Most of us agree some of the best days of our lives are our birthdays. While we get the customary surprises, cakes and gifts (and the unfortunate birthday bumps), some special ones, like DJ Shiva Manvi, throw a birthday bash for all.
Performing live at blueFROG this Saturday, Shiva will blow the candles with a special dance night of Future House music.
Accepting the birthday greetings, Shiva says that he has never thrown a birthday bash before because he was scared people wouldn’t come. “Now, I’m confident we may have a full house,” he beams adding: “Moreover, we’ve all grown up watching movies where somebody at the club would say ‘The drink’s on me!’. I’ve always wanted to try it out and this time the drinks are really on me for anybody coming in to the show!”
There will be a three-hour, one-time performance by the young show runner who turned 23 this week. “‘Back To The Future’ is special. Everyone talks about the sound of the future. But that is the fun part about music – you never know where its heading. EDM was big a couple of years ago. This is the year of pop music. That’s the magic of music. It never dies. There will always be an audience for every kind of music. Hence, my show is not genre-bound. I even pull out old disco classics and sounds that people may have never heard before. After all, it is the people who decide what they want to hear in the future. Apart from the music, there is so much more happening, including cool concepts such as 3D visuals and experiences. It is not just a DJ you are going to watch. You are witnessing an act; a show.”
Shiva adds that his set is all about energy and good vibes. “DJing for me is about storytelling. I love to tell a story with music and get people glued to the dance floor through their emotions. At the end of it, the message I put out through my music is ‘Peace, Love and Unity’, because that makes the world a better place.”
Recalling where it all started, Shiva says, “Bear with me on this since it’s an emotional part of my life. I was always hooked on to music as a kid. Radio was a big thing. What my dad did, and I still thank him for doing that, is get me a Walkman with a recorder. So I bought empty tapes and whenever a song I liked came on the radio, I would hush everyone in the room, stand right next to the speaker and record it. I would play the song over and over till it grew on me. Although still in high school, I would sneak into night clubs just to see what the music was like. It was the hip-hop boom back then and I caught my first glimpse of a DJ in one of those shows. What amazed me was how that one person could control the emotions of everyone in the room. He could make you happy, sad and even take you on a journey. That is when I decided this is what I wanted to do. I even went on to drop out of engineering to pursue music!”
Pointing out that the journey had its ups and downs, Shiva says that even when he was trying to fit in, his only real teacher was YouTube. “I learnt how to DJ online. After watching a video at home, I would quickly head to a friend’s night club and press the buttons on the console from memory to see if I had learnt right.”
On the road ahead, Shiva says he’s currently focussing on producing and making music of his own. “That’s what sets you apart. The taste of accomplishment is real when some kid in some part of Africa knows your song. That is when you know you’ve made it!”
On a packed schedule, Shiva confesses there’s no place like home. “I receive the most love in Bengaluru. It has the most musically-educated audience in the entire country. It is amazing that I live in a city that has so many musical influences and where no two gigs are the same.” He also admits it is a good time in the country for DJs. “There are so many of them coming up and plenty of DJ schools. But there is also lot of competition. Believe in yourself and work hard. Don’t do it because it is cool. You won’t stand out. This is a culture and you must embrace it if you want to succeed.”
As a parting note, Shiva describes his music as funky, unique and progressive. “It traverses all the genres. It is a journey and you can only travel in it if you come experience it.”
Celebrate with Shiva at Back To The Future: Big Bad Birthday bash with support from DJ Chalk at blueFROG, Church Street, on March 18 from 7 pm onwards. Call 69999549.
