“I wish the festival was called langur. It would be more relevant to India,” laughs Nikhil Chinapa. The DJ was at Intercontinental Chennai Mahabalipuram Resort to play at Marmoset, a beach fest named after a species of monkey native to South America.
Nikhil was one of the headliners at the event — along with Bullz Eye, Ash Roy and Ankytrixx. He played his signature progressive and deep house sounds. He’s been spinning music for almost two decades now. In addition, he’s also an actor, RJ, VJ, co-founder of Submerge (a dance music collective started in 2003) and festival director of Vh1 Supersonic. I caught up with Nikhil post our respective gigs.
What is the future of dance music in India?
The future of all forms of music in India is robust right now, largely with the Internet exploding and smartphones being sold by the dozen.
The bandwidth is increasing which means if you are sitting even in a small corner in any part of India, and you have an interest in Alaskan folk music, you can find it on the Internet.
It is a great time to be an artiste in India because it’s possible to set up a community around your music.
Tell us about your connection with Chennai.
In 1995, when I was in college I did a radio show that we recorded in Bangalore. It was called The Chennai Chill-out and played on FM in Chennai, from Monday to Friday.
Back in the day we didn’t have CDs, so we put it on something called a DAT (Digital Audio Tape) cassette and we would send it through a courier bus and it would get to Chennai and play the next day. Sometimes, something enormous would happen — for instance when Diana, Princess of Wales, passed away, we couldn’t mention it as the show had been recorded two days earlier and most people didn’t know that. So we had to ignore it and two days later come back on air and finally talk about it.
Even then nobody realised that the show was being recorded from out of Chennai. I had built a make believe world for my listeners. I used to tell people I’m broadcasting from my bedroom, sitting in my lungi with a cup of tea, my dog by my side and chicken biryani for dinner.
What kind of music do you enjoy playing?
The kind of music I enjoy playing is the kind of music I enjoy the most. Which means that sometimes my sets are a bit chaotic as I try and fit too many different styles and genres into one set. That may be a lot of fun for me but it sometimes messes with the flow. Generally speaking, I like to play music that puts a big smile on your face and makes you jump about.
Who are the international artistes you would like to bring to India?
Two years ago when I brought Swedish DJ Eric Prydz to India for the first time I felt like my job was done in electronic music.
I still sort of feel that way because Eric was someone we’d been chasing for a decade and his music has been a huge inspiration to both my wife Pearl and me.
The dance music scene that we’ve all created in India today is largely Pearl’s vision. It’s what she wanted to do in the early 2000’s. We spoke about it and started booking DJs. In fact she bagged the first contract to bring artistes down to India. Then she started focussing more on DJing while we built the community and agency around dance music.
So of all the artistes that are left, I think it would be really good to see British celebrity DJ Carl Cox come back to India. I brought him down to play in Goa in 2007.
What about Solomun?
Solomun (Bosnian-German DJ and music producer) is great, but if I had brought him to India six years ago, I’d be happier than if I brought him today. Back then his sound was more pure, and now I think he caters more to the champagne tables. It’s still a great sound. He is one of the pioneers in the slower forms of house music and deep house.
What is your advice for festival promoters?
Don’t get too big too soon. It is a small market. So, as you grow you need to educate audiences around you as well. Nobody is in a hurry. If you try and get there too soon, there’s a chance you will crash and burn.
I would hate to see that because we need more people creating more festivals and a much larger music scene for all of us here in India.
What is your take on the festivals-on-the-beach format?
We started off in a place called Zanzibar in Goa where we used to do the Submerge Beach Sessions. That was the blue print for what finally became Sunburn. So my heart and soul have always been in the beach festival format. It’s beautiful to see such events come up in Chennai.
Any advice for aspiring DJs?
There is no short cut to doing hard work. I know a lot of people want to go from playing in their bedrooms to playing in front of large audiences with smoke machines and CO2 cannons. It doesn’t work that way.
You’ve got to learn the art and the craft of DJing. Put in the long hours and stay focused. Its not about the hair gel, low cut top or throwing your hands in the air with the microphone.
And it certainly isn’t about jumping on consoles and waving a flag. It is about music — the beginning, the end and all the bits in the middle.
(The writer is a Chennai-based DJ who is a regular at clubs and the festival circuit. He plays melodic, groovy house and techno.)
