Students, community members, and people from across the country got the chance to see a blend of Bollywood and American Billboard hits in several a cappella performances this past weekend.

On March 3, the Indian Student Alliance hosted its 10th-annual South Asian fusion a cappella competition, Gathe Raho.

Gathe Raho is an elite competition that brings teams from all over the United States to compete for cash prizes and to accumulate points for the league’s final competition in Chicago.

“The event started 10 years ago as a sister competition to Nachte Raho, a fusion dance competition that began 17 years ago,” Indian Alliance President Ridhi Jani said. “The [Indian Alliance] wanted to incorporate fusion a cappella teams so we could balance out competitions between singing and dance.”

Gathe Raho has strong standards for admittance to the competition. Seven teams are accepted to compete, fewer than half the number that apply. Teams are chosen from various institutions across the country.

“We have a month for teams to send in their videos for auditions. We watch all the videos twice and look at what seven are the best,” committee member Nikhita Ramachandrula said. “My favorite part is calling the teams once we figure out who has been accepted. It’s so fun to hear their voices and excitement.”

The University of Iowa’s own Iowa Agni also performed as an exhibition act.

The event has traditionally been held at the Englert Theater; however, the Indian Alliance could not book the venue on the desired night. Instead, alliance officials opted to use Macbride Auditorium, a decision met with much enthusiasm.

“We thought Macbride was so beautiful and that teams could look at the museum and get a feel for what the UI is really about,” Ramachandrula said. “It’s really nice to expose them to a staple of the UI.”

Groups performed a wide variety of songs recognizable to Western popular culture, but with an Eastern twist.

Performers wore traditional South Asian clothing and sang songs from several different countries, switching back and forth from English to languages such as Hindi many times throughout the course of one performance.

Three prizes were given to winning teams. First got $2,000, second $1,000, and third $250. This was the first year a third prize was offered, along with a “People’s Choice,” in which audience members could vote on their favorite performance using a QR code.

The top three finishers also accumulated points toward acceptance to the league’s final competition.

Additionally, 20 percent of all ticket sales were donated to the Indian Development and Relief Fund, an organization that assists the underprivileged without health care in India.

Gathe Raho is one of several different competitions of its kind; it has the reputation of being the best. Other competitions across the country include Steel City Sapna in Pittsburgh, Awaazein in Dallas, and Anahat in Berkeley, California, to name a few.

“Gathe Raho is considered the best,” committee member Dalip Saini said. “If a team were to win a different competition, and another were to win Gathe Raho, then the team that won Gathe would have a better chance to make it to finals, because the competition was better.”