Music
Here Are Five More Aussie Bands Featuring South Asian Australian Musicians
Meet Glass Beams, Jothi, Sunfruits, Real Good Company, and Githmi.
“Herein lies the beauty of the South Asian diaspora: We are not a monolith,” writes Isha Sharma for Harpers Bazaar. “We’re brought up in unique ways across the world, within which we may find shared truths, but they are not mutually exclusive.”
We can’t all do the hook-step in Naatu Naatu (although that would be groovy). We don’t all deliver Uber Eats between shifts at the Kwik-E-Mart—even if some Australian politicians seem to think so. And we’re not all destined to follow some preordained path involving medicine, law, or engineering—even if we do (just in case, of course).
Our identities are textured and layered and complex and multi-faceted and nuanced. And they seldom align with the stereotypes and systems that sometimes exclude us, reject us, and minimise us.
Really in my bag about how isolated & undervalued i feel sometimes as a South Asian qwoc in Music. white people + the system have been excluding, rejecting, & minimizing my existence since i was born but the pain u feel when it happens for the millionth time never really lets up
— Raveena (@raveena_aurora) January 23, 2019
Yet, to truly experience a sense of belonging, we need representation—whether it’s in creative realms like art, cinema, and music, or in corporate boardrooms. That’s why we—Brown Boy Mag—exist, and the diaspora is making strides; the future looks promising.
So, in the spirit of representation, here’s a rundown of some Aussie bands with South Asian Australian musicians that we’ve been head-rocking and air-guitaring (is that a word?) to lately. Meet Glass Beams, Jothi, Sunfruits, Real Good Company, and Githmi.
It’s like a photo dump. But a band dump. Because dumps are cool. We like dumps. Keep an eye out—like Stormzy, we’ll be dumping some more.
1. Glass Beams 🎭
Naarm/Melbourne’s Glass Beams (@glass_beams) is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.
Are they human? Or are they interstellar time travellers dishing out 70s-Indian-disco-esque melodies veiled in bejewelled, sparkly masks? We don’t know. We may never know—their public identities are as elusive as your granny’s super secret paruppu recipe. It’s the music that matters for Glass Beams.
What do we know? Glass Beams are an all-South-Asian-Australian trio (of Indian and Sri Lankan heritage) serving “serpentine psychedelia” and “eastern-inspired western music“. And their grooves slap. (Perhaps harder than an angry Sri Lankan dad in the 80s.)
2. Jothi 🌼
Can you please do us one favour?
Just unleash your inner groove thang with JOTHI (@jothiband)—a soul-pop four-piece fronted by Indian-Australian Gloria Ragesh channelling “rhythm and blues artists from the 50’s through to the 70’s.” Gloria will be releasing music under her solo project Wild Gloriosa very soon, too. Keep your peepers peeled.
3. Sunfruits 🍊
Plunge into the psychedelic pop vortex with Sunfruits (@sunfruitsband)—a Melbourne/Naarm-based quartet with Sri Lankan-Australian Evie Vlah (@cherrygarcon) on guitar and vocals. Their debut album, One Degree, released earlier this year, “presents new-age, anthemic psychedelia and indie-pop, similar to MGMT and Pond,” and several “perspectives on environmentalism, the world and relationships with oneself and others.”
If you’ve escaped to Europe like most of Melbourne, you’ll be able to catch Sunfruits on their Euro Trip from August this year.
4. Real Good Company 🎤
Real Good Company are just really good company (@realgoodcompanyofficial). That is all. The end.
Okay, not really.
They’re a four-piece from Naarm/Melbourne (Charles, Daniel, James, and Indian-Australian Priya (@priya_francis) “united by their love of funky beats and hatred of bad vibrations.”
5. Githmi 🎸
Last but undoubtedly not least is Sri Lankan-Australian, guitar-wielding Githmi’s (@githmi__) eponymous solo project. Inspired by the Strokes, Weezer and DMAs, Githmi “strives to empower diversity in the indie rock music scene of Melbourne.” Githmi’s Don’t Go Away is one of our most-played Spotify songs of this year—understandably so:
Brown Boy Magazine (@brownboyau) celebrates worship-worthy tastemakers and changemakers in the South Asian Australian diaspora (without taking itself too seriously).