LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Twin Indian-American musical artists with roots from Louisville are pushing the boundaries of pop music with their Indian heritage by blending languages in their lyrics.
“We’re Twinjabi, two American Kentucky boys twin music duo,” Kush Nijhawan said as he and his brother Neil walked around their hometown.
They’re Indian Punjabi twins representing Louisville on an international level.
“We’re from Louisville, Kentucky, very proud of it, but we definitely are international superstars making great music for the world, we’re Kentucky. We’re just making our mark in music,” Kush said.
The duPont Manual High School grads started their music career two years ago.
“I would say our biggest inspiration would be honestly our dad. You know, that’s the reason why we do this. He told us anything’s possible and anything is possible,” Neil said.
The duo said they aim to add diverse voices in the music industry.
“We’re just two kids in the basement. One day we said we wanted to make music that shows our perspective to the world because it’s just not being shown,” Neil said. “And our dad said go for it, you know, anything’s possible.”
They blend Hindi, English, and most recently Spanish in their craft.
“The great thing about Twinjabi and the great thing about music is that language doesn’t matter. Melody is king. You have a good melody, you might not understand a single word in that language, but that melody will be stuck in your head,” Kush said. “With Twinjabi, you get great music, great videos and we definitely looked the part.”
Their two years of making music are flourishing, with several songs like Teju, Bombay or Desi Dons racking up more than a million views.
“What started this journey was that we just felt there was a gap in the marketplace,” Kush said. “We felt like there was no Indian-American act that really had the potential to go mainstream and be a top act in the world and we wanted to fill that gap as you know, Indian American artists.”
Artists, twins and singers who are charting a new path as they climb the music charts.
Twinjabi just released a music video in February. A lot of their filming locations for the songs are iconic places in Louisville, like the Brown Hotel and Lynn Family Stadium.