ‘Mujhe pasand hai chicken fried rice’.

Sahgal urged the crowds to work out by singing a track called ‘Go to the gym’ and he got his biggest cheers to ‘Why am I so sexy?’

Singer Shilpa Rao performs at the HT Kala Ghoda Arts Festival on Saturday. (Pratham Gokhale/HT )

Mixing Punjabi, Hindi and English in his lyrics, Sehgal requested pop star Rihanna to collaborate with him and dedicated a track titled, in his oh-so-unique style, ‘Rihanna, oh Rihanna, police station is a thana’.

He did a bit of improv with the audience , singing the first few lines of his Punjabi number ‘Balle balle ho gayi hai’ and asking the crowds to fill in with the rest. Young and old alike bopped their heads.

“My grandchildren listen to western rap, which I can hardly understand. But Sehgal’s rap is so relatable because he chooses day-to-day topics and they’re funny,” said Merzi Cooper, 80, a retired doctor from Dadar.

College student Rajesh Khatri, 22, from Bhayander said, “I love rap and my favourite rapper is Eminem. But, no one can match up to our local star. I will never stop listening to his songs.”

Sehgal was followed by singer Shilpa Rao and her band, who performed some of their most popular numbers as the audience lit up their phones and waved along to songs like ‘Alvida’.

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