Mali Announces SXSW Sydney Performance in October

Mumbai-based pop artist Mali aka Maalavika Manoj is headed to South By Southwest (SXSW) festival in Sydney this October, slated for performances between Oct. 16 and 19, 2024.

Mali, who also performed at music conference and showcase festival Music Matters in Singapore earlier this year, says she simply applied through the SXSW Sydney website and got through. “Australia is home to some of my favorite bands and is a huge English music market. Also, I’ve never been there and this would be a great chance for me to travel the country and experience it through the lens of music,” she adds.

With these two international performances with her band, Mali says she’s currently in a place where she enjoys seeing “how far my music can take me and how people from a completely different market respond to it.” She adds, “For the longest time I have known that my music has a significant market outside the country simply because all of it is in English.”

Mali put out singles like “Semi Automatic Butane” and her Tamil song “Anniku Raathiri” last year — with a 13-city India tour between December 2023 and February 2024 — also recently collaborated with fellow Mumbai artist Yohan Marshall on “Just For Once” in May. At SXSW Sydney, she’s looking forward to network and “observe firsthand” how indie music is thriving on a global level, outside of India. She also adds that a good way to approach massive networking events like SXSW is by “keeping expectations low and going with an open mind.”

While specific slots and number of performances are yet to be confirmed, Mali is not the only artist representing India at SXSW Sydney – there’s also Goa-based electronic artist Dualist Inquiry. International names on the festival lineup so far also include British artist Jorja Smith and Indonesian rock trio Voice of Baceprot, among others. Mali says since SXSW Sydney is more than just a music festival, she intends to treat it as a different kind of experience. She adds, “I look forward to seeing Sahej (Dualist) out there and hopefully a few more Indian and South Asian artists as we get closer to it.”

Outside of SXSW Sydney, Mali is also working to figure out more gigs in Australia and putting the word out to collaborate or take on songwriting sessions with any willing artists. “Performing or producing music in a new country means a different set of cultural, creative and professional methods that one needs to be familiar with. It’s not as simple as contacting venues or artists and getting things done,” she says.

More collaborations and Mali’s solo songs are coming anyway in 2024. “There will definitely be some new music within a month or two. I’m enjoying the monsoon writing phase of the year and I’m immersing myself further into the demoing and writing space,” she adds.