“What language is that?” Paroma Mehta’s (SIS/BA ’22) friend asked when listening to her music during their early days at AU. This prompted Mehta to realize that growing up in India and listening to music from several different countries, including India, the US, the UK, and Canada, was a unique experience—one that allowed her to gain a complex understanding of various cultures.

When asked if she was interested in doing a radio show on WVAU, American University’s student-run online radio station, Mehta decided she wanted to give listeners a chance to widen their repertoires of music as well. Her show, Around the World in 808s (named after the famous drum kit), features a different country or genre each week and explores them through a global lens.

“As an SIS student, I was reading and learning about the countries but strictly through political and historical lenses. We weren’t focusing on how the countries have active communities with so much culture and so much influence,” says Mehta. “I thought it would be interesting to use radio to give listeners a different kind of look at countries from across the world.”

For Listeners

In our globalized world, music from different countries is increasingly accessible and allows listeners to gain insight into a country’s culture. Mehta uses her radio show to focus on this accessibility, as she believes that sometimes when people think of foreign films or music, there is often an air of pretentiousness that can seem intimidating and taxing.      

“The best kind of cultural engagement is when people can just enjoy themselves,” says Mehta. “I want good music that appeals to a lot of people, and I have a specific interest in different genres that give a sampling of different influences.

“This radio show has allowed me to delve deeper into a lot of different music that I wasn’t originally listening to. Listening to all kinds of new music has helped make me more sensitive to various cultures and more able to communicate with people of those cultures since it gives me a jumping off point.”

Mehta sees music as a medium that both highlights similarities with people and showcases different cultural influences that may not be apparent at first. “There are so many elements of music that travel, even if they don’t share the same language.”

What to Take Away from the Show

Mehta wants listeners, particularly those taking SIS courses, to apply what they are learning in the classroom to how they view people’s cultures when listening to foreign music. She views music as another access point through which people can learn about various cultures, identities, and languages as well as the complex emotions that we all share.

Starting the radio show taught Mehta that what she has learned at SIS so far can be applied to all kinds of aspects life: “I feel very lucky that I have this knowledge of international affairs as a foundation for my radio show. Since day one at SIS, I have been able to work with my professors to learn about the aspects of international affairs that interest me. No one ever told me that I couldn’t ask certain questions or that I must stay within my academic focus or thematic area. I have been able to study so many facets of the world through SIS.”

Interested in learning more about WVAU? Check out their website, which showcases future opportunities to get involved.