January 2025 – Issue No. X
Welcome to the January edition of SHOR, a curation of South Asian experiences in New York City.
In this issue we highlight January events, plug new restaurant openings, spotlight DJ Halla, and review Kaafi Chai.
Events
A list of upcoming events in January.
Karachi Community Radio — Saturday, January 4th
KCR debuts Community Night at SILO.
SILO (Bushwick) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Ragamala Dance Company in Conversation — Monday, January 6th
The Ramaswamy family discusses their newest work, Children of Dharma.
NY Public Library for Performing Arts (UWS) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Escape: Nikki Nair, Bored Lord, Zarina + Eli Escobar — Friday, January 10th
DJ sets at the Paragon.
Paragon (Bushwick) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Everyone’s a DJ — Saturday, January 11th
Desi Darty Debauchery presents 10 DJs in the LES.
Virgo (Lower East Side) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Nabihah Iqbal @ Nublu— Saturday, January 11th
Nabihah Iqbal performs at RadioNublu.
RadioNublu (Alphabet City) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Drag Comedy Cabaret — Saturday, January 11th
Lady Bushra takes on the Laurie Beechman Theater.
Laurie Beechman Theater (Midtown West) | Comedy | Tickets
BG Book Club Session with Israa Nasir — Wednesday, January 15th
Brown Girl Mag hosts Israa Nasir on the heels of her debut release “Toxic Productivity.”
Location upon RSVP (NoMad) | Literature | Tickets
The Haza Party: Roller Disco Edition — Thursday, January 16th
Haza Party takes on Xanadu for a roller skating disco.
Xanadu (Bushwick) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Diasporic Techno Night — Thursday, January 16th
A showcase of DJs using samples of traditional music from their communities.
Public Records (Gowanus) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Saree About It — Friday, January 17th
A comedy show with Lady Bushra.
Don’t Tell Mama (Hell’s Kitchen) | Comedy | Tickets
Laylit — Friday, January 17th
Lalylit returns to Elsewhere with tunes from the SWANA region.
Elsewhere (Bushwick) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Sheetal Sheth presents Anjali Can! — Saturday, January 18th
P&T Knitwear welcomes Sheetal Sheth to celebrate the publication of Anjali Can.
P&T Knitwear (Lower East Side) | Literature | Tickets
SoHo 001— Saturday, January 18th
Southern Hospitality launches with a lineup of South Indian DJs.
The Penthouse (Times Square) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Radhika Gupta-Buckley Opening Reception — Wednesday, January 22nd
Arlo’s Living Room Gallery featuring Radhika Gupta-Buckley.
Arlo Midtown (Midtown | Art | Tickets
NINEESHA EP Release Show — Thursday, January 23rd
Celebrate NINEESHA’s release of her debut EP act I: liminal.
C’mon Everybody (BedStuy) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Anodé x Baba on Withers with Tinto Amorío Pop-up — Thursday, January 23rd
Celebrate NINEESHA’s release of her debut EP act I: liminal.
47 Withers Street (Williamsburg) | Food and Culture | Details
Rumor II - The White Out — Friday, January 24th
A night of IndoHouse music at the Whisper Room.
635 West 50th Street (Hell’s Kitchen) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Kutti Gang — Sunday, January 26th
Kutti Gang takes on The Stand in late-January.
The Stand (Union Square) | Comedy | Tickets
cheers to the comedy in dating — Thursday, January 30th
Cheers hosts comedians at CIRCO to wrap up the month.
CIRCO (Midtown) | Comedy | Tickets
COMING SOON (limited tickets)
Cha Festival — Weekends, February 2025
NYC’s first celebration of Tea Culture.
161 Water Street (Seaport) | Community and Culture | Details
Habibeats — Saturday, April 19th
Habibeats stops by NYC on his North America tour.
Brooklyn Paramount (Downtown Brooklyn) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Four Tet & Friends— Saturday-Sunday, May 17th-18th
Four Tet and Friends return to Under the K Bridge in May.
Under the K Bridge (Greenpoint) | Dance & Music | Tickets
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Know an event we should add to our next list? Shoot us a message at shor.newyork@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram!
Dining
New dining options in the city, from traditional to fusion flares.
A new Indian restaurant in Flatiron.
36 E 20th St (Flatiron) | Reservations
Dilli Dilli
Bringing iconic Delhi dishes to Times Square.
Dilli Dilli (Times Square) | Reservations
January Spotlight: DJ Halla
A micro-profile of South Asian changemakers.
