You Need To Meet Atma: Penn's All–Female South Asian A Cappella Group

Atma isn’t your average a cappella group. Founded in 2002, Atma is Penn’s only all–female South Asian fusion a cappella group. Misha Khoja (W’18), the group’s current president, let Street into the wonderful world of Atma so that we could learn a little more about group before their upcoming spring show. Atma Presents: Cinematma is this Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m. in Houston Hall Class of ’49.

Street: Tell me a little bit about yourself and your involvement in Atma.

Misha Khoja: So I’ve been a part of Atma since freshman year, very much in the beginning [of my time at Penn]. It’s pretty much been the thing I’ve been most committed to all of Penn, and now I’m currently president of it.

Street: So tell me what Atma is for those who maybe aren’t familiar with the group.

MK: It’s very niche. It’s an all–female South Asian fusion a cappella group. So essentially all the songs we do will always have elements of both cultures. We don’t really try and limit that so it can be any form of Western culture and any form of Eastern culture. We have a focus on South Asia, as in the subcontinent, but we always try to incorporate both musical styles in the songs themselves.

Street: What do you like best about how specific Atma is in terms of musical style?

MK: I think it’s really cool the way we bring songs together unexpectedly, like I remember one of my favorite things that we’ve done was this thing song where we mashed up Fetty Wap with this type of South Asian music called Sufi music. We mash up songs that I guess you would never really picture being together just because the genres are so different, since across cultures there’s a whole new subset of genres. So obviously in Western music there are the genres you’d be aware of but Eastern music also has a whole new set of genres. So when you’re mashing things up it’s a whole range that you can go to.

Street: That’s amazing! What song are you most excited about for this upcoming show?

MK: So we are doing an Arijit Singh medley, and I think there are 11 songs in it. So it’s about six minutes long and it’s just a bunch of his songs back to back. I think that’s really cool.

Street: That sounds so cool. Since I know your styles are related, what’s your relationship like with Penn Masala?

MK: Yeah for sure, we do very similar things and I guess you could say we’re the girl counterpart for what they do since we have overlapping music, and we do know each other and support each other’s shows. But [members of Atma] wouldn’t really take well to being called just the “girl–version of Penn Masala.”

Street: Especially since you are obviously doing your own thing.

Street: What do you wish more people knew about Atma or just South Asian or Eastern music in general?

MK: Probably just how diverse it is. There are just so many opportunities across South Asian music, and people don’t really register a much of a variety there is and how much you can really do with it.

Street: If Atma were a food, what would it be?

MK: Papa John’s Pizza with Jalapeños.

Street: Why?

MK: Because we have a little kick to us, we’re a little spicy. Honestly, that’s also just what we eat everyday.

Street: Tell me a little about the audition process for getting into the group.

MK: There are components of our audition process where we do test certain trills and things that obviously people who are trained in South Asian music would be more familiar with, but it’s not required when people audition. Like myself, I’m not trained in that kind of music and the drills and stuff, but I still really love it so that’s one of the reasons I auditioned. I think what we really look for [in an Atma member] is someone who is interested in different styles of music.

Street: Would you say that’s what you’re looking for in an audience member, too?

MK: Yeah! Just anyone who is interested in learning more about new music and keeping an open mind.