Electronic City

Around the end of the decade and the beginning of the ’90s,another genre of electronic music emerged in Goa and was eventually called Goa trance. A number of DJs from around the world picked up the genre,but the audience for electronic music in India continued to be restricted to a few pockets. In the late ’90s and more so the early 2000s,a handful of electronica acts began emerging in different parts of the country and the scene has only become bigger since. Today,some of the best-known musicians from the country belong to electronica,and some of the biggest electronica acts from around the world have played in India.

The reasons for this exponential growth can be attributed to a number of things. Gaurav Raina,one half of the band Midival Punditz,which began playing in 1997 and is one of the pioneers of electronic music in the country,says,“Initially,electronic music was perceived as alien because it comes out of a computer. Now,it’s being perceived as a genre of music.” He attributes this to the acceptance of the computer as a vital part of our lives.

Sahej Bakshi,better known as Dualist Inquiry,believes globalisation has been one of the factors. “I think it’s the choices of this generation that are contributing to the growth of the scene,” he says,“Everything is more globalised today,including the music scene.” Another factor,he says,is that creativity and originality are valued a great deal more today than a few years ago.

On the more technical front,Udyan Sagar,better known as DJ Nucleya,says that the rise of various sub-genres has also been an important contributing factor. “While,earlier,there were only a few styles of electronic music,today there are a number of sub-genres (dubstep,variations of house music including acid and progressive,variations of techno including minimal and hardcore and so on),” he says. There’s now a variety of different electronic music to choose from.

That electronic music has found its place in India is backed easily by the fact that there are a number of Indian electronica acts playing at some of the most important festivals around the world — DJ Nucleya has played at Glastonbury,UK,Bay Beat Collective and Reggae Rajahs at the Outlook Festival,Croatia,and Dualist Inquiry at the Great Escape Festival in Brighton,UK. Some of the biggest acts from around the world are choosing to play in India,too. This year and the last have seen a number of such performances. In December 2011,it was Avicii,in March this year David Guetta,in May Fatboy Slim and earlier this month,Afrojack and Steve Aoki. The last two months of the year will see gigs by Above and Beyond,Swedish House Mafia and Hardwell.

How much,then,have these big names contributed towards the trend in the country? “They definitely contribute to the scene because having these big names perform adds to the enthusiasm of the audience and also inspires a number of young musicians in the country to become DJs,” says Bakshi. Raina believes likewise and adds,“It’s important because people in India get to hear music that’s being played everywhere else in the world and the international acts get to see that the scene in India is at par with that across the world.”

Sagar adds that it is important to get different electronica acts to play in India and not just the big,commercial names,so as to familiarise the audience with the various sub-genres.

For the moment though,the genre in India is growing. “The scene is heading in a positive direction now and if it continues this way,the next couple of years will be very good for electronic music in India,” says Sagar.

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