In a world dominated by ever-evolving algorithms, niche internet communities, and hyper-tailored playlists, even once-communal experiences—like music—have transformed into solitary endeavors.
By day, Sravya Alla helps create this highly personalized world—working at Spotify to build the app’s “AI DJ”—a new(ish) feature that gives users personalized music recommendations. But by night, she hopes to create a very different experience. As DJ Halla, she builds an in-person community with her sets—one where the crowd can feel connected not only to the music but also to each other.
Sravya’s journey to DJing began long before her career at Spotify. Growing up, her passion for music started with dance. “All my sets are very energetic and all about connection and community, and I think that comes from being a dancer,” she shares. As a young girl, she studied Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance, for eight years. In college, she joined Penn Masti, a South Asian dance team at the University of Pennsylvania. But after graduation, and moving to New York City, Sravya sought a new creative outlet—DJing felt like the natural progression.
Incorporating South Indian sounds in her sets, particularly Telugu songs, is a big priority for Sravya. “When I hear global mixes, it’s mainly North Indian sounds, specifically Bollywood mixed with Hindi songs,” she explains. “But I don’t hear a lot of Telugu songs.” As someone who speaks Telugu at home, she hopes her sets can uplift her culture and showcase the beauty of Telugu genres beyond just the more widely recognized Kuthu music.
Though all of her sets include elements of South Asian music, Sravya is quick to distinguish herself as a “South Asian DJ” rather than a "Bollywood DJ.” Unlike the latter, known for only playing Bollywood songs, Sravya’s sets blend desi sounds with global genres. “Think desi mixed with amapiano, mixed with baile funk, mixed with tech house—all of these genres that people don’t normally hear,” she explains. Her goal is to take her audience on a journey around the world, combining different genre’s to create something unique.
New York City’s diverse crowds are the perfect audience. “There’s so much opportunity here, not only in terms of gigs but also in audiences you can reach, and their willingness to hear global sounds,” she says.
Sravya draws inspiration from other South Asian creatives already making waves in the DJ space. Some of her favorite DJ’s include Zeemuffin, Ahadadream and Jyoty. “Seeing them live is an incredible experience,” she shares. “All of them have such range in their music. They don’t just play South Asian sounds—they play everything.”
Big things are coming for DJ Halla in the new year. This month, she’s on the lineup at events hosted by Desi Darty Debauchery and Rumor (get your tickets above). And one of her big goals for 2025 is to produce her own tracks. “There aren’t many female producers in NYC, let alone South Asian female producers,” she tells me. “So that’s a big dream of mine.”
We can’t wait to keep up with her journey here at SHOR—stay tuned for more events featuring DJ Halla.
— Urooba
January Chai Corner: Kaafi Chai
A monthly review of a chai spot in NYC.
The wait is over—chai reviews are back.
After visiting some friends in Washington Heights (shoutout Sim, Cam, and Ashwin), I realized that I had one spot on my list on the way back downtown—Kaafi, a new Pakistani cafe in Harlem owned by the infamous “chai guy.”
Sometimes the universe conspires to make a café visit perfect, and that's exactly what happened here. My friend Sahitya and I showed up to Kaafi on a rainy Friday morning. Hungry and fiending for caffeine and something warm: chai was exactly what we needed. Inside Kaafi, I was immediately amazed by the decor. From the assortment of framed pictures, down to framed TV, Kaafi curates a warm, comforting space filled with eccentricity.
The cafe’s menu features a variety of coffee and tea, along with an assortment of desserts and savory treats. On this visit, Sahitya and I ordered the brown sugar cardamom and masala chais and a gulab jamun donut. What really stuck out to me was the way that the baristas prompted us for customization and went so in-depth about the differences in the chais they had. They had elite chai lore.
By the time we got our chai, the sun came out and was radiating directly into the area we were sitting. Chai-Ex Machina. The chai itself was delicious—not too overwhelming on the masala flavor but a great balance of aromatics, sweetness, and richness.
The gulab jamun donut we got was a breakfast of champions. There’s something to be said about desserts that aren’t too sweet, and this pillowy, intricate donut was nothing short of creamy and delectable (seriously, I still daydream about it).
Whether you live in Harlem or you’re all the way down in Chinatown, Kaafi is worth the visit. Rain or shine, you’ll have an amazing time.
— Archit
Thank you!
If you read this far, thank you for checking out the January issue of SHOR! We will keep updating our events calendar throughout the month, but feel free to follow our instagram for event reminders and more frequent updates.
We’ll see you in February!