NEW YORK: Penn Masala, the pioneer a cappella group from the University of Pennsylvania, kicked off its promotional tour for the release of their 5th album, Pehchaan, with a packed show at Park West H. S., NYC, recently.

The New York show was performed through NYU ICE, NYU Shruti, and the charitable organization Pratham. Apart from Penn Masala’s classic a cappella performance that included several tracks from their latest album, the show featured a guest act by NYU Pandemonium. All proceeds were donated to Pratham, a charity which supports education initiatives in India.

This concert commenced an album-release tour that saw the group perform in Pittsburgh on Feb 24 and Texas A&M University on March 3. The group will be performing in Florida in early April. The official album launch concert and party will be in Penn Masala’s hometown, Philadelphia, on March 24.

Penn Masala, the world’s first and premier Hindi a cappella group, was formed in 1996 by a group of students at the University of Pennsylvania. After breakthrough performances at Bhangra Blowout in 1998 and SASA 1999, the group took the nation by storm and continues to perform for sold-out crowds in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Houston, and Philadelphia.

Over the last decade, Penn Masala has spread the popularity of Hindi a cappella music abroad by performing in Toronto, London, Mumbai and Kolkata. The group also performed live at the 2002 Star Screen Awards and the 2003 Zee Bollywood Awards, as well as Zee TV’s ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ and multiple other TV and radio talk shows.

Influenced by the Eastern and Western cultures that represent the group’s membership, Penn Masala has released four albums and a recent compilation CD. Pehchaan is currently available for purchase on the group’s website along with the group’s previous albums.