Name: Neha Doshi
Year: 2015
Major: OPIM with minors in Psychology and Music
Fun Fact: “I once met the president of Tajikistan.”
Hometown: Vestal, NY
What are you involved with on campus?
Music Director of Penn Atma
Co-Chair of Wharton Undergraduate Cohort System
Facilitator for Wharton Talks
TA for Negotiations
Work-study at the Office of the Provost
What does Atma do? We’re an all-female, South-Asian-fusion acapella group. Atma means soul, so we try to select songs that constitute soul music, whatever that may mean to you.
What are your responsibilities as the Music Director of Penn Atma? I make sure that the group is okay musically. I run practice, and I make sure all the arrangements are all fine. We’re actually recording an album, so a lot of my job is going into the studio with the rest of the board to help out with a lot of the editing and mixing.
How do you pick which songs to perform? We have a couple of parameters. Because we’re a fusion group we have to make sure the songs fit together. We also try to showcase different types of songs–songs with different tempos and genres that we can integrate together to create something completely different. For example, blending “Magic” by Coldplay, “Just Hold On We’re Going Home” by Drake, and “Tanha Dil” from the movie Shaan. We also need to consider if songs suit the voices in our group, and most important for this semester, what we can record and put on an album.
What’s your favorite arrangement you’ve performed with Atma? I really like Hallelujah/Piyu Bole: http://bit.ly/15VNBod. (Ed. Note: This is our favorite – Neha’s the solosit! http://bit.ly/1yBS0Hl)
Have you been singing your whole life? Actually, my first time singing in front of people was bascically at my Atma audition — except I was once a munchkin my sixth grade class’s Wizard of Oz, and I was once a mouse in Hansel and Gretel.
Do you ever get stage fright? Not really, actually. Our shows are pretty informal, so it just feels like you’re jamming with a bunch of your friends.
Find Atma on iTunes, Spotify, and Facebook!