Prateek Kuhad

Hailing from India, Prateek Kuhad is an award-winning singer/songwriter who creates bilingual indie-folk music in both Hindi and English. He was born in Jaipur, Rajasthan, on March 3, 1990, and began writing his own songs as a teenager. He then relocated to America and spent a handful of years in New York City, where he studied math and economics at New York University. Although he moved to Delhi after graduation, Prateek Kuhad continued to nod to America in his music, which blended acoustic arrangements with melodies inspired by Elliot Smith, Fleet Foxes, and Bob Dylan. He kicked off his career in 2011, releasing a string of singles — including "Something Wrong," "Rubber Bits," and "A Shot of Alcohol" — before issuing his debut record, Raat Raazi, in 2013. Another record, In Tokens & Charms, followed two years later. Prateek Kuhad won the award for "Best Indian Act" at the 2016 MTV Europe Music Awards, and the title track from his 2018 release, Cold/Mess, was included in Barak Obama's annual playlist of the year's best songs. By 2020, Prateek Kuhad had become the first Indian artist to sign with the American label Elektra Records. Bucking expectations, his first release for the label was a Hindi-language EP, 2021's Shehron Ke Raaz, which featured an acoustic version of his viral hit "Kasoor."