University of Michigan a capella group Maize Mirchi will be the first South Asian group to compete in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella finals following their first-place finish at the Great Lakes Semifinals of the ICCA March 26. Maize Mirchi, which performs a fusion of South Asian and Western music, will compete against nine other teams in the ICCA finals in New York on April 29.
Kiran Mangrulkar, School of Kinesiology and School of Music, Theatre & Dance senior, is a current member of Maize Mirchi and will be competing at ICCA finals. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Mangrulkar said he is looking forward to making history as a member of the first group to perform South Asian music in ICCA finals.
“The fact that we’re going to be able to sing our unique blend of music and sing a South Asian piece at that stage for the first time ever is just a crazy thing to think about,” Mangrulkar said. “I think we’re all just excited for the experience. … It just feels like a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity.”
A capella groups in the ICCA competition each have 10 minutes to perform their set. Mangrulkar said every member of Maize Mirchi is involved in selecting songs for their sets, which typically consist of two South Asian and two Western songs.
“We spend probably six to eight hours one day going through all the songs (we are considering), talking about different combinations and what might flow well together, and then again, maintaining the balance of South Asian and Western (music),” Mangrulkar said. “But it’s very much a collaborative experience. It can get very, very intense because we all are very passionate about the music that we think could be a great part of this great set. But over those hours, we ended up coming up with a vision.”
In order to build up the stamina to sing and dance at the same time, LSA sophomore Brooklyn Stack, a music director for the group, told The Daily the team speed walks while singing their competition music.
“We would perform our set, but we would be walking around aggressively,” Stack said. “(The team) would get out of breath (during) practice because when we did it with choreography, we’d always get tired by the fourth song. It’s a good 10-minute set and we’re doing choreography and singing, so we (didn’t) sound as good (by) the last one (before we started conditioning).”
Stack recalled how the Maize Mirchi members prepared to perform at their best while warming up before their semifinal competition.
“We (warmed up) in this rush and it was in a parking garage, but for some reason we all were just locked in,” Stack said. “Everyone’s just like … we did it the best (we) could.”
In addition to Maize Mirchi’s first-place win at the semifinal competition, Mangrulkar also won the award for outstanding soloist. When preparing for a solo, Mangrulker said he first works on technique before finding an emotional connection to the music.
“That last week (before competition), I really tried to figure out, ‘What is the story from my life that I can bring into the song and use to fuel my emotion?’ ” Mangrulkar said. “Those are the times when I feel like I’ve performed (my solo) best.
Laila Odeh, a Maize Mirchi alum who graduated in 2022, told The Daily she is looking forward to watching her former a capella group make history.
“I’m just excited to see them on that big of a stage,” Odeh said. “And I think it’s also exciting because they’re making history, right? It’s the first South Asian group to get to ICCA finals. …But I also think I’m just excited to watch them have fun and smile — and for the seniors, to watch them have such a memorable final performance.”
During the week after the semifinal competition, Mangrulkar said the group shifted focus to practice their set for the team’s spring concert last Friday. He also said rehearsals leading up to finals in New York have been more relaxed than their past rehearsals before semifinals.
“I think it’s all about that balance of letting the set sit because we know we can do it,” Mangrulkar said. “We’ve seen (the competition set) dusted off, and then finding it, re-energizing it, finding your narrative. And just getting into a place where it’s like, ‘Alright, we’re back in the narrative. We’re back in the muscle memory.’ And now we’re just traveling to do it one last time.”
Daily Staff Reporter Abigail VanderMolen can be reached at vabigail@umich.edu.