Kaushik Das, aka DJ ROOP, will be the only Indian to play at this year’s Tomorrowland

To be held on July 19-28, Das will play a set alongside music giants such as David Guetta, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Tiësto, and Armin van Buuren. He is the only Indian to play at the festival this year and the fifth Indian to do so. In the past, DJ Shaan, Lost Stories and Zaeden, Nucleya and Anish Sood have played at Tomorrowland. “It was my dream to play at Tomorrowland. There are several deserving candidates all over India but it is humbling that the festival believed in me,” says Das.

In the same breath, the artist is grateful to the students of his DJing class for the opportunity. Every Saturday, Das spends three to four hours teaching music to the children at the Tomorrowland Foundation Music & Arts School, which has been set up in partnership with the NGO Ek Tara Foundation. Here, young girls and women from nearby communities learn music, dance, art and theatre. “I am teaching DJing to the very first batch in that school and if those students hadn’t shown interest, people wouldn’t have noticed me,” says Das.

Kaushik Das with his students at the Tomorrowland Foundation Music & Arts School, which has been set up in partnership with the NGO Ektara FoundationDJ

The children belong to families of daily-wage earners and domestic workers living in Kolkata’s Park Circus. Despite their lack of exposure, their zeal to learn DJing is strong. “In many of these families, children don’t have access to career guidance. However, parents encourage their children to pursue DJing because they think they have nothing to lose. Some, who are in Class VIII and IX, tell me that they have convinced their parents that they want to pursue DJing in future,” says Das.

Growing up in a middle-class family, Das is aware of the pressures of pursuing an alternate career since being a professional DJ may not bring in the monies immediately. “My parents are happy I will perform at Tomorrowland but are always concerned about the financial prospects. They even told me that if my DJing would be as financially lucrative as a stable job in the future, they would be the first to ask me to make that switch. As a single child, I also understand the responsibilities I have towards my family and me. Therefore, I have given myself 10-12 years to see if my DJing will be able to support me financially,” he says.

In 2018, Das won the DJ competition at Alcheringa, the cultural fest of IIT-Guwahati and as the prize, received a scholarship from PartyMap Academy, a premier DJ academy. Soon, Das started performing at college functions and private shows. After Covid, he even performed at the Sunburn Campus show, Sunburn Goa 2022 and finally opened for DJ Martin Garrix in 2023 at the Sunburn Arena in Kolkata. These gigs led him to become a teacher at the Tomorrowland Foundation, which eventually got him a spot at the festival this year. “I always tell people that I try to make music. If they like it, I am thankful. At the festival, I plan on playing Indian music too, maybe some Rabindrasangeet. I will also wear traditional Indian attire at my set. I want to represent our culture,” says Das.