India, Dec. 27 -- I ndian origin musician Karsh Kale will be returning to India in 2026 for his performance at Lollapalooza in Mumbai. Sharing his excitement, he recalls, "Back in 1991, when I was in high school, I attended the very first Lollapalooza." Standing in the crowd back then, Kale remembers thinking, "One day I'm going to be on that stage." While he has since played festivals across the world, Lollapalooza remained unchecked. "So to finally hit that stage - and that too in Mumbai - I'm very, very excited," he shares. Reflecting on the growing global curiosity around Indian pop and hybrid sounds, the 51-year-old musician points it as a long-overdue cultural shift. "What was always hard to push past was the racial barrier," he says, reflecting on how global pop music was once seen through a narrowly defined lens. "Back in the '80s, pop music was generally white. It took people like Michael Jackson and Prince to break those boundaries. But Indian faces, Asian faces were not part of that," he adds. "That has finally changed," he remarks, pointing to the rise of K-pop and the growing visibility of artists from Asia and the Middle East. He adds that for him, the excitement lies not just in representation, but in how Indian musicians are actively expanding the sound itself. "You have people mixing idioms now - Carnatic R&B singers, Indian samples, Indian instruments - and that's introducing the world to an expansion of these styles," Karsh adds. For his India performance, Kale confirms that he will be playing a significant amount of material from his upcoming album, slated for release in late February or early March. "This album is focused on me as a songwriter. For this set, I'm the main vocalist. Earlier, I always had different singers and guests. This time, it's about bringing together everything I've done in the past and also getting on stage with new songs I've written." That blend mirrors Kale's own life - growing up in New York City while remaining deeply rooted in Mumbai. "Over my lifetime, those worlds have fused into a sound," he says. On stage, that fusion will be reflected through a wide-ranging ensemble spanning Indian classical musicians, newer artists, and long-time collaborators. "It's everything from the ancient to the modern," Kale concludes....