EP 78: LEO KALYAN

Bringing in wisdom, warmth, and undeniable skill is @LeoKalyan the singer, songwriter & music producer from London who has taken the world by storm with their Bollybeats, mashups and uniquely playful renditions of classics old and new. 

After a social-media hiatus over the pandemic, Leo transformed their Indian Classical training into a phenomenal series of Bollywood x chart mashups that explore the musical synergy between Afrobeats, Latinx & Indian music. Leo’s videos went globally viral on Tiktok & Instagram with support from respected musicians like Grimes & AR Rahman (as well as the rest of the world)!

Confidently and utterly themself, Leo is open about their gay & non-binary identities amongst the many facets that make up this brilliant artist. We caught up with Leo as they prepared the release of their forthcoming single ‘Diamond Life’, talking everything from bilingual and non-english music embedding into the mainstream, how gender-neutral pronouns are a part of ancient Indian language and 15th, 16th and 17th century Punjabi Hindi poetry, and why queering fashion is a powerful tool to make people see and treat you differently. 

Listen to Leo’s music, check out their IG & tiktok and like, share and subscribe to WITB for more insightful, honest and hilarious conversations with South Asian people going against the grain. Thank you Leo! 

Aaron, Almass & Reuben x

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Presented by Aaron Christian, Almass Badat & Reuben Christian

Produced by Surya Elango