Ed Sheeran's +–=÷× tour (pronounced The Mathematics tour) is currently in its India leg, and the British pop star held a concert in Chennai on February 5, 2025 as a part of it. The Tamil crowd that gathered to see the UK singer perform, were treated to an opening performance by singer Jonita Gandhi, and she famously opened Ed's Chennai concert with the crowd popular Arabic Kuthu song.
Arabic Kuthu with lyrics by Tamil star actor Sivakarthikeyan, is an Anirudh Ravichander composed song. The song's male and female vocals are by Anirudh and Jonita Gandhi respectively, and it featured as a dance track on the Tamil film Beast (2022), produced by Sun Pictures, written and directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, and starring soon-to-be full time politician, 'Thalapathy' Vijay.
While Chennai Times had previously released a video glimpse of Jonita Gandhi's performance at the Ed Sheeran Chennai concert, in their latest interview with the singer, they quote her on the choice of a Tamil song being featured on an all English concert set-list. (AR Rahman was another surprise act at this concert and he performed a mash up of Urvasi Urvasi from the Tamil movie Kadhalan (1994) alongside Ed singing Shape of You).
"I was a little nervous because I wanted to sing my Tamil songs in Chennai. But I wasn’t sure whether the audience coming for an Ed Sheeran concert would want to hear that or if they would prefer only the English stuff.
But then I saw a reel where someone says, ‘I hope she sings Arrabic Kuthu’ and another person replies, ‘I don’t think she she will..', the video then cuts to me singing Arabic Kuthu and the crowd going crazy. So, even the audience was feeling what I was feeling.
Singer @jonitamusic got the crowd grooving with #ArabicKuthu, kicking of an unforgettable night in Chennai at #EdSheeran's concert! #JonitaGandhi #EdSheeranConcert pic.twitter.com/LFnqQ2KBSX
— Chennai Times (@ChennaiTimesTOI) February 6, 2025
We love fun songs like Arabic Kuthu and it didn’t matter to the crowd that they don’t belong in the same genre as Ed Sheeran songs. They come to have a good time and moments like these make me feel happy that people were there for me, too." - Jonita Gandhi to Chennai Times