September 2024 – Issue No. VI
Welcome to the September edition of SHOR, a curation of South Asian experiences in New York City.
In this issue we highlight September events, plug new restaurant openings, spotlight New York-based singer-songwriter Ashni, and review Hidden Grounds.
Events
A list of upcoming events in September.
Omar Souleyman, Haza ft. Myyuh & Carmen Sandiego — Wednesday, September 4th
A night of Dabke electronic music at Xanadu.
Xanadu (Bushwick) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Jyoty Presents: Homegrown — Every Thursday, September 5th-September 26th
Jyoty is bringing beats to Public Records every Thursday this September.
Public Records (Gowanus)| Dance & Music | Tickets
Sonny Singh Album Release Concert — Friday, September 6th
Sonny Singh is back in NY debuting his new album “Chardi Kala.”
DROM (East Village) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Brown Girl Mag: Pop-Up — Friday- Saturday | September 6th - 7th
A NOMAD pop-up by Brown Girl Mag highlighting new South Asian-founded small businesses
BG Club House (NOMAD) | Fashion & Community | Tickets
Kaho Presents: Thrift Pop Up for Palestine — Sunday, September 8th
Kaho is hosting their first pop up event in collaboration with Lui & Lui.
191 E 3rd St (East Village) | Fashion & Community | RSVP
Karachi Community Radio at SILO — Wednesday, September 11th
KCR hosts their debut Community Night at SILO.
SILO (Bushwick) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Ashni: Live at Public Records — Friday, September 13th
Singer-songwriter Ashni is performing live at Public Records.
Public Records (Gowanus) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Speed Dating with Hayat — Saturday, September 14th
Hayat hosts a speed dating event at Barzakh Cafe, with dinner and a concert.
Barzakh Cafe (Bushwick) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Laylit: 6 Year Anniversary — Saturday, September 14th
A dance party hosted by Laylit, a collective featuring artists from the Arab/SWANA region with music inspired by New York and Montreal underground clubs.
Elsewhere (Bushwick) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Maya Thakrar Yoga at Three Jewels — Every Saturday from September 14th
Maya Thakrar leads her class - MEDITATION: Love - every Saturday from in the East Village.
5 East Third Street (East Village) | Fitness | Book
Girls Will Be Girls Screening — Sunday, September 15th
1497org, Bungalow Collective, and Rickshaw Film host a special screening of the Sundance award-winning film, Girls Will Be Girls, followed by Q&A with the filmmaker, Shuchi Talati.
Film Forum (Soho) | Film | Tickets
Shubh Saran with Childish Japes — Wednesday, September 18th
Guitarist and composer, Shubh Saran, performs at Nublu.
Nublu (East Village) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Rastah NYC Pop-Up — Wednesday, September 18th - Sunday, October 13th
Rastah is back in NYC with their longest-running pop-up.
188 Lafayette Street (SoHo) | Fashion | RSVP
AIF NYYP End of Summer Mixer — Thursday, September 19th
American India Foundation’s NY young professionals is hosting their end of summer mixer in the East Village.
Sweetie (East Village) | Philanthropy & Community | Tickets
Asian American Writers’ Workshop Lit Fest — Saturday - Sunday | September 14th - 22nd
Join AALF 2024 both with virtual and in-person events to celebrate our “Cosmic Kinship”—the magical connections we steward across time and place.
112 W 27th Street, Suite 600 (Chelsea) | Dance & Music | Register
Sundae Sauuce Ice Cream Social 022 — Friday | September 20th
Omar of No Nazar makes his @sundaesauuce debut for Ice Cream Social.
OddFellows Ice Cream (Williamsburg) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Sid Sriram & Friends — Friday | September 20th
Sid Sriram and Friends take on Blue Note.
Blue Note (West Village) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Yuva Presents: BOLLY FUSION — Saturday, September 21st
A fusion of North and South Indian music, big screen visuals and performances
Red Eye NY (Hell’s Kitchen) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Keeping Hope Alive — Sunday, September 22nd
A poetry event for Palestine.
72 Berry Street (Williamsburg) | Arts and Community | Tickets
Kareem Rahma's Tiny Gun, Morning Silk — Tuesday, September 24th
Kareem Rahma’s Tiny Gun and Morning Silk perform at Elsewhere rooftop.
Elsewhere (Bushwick) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Nabihah Iqbal — Wednesday, September 25th
Nabihah Iqbal, London-based singer, producer and DJ, takes on Elsewhere with Sugar Milk.
Elsewhere (Bushwick) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Popshift Sessions: South Asian Music Showcase — Thursday, September 26th
A night of music featuring artists like Shreea Kaul, Kayam, Enchantika, Just Raj + more special guests.
Racket (Chelsea) | Music | Tickets
POETICIANS: Brooklyn V 01 — Thursday, September 26th
Check out the first Poeticians in Brooklyn that centers politically charged poets mainly around the ethos of the Arab world.
Barzakh Cafe (Crown Heights) | Poetry | Details
Asian American BookCon + Dance Party — Friday, September 27th
The Asian American Writers’ Workshop and Asian American Book Club present an inclusive series of panels for the Asian American BookCon, followed by afters.
Hanah House (Downtown Brooklyn) | Literature | Tickets
No Nazar — Saturday, September 28th
No Nazar is back with a their final summer party of the year at Elsewhere.
