Wander through this scattering of music videos that is conversant with the different sides of living in and around a city such as Delhi. Selected by musician and photographer Shiv Ahuja, this playlist traverses labyrinthine memories, experiences, neighborhoods, sounds, textures, and languages, where grievances are turned into songs and the abrasive nature of the city becomes fodder for compositional adventures. From indie bands and pop nostalgia to gritty hip-hop numbers and satirical commentary, the playlist may just throw you into a tizzy, much like the city itself!

Delhi, Delhi, Delhi. Delhi is a state of mind. There’s no other city quite like it. There’s the Delhi of the early 2000s – Orange Street had just released their now iconic track, «Candywalk»: «We don’t need your better ways, we don’t need your heritage. We would shine on anyway…».

To a young schoolkid who had never heard anything like it, it was quite a revelation! I started discovering other music in the city. Liquor ads were banned on radio/TV and subsequently brands would sponsor concerts for the young black T-shirt donning crowd that was listening to Megadeth/Metallica/Maiden cover bands. In the midst of this, there were a few other artists doing their own unique thing in a Bollywood-dominated scene. I discovered the world of Them Clones, and alt-rockers Menwhopause – rough around the edges, a little bit mad, and mostly quite stoned. Fast forward to a few years later when I found Peter Cat Recording Co. doing a sound that felt so Delhi, it couldn’t possibly have come out of any other city. They were part of a short-lived scene that started when a bunch of venues sprouted up in an urban village. Cut to 2015–16, cover bands ditched rock music and started playing wedding gigs. Rock music was mostly done for – EDM and hip hop had taken over. Further down in this list, we go to more recent pasts where Lil Meraki reps all the different cyphers popping up across the city and Udd Chalein by Sanjeeta, Aman, and SabFullPower marks a new wave of 1990s indie pop nostalgia.

Delhi’s also a city of many languages and dialects. I grew up in Gurgaon – a suburb of Delhi where auto-tuned Haryanvi songs (from the neighboring state of Haryana) were the norm, but now those sounds are also evolving and how! Check out videos by Nyn Music and Kavish Seth.

Goes without saying, ten video clips aren’t enough, but I hope this list gives you a taste for some sights and sounds brewed in Delhi sauce. For the ones that I missed – I guess you’ll have to rely on the YouTube algorithm.

Music: Orange Street
Video: Bann and Zalina Gamat
Track: «Candywalk» (India, 2002)

As a high-schooler, the dissonance created by the male voiceover in the video was fascinating! Not sure I fully understood what was going on, but the song felt like a perfect match for some teenage angst!

Music: Menwhopause
Video: Anup Kutty & Haider Hussain Beig
Track: «On a Boat» (India, 2016)

Menwhopause has been making music for about 20 years. Their videos from the album Easy were great, but this one really captures the vibe of Hauz Khas Village right before the rock ’n’ roll pubs, BYOB restaurants, and hip cafés gave way to Starbucks and weird «ladies night» bars.

Music: Them Clones
Video: Saif Azmi (Babblefish)
Track: «The Bomb Song» (India, 2009)

Them Clones was an iconic Delhi band. There were three to four venues in the city full of the black T-shirt crowd and Them Clones regularly fuelled their angst. Prithwish (vocals) hyping the crowd at «Cafe Chinese and Thai» into a frenzy on this song was a real moment for me! Sure, this was a scene mostly full of rich South Delhi kids, but it’s what we had and it was great at the time.

Music: Peter Cat Recording Co.
Video: Now Delhi
Track: «Love Demons» (India, 2018)

PCRC just returned from a sold-out U.S. tour and are gaining momentum – but this one is from the early days when they were brewing some kind of bolly-acid-disco-cabaret thing in Hauz Khas Village. Watch it till the end, it’s a real trip.

Music: Chaar Diwaari
Video: Chaar Diwaari
Track: «Mera Samaan Kahaan Hai?» (India, 2022)

There’s a ton of Desi hip hop around, but I don’t think anyone gets Delhi quite like Chaar Diwaari in this track. It’s loud, angry, and totally embodies the city’s in-your-face energy. This guy is on to something and he is literally all of 20 years old. Watch this one for its sheer chaos, its frenetic views of Delhi, and for its general bad-assery.

Musik: Lil Meraki
Video: Slumber Visuals
Track: «Delhi Capital» (India, 2023)

I’m not into trap/drill/hip hop, but this one’s on the list because it does seem to capture a new trend – there are rap cyphers popping up all over the city and with some one of them, I can’t quite tell whether they’re serious or ironic. This one is Lil’ Meraki’s take on the popular a-bunch-of-dudes-jumping-around-in-a-park-naming-the-city’s-neighborhoods-and-telling-people-to-suck-their-dick hip-hop music video.

Musik: Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Aman Sagar, SabFullPower
Video: Gorkey Patwal
Track: «Udd Chalein» (India, 2022)

Green-screen vibes from a few decades ago make a comeback in this one. Sanjeeta and Gorkey Patwal invoke a generous dose of pop nostalgia with some synthwave visuals stitched into the mix.

Musik: Nyn Music
Video: Nayan Jaiswal & Ashan.easy
Track: «Kitse» (India, 2023)

Haryanvi, a language from the neighboring state of Haryana, is a widely spoken language in and around Delhi. I don’t understand all of it, but the bits I do lead me to believe that this is a standout track in the sea of auto-tuned turbo-pop Haryanvi music. Visuals of salt flats intercut with village scenes make for an easy laid back vibe.

Music: Kavish Seth
Video: Yashwardhan Goswami
Track: «Hindi Bole» (India, 2023)

In this one Kavish takes on the city’s English-speaking crowd with a quintessentially North Indian groove. It’s a tongue-in-cheek critique of India’s English-speaking elite who often discriminate against Hindi-speakers. The song emphasizes being comfortable in your own skin.

Music: Rohan Prassanna
Video: Manas Godara & Gaurav Sharma
Track: «Out of Body»

Sarod player Rohan Prasanna comes from a family of classical musicians, but now speaks a language of his own in his debut video. In this one, he takes a lonely walk across the city while his mind wanders in the mountains – a feeling I’m sure a lot of Delhiites can relate to, especially in our scorching eight-month summer.