How has the music scene developed in India?
“Music has always been integral to our culture. We have some of the best singers and musicians in our country though very few might be relevant to the world at large and fewer might be able to crossover or think it necessary to do so in their careers. The strongest scene in India is music from the Indian film industry. It has roots in older Hindi film music which owes a lot of it’s essence to Indian Classical. There is also a healthy audience for rock, hip-hop, alternative… basically every kind of music that you can fathom. As for electronic music, it’s been a slowly growing style and has a very small chunk of the market. But once a big player in the market makes a move towards playing popular music targeting a mass audience, most others have no option but to follow.”
What about your parties?
“Well we started with a small party on the beach for fifteen people and we have now come to hosting our own home-grown festival for a few thousand people at the year end on the beaches of Goa called ‘Sunburn’ – all with the support of the Goa government. We have come this far in five or six years and there’s no telling what else is in store for India.It is indeed a very exciting time for everyone involved with this kind of music.”
Why did you choose house music over all the different genres?
“It was the music I had the best clubbing experiences with. I was fortunate to have heard some really good DJs and understood what House could do if it is played well and with a good flow. It was quite an experience for me coming from a place where DJs were treated like part of the furniture and paid to be jukeboxes.”
Tell me about the club scene there? Are there illegal parties or is it all above board?
“The club scene has been through quite a cycle here and unfortunately we’re on a bit of a downswing. The country is huge and every corner of it has it’s own culture and laws. There are cities where clubbing is allowed until the early hours and you can actually walk out into daylight and others where dancing is banned. Yes, you read that right.”
What are the licensing, alcohol and drugs laws like? What are the police attitudes to clubbing?
“There is zero tolerance to drugs across India. I’m not sure there is any country not fighting that battle though.Anyone wanting to set up a club or bar here has to be ready to deal with a seriously long licensing process. It’s easy to look at the police and blame them for closing down clubs early, but there is little they can do but enforce the laws that are already in place. Until the powers that be realise the importance of a healthy nightlife in a city, there’s little that we can do except maybe start our parties earlier! In Bangalore, clubs have to shut by 11.30 at night, we start our ‘Submerge Sunday Sessions’ at 6pm! It’s still a good five hours of clubbing – we just have to get our head around playing music and dancing so early in the evening. It’s not so bad once you’re indoors though. It could well be 3 in the morning!”
Would you need to be relatively affluent in India to be part of the club scene?
“It depends really on where you live. In a country where a very small percentage of the population lives in cities and towns, yes, I’d imagine you need to have quite a bit of disposable income to be clubbing week after week. The economy has been looking good for a while now, though clubbing is definitely not on top of anyone’s agenda. The country, rightfully so, is more concerned with the benefits of this growth trickling down to the people who need it the most. Though, with a country as vast as ours, it might be a painfully gradual process.”
Are there many female DJ’s in India?
“Not as many as there should be. This is not a profession girls take to easily, whether it’s due to family pressures or the instability of the profession. I do see a few girls experimenting with it and fighting the odds to stick it out. I can’t wait for the day no one blinks an eyelid when they see a woman behind the decks here.”
What attitudes did you have to overcome to become a successful DJ?
“Where do I start? I had to leave home since it wasn’t a profession for girls from decent families to do. I’ve had to shut my ears and close my eyes to a lot of comments, prejudice and cynicism and attitude – in fact at a recent residency, I had the wires of my amps and speakers broken before I was about to play, it didn’t phase me as much as it would have many years ago. But it’s all been worth it. My family, to start with, couldn’t understand what prompted this decision but once they realised I was serious and wanted to take the profession to another, more respectable level in India, they stood by me and have supported me since. In fact they come to some of my events now – more often than not, you’ll find my parents on the dancefloor.”
Tell us about ‘Submerge’
‘Submerge’ was an attempt at changing the scene for ourselves. Three friends – Nikhil Chinapa, Hermit Sethi and I were extremely discouraged about the clubbing scene here. We decided to host an event where we could play the music we loved with the few people who enjoyed it as much as we did. Luckily, we found some support in a club’s management who gave us a fixed fee and an off night at the club to do as we liked. Nikhil came up with the name Submerge since it was being held at a club called Rock Bottom, in the basement! It was an experiment and we had no idea that it would get such an amazing response. It became a regular night and has snowballed since into a countrywide clubbing community with events in different cities.
