Images courtesy of Navya Asopa
For my 23rd birthday, I rode the bus to Atlantic City for my first-ever concert earlier this month. In three hours, we left Jersey City behind and landed on a bustling casino street by the Shore. A gust of wind flew through my hair, and I had a bounce in my step, eager to reach the venue.
As I entered the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa and gobbled up a cheese pizza with a tall martini glass, I saw a slew of young and old Desis rushing to the ticket counter. In a couple of hours, music moguls Kanika Kapoor and Mika Singh were to adorn the stage at the event center. I was eager to sing along and chat with fellow Bollywood nerds.
Atlantic City has a significant Asian population that comprises approximately 15.5% of the city’s residents, and the region hosts a sprawling South Asian community. The more than two-decade-old Borgata Hotel recently unveiled a dedicated Asian gaming space and a series of dining and bar experiences with the goal of becoming a hub for cultural events for New Jersey’s diverse communities.
The concert hall with a capacity of 300 was filled to the brim. There were old uncles sitting on chairs, aunties in brightly colored saris clicking pictures, and groups of millennials grooving to the opening beats in flowy dresses and formal suits.
It was both an opportunity for fans of Mika Singh and Kanika Kapoor to come see them at Borgata and at the same time, for those who are not yet fans, to experience them live for the first time.
First up was Kapoor, one of India’s most popular playback singers, known for her bold voice and chart-topping songs like “Baby Doll,” “Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan,” and “Jugni Ji.” She was excited to see a room full of South Asians and made a lighthearted joke about the pardesis of New Jersey. Pardesi refers to a person living away from their homeland.
She started with some popular Bollywood hits like “Sooraj Dooba Hain” and moved to some of her own dance jams, much to the crowd’s delight. Many women stood up from their seats and swung in sync with the dance hook of songs like “Tukur Tukur.”
Kapoor applauded the audience members enjoying themselves and said, “Yes, I love to see
women supporting each other. We need it!”
Soon, she closed to set up the stage for Mika Singh, the Punjabi musician and rapper who made an entry through a catchy video that featured Bollywood legends Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan introducing him as a superstar.
The anchor brought him to the stage with chants of: “When I say Mika, you say King!”
The crowd gathered in front and chanted while recording videos on their phones. Singh thanked them for showing up and greeted a few of his close friends, cheering at the back: “New Jersey, New York, Long Island, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Punjabi, Gujarati. We are all here!”
His stage presence gripped the audience’s attention as he sang the top medleys of his more than two-decade-long career. He blended pop and Bhangra with the popular tunes of “Aankh Marey” and “Subha Hone Na De.”
Toward the end, he mentioned Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, and wrapped up with the crowd singing the chorus of “Mauja Hi Mauja.”
While many folks I talked with were from Jersey City, some had also flown down from Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Long Island, with plans to stay the night playing poker and dining at the hotel.
“It was both an opportunity for fans of Mika Singh and Kanika Kapoor to come see them at Borgata and at the same time, for those who are not yet fans, to experience them live for the first time,” said Jennifer Mengel, a spokeswoman for the hotel.
Mengel added that the team’s objective has been to actively celebrate holidays and integrate experiences so that “all guests feel welcomed.”
Dhruti, a young Mika fan, was prancing beside her dad after the show.
“It was my first Desi concert ever, and I’d do it again here,” she told Central Desi.
As another concert-goer put it: You don’t always have to go to New York City to experience this energy. New Jersey has its own gems.
Navya Asopa is a 2025-26 reporting fellow with Central Desi and will soon work on producing video content for the Associated Press. She recently graduated from Columbia University with a master's in investigative journalism.
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