Pratik Ghosh meets the members of a city-based music collective thats giving a much-needed platform to showcase the talents of DJs, VJs and budding rock stars.
A quaint tea shop in Mahalaxmi doubled as the classroom for some hardcore music lessons of the electronic variety. Ideally, the venue should have been a nightclub with head-spinning tracks blaring in the background, but the founder-fathers - Pramod Sippy, Sudeip Nair and Kenneth Lobo - of Bombay Elektrik Project, a platform to showcase the talents of DJs, budding rockstars and visual jockeys, preferred cutting-chai to cutting-edge ambience. The word Elektrik sums up the groups state of being - its charged up, dynamic, living and breathing electronic music.
Since music inevitably gives away the personality of the listener and the practitioner, a brief description of the trio - all in their late 20s - wouldnt be misplaced here: Sippy with a drummer-like figure and a smile of a romantic hero is already an established DJ specialising in house music; Nair with nape-kissing hair and eloquent eyes is a visual jockey in the making, and Kenneth Lobo characterised by a sharp nose, pointed chin and a goatee is the wordsmith of the group with an irreverent take on life.
Theirs was a friendship made in St Xaviers College nine years ago and nurtured by music. That was the time when they accompanied Sippy to his gigs. Sippy was striking out, learning the tricks on the turntable. The trio spent endless nights surrounded by struggling DJs, listening to tales of frustration. But since then, DJs emerged from anonymity and won some recognition as full-fledged musicians.
They have now gained status as captains of night-life, steering crowds to the dance floor. So the time was indeed ripe for the founding of Bombay Elektrik. "It was in May this year while we were driving down to a friends place that we thought of a collective for musicians," says Nair. Its been just four months but the group has already kicked up a storm, courtesy their Facebook profiles which drew the attention of music lovers from all over the country and some word-of-mouth publicity.
"We dabble in talent spotting, artist management, venue residency (deciding on the music to be played at nightclubs and lounge bars) and getting international DJs to play in India," said Lobo. They already have a bank of 34 DJs, 10 rock bands
and three visual jockeys, including Nair, who are waiting to burst onto the music scene and the nightclub culture. A couple of them have already created mild tremors. "Jennifer, possibly the only girl DJ in this otherwise male bastion, can be spotted at a Hyderabad club.
Arnold and Regnal are talented music producers-cum-DJs popping up at different venues in the city," said Sippy, who has already played at several nightclubs and lounge bars all over the country.
Last month, the group got together five rock bands to play at a 10-day fest at Mumbai Times Cafe in Bandra. A couple of gigs followed at the launch of a music store in Pune providing the stage for the rookies.
Bombay Elektrik gets by from the "kickbacks" they get by promoting artists. Last Friday, Sippy was pitted against Arjun from a Delhi-based rival gang Jalebi Cartel in a three-hour long duel hosted at Blue Frog. "It was an attempt at injecting some novelty into nightclub music. Though we both played house music, our styles were remarkably different," Sippy said.
Bombay Elektrik has also conducted dance and music workshops at their alma mater St Xaviers College. "We are also looking at odd-ball collaborations like getting street performers to jam with DJs, graffiti artists spray-painting to music beats and Indian classical musicians teaming up with turn-table artists," said Lobo.
Thats an awesome lot for the guys gearing up to blast the nights away.