Creator Spotlight: Rediscover Radio with South Asian Shuffle

Salut Les Amis! Today I am sharing with you, the story of how I have rediscovered my love for radio, courtesy of a unique radio show called South Asian Shuffle. Before the streaming era of music completely reinvented the way we consume our music, radio shows were one of the ways I personally discovered new and upcoming artists as well as their stories around the music they have created. Today, it is more likely that you will watch a small snippet of content on one of the many social media platforms and then give the artist a chance to be a part of your playlist. I believe that a show like South Asian Shuffle has the ability to change that.

I had a wonderful conversation with Sheela Lal, who is the host and curator the show as part of Ferndale Radio in Southeast Michigan. Sheela goes on to explain what goes into curating a radio show segment, the amount of research involved to understand the background of each featured artiste. Initially trained as a Hindustani Classical singer, Sheela found a way to use her interest in music to coincide with her inclination towards research. She had always been curious about in Film Music, going from Hindi Cinema to other regional cinemas as well. When she got the opportunity to take a deep dive into the Telugu film culture through her study abroad program, she discovered that there was an entire industry and culture that existed around Telugu Cinema and the especially the music therein. This gave her the impetus for her first show “Rangeela,” which had a mix of Bollywood and Non Hindi Songs from the various diasporas.

While speaking about the creation of her current show, South Asian Shuffle, Sheela adds “It was a creative outlet for me to do my own learning and unlearning around film culture, music culture and what does that say about the place that this music comes from.”

South Asian Shuffle airs every Wednesday, from 8PM to 10PM EST, on Ferndale Radio. You can follow the show @southasianshuffle on Instagram and listen to the playlist of all the previously featured artistes here!

Here are some detailed excerpts from our conversation!

A: Can you tell me about your journey into radio hosting and how you came up with the concept for "South Asian Shuffle"?

S: I joined the University of Missouri's student radio station (KCOU) as soon as I started college, where I learned how to work their system and put together shows in collaboration with other students. For the first 3 semesters, I worked on college radio rotation shows, hip hop shows, and pure pop focused shows. I pitched my own show for the middle of my sophomore year, and ran it for the rest of my time at school. That was called Rangeela. For the next ten years, I continued in audio, hosting or participating in multiple podcasts, but missed curating my own project. Since moving to Southeast Michigan, I had been looking for an opportunity to get involved in the community, and finding Ferndale Radio gave me that opportunity. I wanted to rebrand and revamp my old format, so I updated the show name to reflect the intentionally wider range of music.

A: What inspired you to focus on South Asian culture and music specifically?

S: How many radio programs acknowledge music outside the US? There's an opportunity for deeper music representation. I knew there was more to Indian and South Asian music than just Hindi film music, and I wanted a reason to explore it. I've also had the privilege to live in South Asia as an adult multiple times, and this show is now a reflection of how much I've learned about culture in the past 10 years.

A: What do you hope listeners take away from "South Asian Shuffle" after tuning in?

S: Music is always a reflection of its context. One of my favorite parts of the show is researching each song or artist or film and working out why it's interesting. I play a wide range of songs, so the full 2 hours are not going to always be someone's cup of tea, but I hope a listener finds a new song they vibe with.

A: Can you share any memorable moments or experiences you've had while hosting the show?

S: I got to interview DJ Rekha when I hosted Rangeela! South Asian Shuffle is only 4 months old, so nothing awesome like that, quite yet. Actually, I take that back. I have really loved finding emerging artists and seeing some of the social media interaction with my set lists. It feels really good to get a little validation from the people whose work I'm engaging with.

A: How do you navigate representing the diversity within the South Asian community through your programming?

S: I organize my show on a spreadsheet so I can see the different dimensions in one place. I tend to over index on music coming from outside the Hindi belt, which encourages more musical diversity. I've found great resources to guide my searches - MilliBlog, Homegrown, Harmonium Music Blog, RSJ Online, Korali Collaborative, Desi Collaborative (which is how I found you!), and Desi Futurism - and if I'm looking for something more niche, I use a search engine. I try not to play songs that sound similar as well, which pushes more auditory diversity.

A: In what ways do you think "South Asian Shuffle" contributes to the broader cultural landscape, both within the South Asian diaspora and beyond?

S: In the smallest way, it's an opportunity to create a specific monoculture. Music, well culture overall, is run by algorithms and rewards music that sounds a certain way. Search engine algorithms are also changing to push financial consumption instead of interacting with other people's thoughts or creations. I hope that by curating a radio show, which involves sharing my point of view, it acts as pushback to algorithmic monotony and as a moment in time for a group of listeners to have commonality. Realistically, it's probably going to be another repository of interesting music someone cared enough about to make playlists and instagram posts.

A: How do you see the future of your show evolving, and are there any new directions or projects you're excited to explore?

S: South Asian Shuffle has been a very good outlet for me. I like that it's contained as a radio program with a little bit of social media to reach a wider audience. I don't have ambition for the show because it changes the nature of having a hobby and morphs it into a job.

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Hope you are having a good week. 😁 

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