Malaya Bakshi Is Reimagining Gujarati Music With O5IVE, Bringing Gujarati Soul to a Global Sound

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], October 2: Gujarati music has always had a strong cultural identity, but its contemporary sound has struggled to keep pace with the evolving tastes of a younger generation. For Malaya Bakshi, founder of O5IVE, that gap represents not a problem, but an opportunity to rethink what Gujarati music can be.

O5IVE was born out of two gaps that Bakshi identified in the ecosystem: taste and structure. While young Gujarati audiences consume Hindi, English, Punjabi, Korean and international music every day, Gujarati music has largely remained associated with familiar formats such as garba and devotional music. Bakshi believes the language has the cultural capital to go much further.

Before building O5IVE, Bakshi spoke to 114 Gujarati music listeners and cinema watchers, along with 50 artists. The feedback reinforced what she had already sensed. The appetite for contemporary Gujarati content was enormous, but the supply was dated.

The second gap was structural. Gujarati artists have had limited access to independent labels, publishing systems, royalties and sustainable career opportunities within their own language. As a result, many talented musicians eventually turn towards Hindi or English to pursue larger ambitions. O5IVE aims to address both sides of the equation by changing the sound while simultaneously building the infrastructure required to help artists build long term careers.

Central to Bakshi’s vision is the philosophy of being “Gujarati at heart, global in sound.” For O5IVE, authenticity begins with the emotion, writing and cultural context of a song. The production, however, can draw inspiration from anywhere in the world. The objective is to create Gujarati music that can sit comfortably alongside international music on a playlist without compromising its identity.

That approach is evident in projects such as Swag Wali Shaadi, which brings the traditional Gujarati wedding practice of fataana into a Moombahton production. The humour, sarcasm and cultural context remain intact, while the contemporary production gives the tradition a completely new space. Similarly, Bhaju Bhaju retains its devotional core while incorporating trance influences.

For Bakshi, experimentation is therefore not about adding modern sounds for the sake of novelty. The culture has to remain the subject of the song, rather than becoming an aesthetic layer added to it.

She also sees enormous untapped potential in the everyday listening habits of Gujarati audiences. While there is plenty of music around celebrations and devotion, there is comparatively little Gujarati music for moments such as a drive home, a breakup, a workout or the quiet hours of the night. Traditional instruments including the ravan hattha, jodiya pava and bhungal also offer possibilities that remain largely unexplored in contemporary music. Even the Gujarati language itself, with its distinctive rhythm and natural affinity for wordplay, could lend itself to genres such as rap and hip hop.

But Bakshi believes good music alone is not enough. Discovery and consistency are equally important. Gujarati music needs stronger representation on streaming platforms and a sustained flow of quality releases that can build listening habits and attract audiences beyond Gujarat.

The ambition extends beyond music. O5IVE plans to build a strong catalogue, develop artists and establish sustainable publishing and royalty systems. Its debut musical feature film is also scheduled to release in theatres in November 2026, creating a larger ecosystem where music and cinema can feed into each other.

Ultimately, Bakshi’s vision is about bringing language and contemporary identity back into the same room. She wants young Gujaratis to be able to find music, films and popular culture in their own language that they genuinely want to listen to, watch and obsess over.

For O5IVE, the goal is not simply to make Gujarati music more modern. It is to make Gujarati music impossible to overlook.

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