For most of human history, pretty much everyone formed families with people who lived within walking distance of where they lived. But over the millennia, advances in transportation, communication and technology have shrunk our world into a global neighborhood. Today it’s not at all unusual for people from countries thousands of miles away from each other to marry, blending not only families but diverse cultures and traditions as well.
How those cultures and traditions come together can be interesting, though. Cultural clashes occasionally do happen and figuring out how to honor everyone’s background when bringing together two families from vastly different places can be a challenge.
One couple came up with an utterly delightful way to do just that at their Scottish-Indian wedding, and it has everyone bopping along.
In some ways, Scotland and India are worlds apart. One is known for its cool, moist weather while the other contains 10 of the 15 hottest places on Earth. One is joked about for having bland food while the other’s cuisine has been studied to figure out what makes it so flavorful. One is part of an island with a smaller population than New York City, while the other takes up a vast stretch of a continent and holds around one-seventh of the world’s people. From clothing to food to religious traditions to melanin levels, Scotland and India are two very different countries.
That doesn’t mean they don’t make a fabulous combo, though. Wait till you hear the musical mashup that brought this Indian groom and Scottish-Indian bride into their reception:
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If anything can bring people together instantaneously, it’s music. Who knew that a bagpipe (traditional Scottish wind instrument) song and dhol (traditional Indian drum) would blend so well together?
The video was shared by Arun Bhopal, brother of the bride, on TikTok. People in the comments have shared how much they love how the musical traditions complemented each other.
“Absolutely LOVE this, two cultures coming together and appreciating each other,” wrote one person.
“This combo, wow…didn’t realize how much it works together,” wrote another.
Several people said they wished they could get the song on Spotify, and Bhopal shared that it sounded even better in person. We can only imagine.
What a joyful celebration of two cultures coming together in love. More of these kinds of traditional musical mashups, please.