Fifteen students at the University of Pennsylvania. Fifteen South Asian Americans. Fifteen men. One ambition – to create a delicate fusion between Indian and American music.

About 500 people gathered Saturday night at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall to listen to Penn Masala, the nation’s leading Hindi a capella group.

“Mixing two cultures – that is our goal,” said 21-year-old Gaurav Kapadia, the manager of Penn Masala. “As the world becomes increasingly globalized, it’s important to reach a wide audience.”

Brown Sugar, Northwestern’s co-ed South-Asian-American a capella group, opened for Penn Masala. They performed a wide variety of tracks including “Pehla Nasha” and a track from the hit Indian film “Mohabbatein.”

Sponsored by SASA, Penn Masala performed for the second time at NU, sharing a new genre of a capella.

Penn Masala intertwined skits and parodies into their show, a chance for the group members to take a breather before the next song and a reason for the audience to laugh.

Pankaj Kakkar, 27, the composer of the group’s first original track, “Desi Ladki,” demonstrated his wide-ranging vocal ability in one such parody about a 4-year-old boy asked to write a song about Jack and Jill.

Started in the spring of 1996, five freshman sought to create the nation’s first all-male Hindi a capella group. Fusing classical Indian tracks with popular American music, Penn Masala created its own raw, distinct musical medium.

In 1999, the group recorded its first album, “Awaaz,” a compilation featuring hit tracks like “Mere Mehboob Mere Sanam,” a blend of U2’s “With or Without You” and a traditional Hindi song. Last year marked the debut of their second album, “11 p.m.,” another attempt in their quest to fuse the musical styles of the East and West.

“The best part about Penn Masala is the incredible opportunity to travel and promote our music to other places,” said Kapadia, a Penn junior. Traveling to cities like Boston, Chicago and Georgetown, Penn Masala began to expose wider audiences to their music.

In January, Penn Masala received the chance to perform in front of 30,000 people in Bombay, India, for the 2002 Screen Awards.

“The performance was so professionally conducted, and the audience was awesome,” said Kakkar, a graduate student studying computer science at Penn.

According to Kapadia, Penn has seen a surge in application from Indian-American males, some of whom have mentioned Penn Masala in their college admission essays.

“The talent level has risen tremendously over the last few years,” said 19-year-old Ashish Doshi, the group’s secretary.

As if that wasn’t enough, Penn Masala also collaborated with the Pandya brothers, one of the first South-Asian American directing teams, to produce the music for their film, “American Desi.” The film focuses on the conflicts faced by Indian Americans.

Much like Penn Masala, the film consistently asks viewers to question the balance between the two cultures.

Penn Masala will continue to strike a fine musical balance between the Eastern and Western musical styles. “Music is and will always continue to be an important part in our lives,” said Kakkar.

Some audience members, including Weinberg freshman Malini Kumar, said they were disappointed by the absence of the award-winning song “Bharat Humko” from Penn Masala’s lineup.

“I was disappointed they didn’t perform that song – It’s my favorite,” she said.

But most said they appreciated the groups cultural awareness. Weinberg freshman Leena Palamkunnel said, “It was inspiring to see a new branch of a capella, an obvious mix of two different cultures.”