Jungle Call

BASSFoundation will revive the Junglist Movement at their gig in the city to celebrate their fourth anniversary.

BASSFoundation will revive the Junglist Movement at their gig in the city to celebrate their fourth anniversary.

A reggae piece starts in a thick Jamaican accent and one can catch phrases such as sound boy,New Delhi junglist,full effect and give me the rhythm. This is followed by a slow rap that ends in rhymes,with a jazz background mixed with heavy electronic sounds and a jungle drum beat. Even a trained ear would take some time to understand the track Soundboy Zindabad by the BASSFoundation. With an interesting mix of drum and bass,dubstep,jungle,jazz,reggae,electronic and dance hall,the BASSFoundation started experimenting with what is best described as the Junglist Movement in 2009.

Two members of the collective DJ Maarten Klien aka Big Daddy Klein and Taru Dalmia aka Delhi Sultanate will celebrate their fourth anniversary with a gig at High Spirits,Koregaon Park,on March 3. Dalmia met Klein at a music festival in Delhi in 2008,while Klien met their third band member,Ed Anderson aka Praxis,at a music festival in London in 2009. Their mutual love for experimental sounds of reggae,dubstep,jungle and dancehall helped them connect on a deeper level,and they jammed together. That brought about the idea of forming a collective.

The first-of-its-kind to start a regular drum and bass night in Delhi,the collective performed to packed houses at various venues. Four years ago,clubs and pubs in Delhi played only commercial music. In fact,music wasnt even a priority then. They only focused on social events that would make the place more popular with the crowd. This is why we decided to set up BASSFoundation and play the kind of music that we wanted to, says Dalmia.

As the clubs changed their attitude towards music,collectives such as BASSFoundation were allowed more space for experimentation. When we started off,we raised eyebrows in the music circuit. Gradually,the audience opened up their mind to new sounds and accepted new genres and sub-genres, says Dalmia. He adds that they were the ones to introduce Delhiites to the Junglist Movement sub-genre,nine years after it started in the UK.

Their uncompromising attitude is evident in their lyrics too. Our songs are politically conscious and reflect the non-commercial ethos of the crew, says Dalmia,who is influenced by Rasta music. In 2012,they were invited to play at Outlook Festival in Croatia one of the biggest music festivals of Asia.

Over the years,they have also collaborated with artistes such as Ant TC1 (Dispatch Recordings),Alix Perez (Shogun Audio),Nymfo (Critical),EBK (Renegade Hardware),Shiva Soundsystem,REDS,Klute (Commercial Suicide),Kush Arora,Subatomic Sound System,Nucleya,B.R.E.E.D,Vachan Chinnappa,Ska Vengers,Reggae Rajahs,Bay Beat Collective,Osmani Soundz (Anokha,Nasha Records) and Sub Swara,among others.

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The gig will be held at High Spirits,Koregaon Park,on March 3,2 pm.

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