Elsewhere (Bushwick) | Dance & Music | Tickets
DJ Boring, I. Jordan, Anish Kumar — Saturday, September 28th
A dance music event featuring DJ Boring, I. Jordan, and Anish Kumar.
Elsewhere (Bushwick) | Dance & Music | Tickets
COMING SOON (limited tickets)
Tinashe (w/ Special Guest: Raveena) — Monday, November 4th
Tinashe headlines her Match My Freak world tour, with Raveena as her opening artist.
Brooklyn Paramount (Fort Greene) | Dance & Music | Tickets
Hasan Raheem — Friday, November 8th
Hasan Raheem will come to NYC in November for the Hungama tour.
Irving Plaza (Gramercy) | 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 opened in the UWS in early August.
706 Amsterdam Avenue (Upper West Side) | Reservations
As the name indicates, a new Yemeni restaurant opened in Harlem this August.
377 West 125th Street (Harlem) | Info
Qahwah House (Morningside Heights Location)
Another Qahwah house has opened up just in time for the Fall semester right next to Columbia.
2869 Broadway (Morningside Heights) | Info
September Spotlight: Ashni
A micro-profile of South Asian changemakers.
The backseat of my dad’s golden mazda ‘96 and the soft tune of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan on the radio was a surprising memory to be drawn back to in my conversation with Ashni Dave, a New York-based Indian-American singer and songwriter. But it was impossible not feel nostalgic towards early musical influences as Ashni shared the many that inspired her path as a vocalist, composer, and pianist.
Ashni, who has over 3.5 million streams and whose music has been featured on Spotify’s Women of Jazz playlist and the Emmy-nominated web series Brown Girl, spoke with me about her music and the inspirations that helped her find her sound. “I grew up listening to my dad’s jazz records,” she tells me, with artists like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday becoming early influences. But she was also an avid listener of the infectious rhythms of garba and the devotional strains of Qawwali. These cross-cultural influences subtly made their way into her own sound, heard in the confessional lyricism and percussion of her 2021 garba-informed single “Honey” and throughout her 2022 EP “Who I Dreamed Of.”
“My work pulls heavily from jazz, R&B, soul, pop and folk,” she describes, seamlessly blurring genre and borders in her work.
Still, Ashni’s journey to the stage wasn’t a straight path. “I grew up playing classical piano and doing Kathak,” she recalls. “And I always wanted to be a singer-songwriter.” But, like many young creatives, she opted for a more conventional path at first. “I finished my undergrad degree in Biology to appease my parents, and worked for a year as a consultant as one does at 22,” she shares.
It wasn’t long, though, before she quit her corporate job and moved to New York to start playing live and honing her craft. “There was this compounding misery in the thing that I was doing. And I just knew that I felt very called to do music,” she tells me when I ask what finally drove her to take the risk in her career. “That call was always there, it just grew louder.”
Today, Ashni performs at venues across the city, something she describes as both a privilege and a hustle. She’s played at popular spots like Joe’s Pub in Manhattan and the Owl Music Parlor in Brooklyn. Later this month, she’ll perform at Public Records for the first time (check it out in our September calendar above). Outside of performing, Ashni is also busy working on new music, which she hopes will be released later this year.
We’ll keep you all plugged in on her next show, but until then, you can keep up with Ashni at @ashnimusic, and stream her music wherever you listen.
— Urooba
September Chai Corner: Hidden Grounds
A monthly review of a chai spot in NYC.
There are days when it feels like the universe conspires against you, and the day I first went to Hidden Grounds was one of those days. It was too hot outside, and I was dressed in all black (had to get the fit off). My friend Ethan and I walked maybe 5 blocks and 2 avenues to get to this chai spot. Needless to say, I was schvitzing by the time we stumbled into the small chai and coffee lounge, tucked away between 9th and 10th on 3rd Ave. The moment we walked in, we were greeted by an AC working overtime, a playlist of 2010s rap throwbacks, and a few fun Etsy-esque Desi posters.
Ethan, ever the adventurer, went for the iced Rose Chai with oat milk. I, on the other hand, stuck to the classic masala chai. Now, choosing a hot drink after sweating it out for half an hour wasn’t exactly the smartest move, but I’m a firm believer in sticking to the basics. It’s like reviewing a pizza place without trying the cheese pizza (this is the current Overton window in the pizza reviewing world I think). Anyway – the Rose Chai was something else. Sweetened with a homemade gulab jamun syrup, it was a chilled delight, but the oat milk definitely was the more present taste. Still, it was delicious, and I didn’t mind the twist.
As for the masala chai, it was thick, creamy, and definitely on the milk-forward side. But what really caught me off guard, in the best way possible, was the star anise.
Of course, I made the rookie mistake of not trying the donuts. A gulab jamun donut? Unreal. Everyone around us was raving about them, and now I’m thinking about how good that would be as a snack as I’m writing this.
All in all, Hidden Grounds is a spot I’d highly recommend for a quick drink and snack. It leans more towards desi fusion rather than sticking strictly to the authentic, but that’s part of its charm. They’re also in a few locations in Jersey City for the readers who live across the water. Lastly, don’t confuse this with July’s chair corner spot, Hideout Chai. If I had a nickel for every time there was a chai spot in NYC that was associated with “hiding,” I would have 2 nickels.
— Archit
Thank you!
If you read this far, thank you for checking out the September 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 October!