HYDERABAD: After a decade of absence, one of India’s first DJs, Akbar Sami, is back in business and ready to rock the dance floors and your world with Jalwa Returns. In the city to promote his new album, which will include famous tracks from Amit Kumar, Zubeen Garg, Vaishali Samant and classics like Jalwa, Hum Kisise Kam Nahi, and Shaan se, Sami shared his opinions with Expresso about his new album, his sabbatical from the music scene and why he thinks people think ill of remixes. For more, read on…
Is it true that it was never your intention to be a DJ in the first place?
Well, yes. It was all an accident. I was a dance choreographer in a club and one day the DJ didn’t turn up and the manager begged me to get onto the console, to prevent the club from shutting its doors. Once I was there I just loved the feeling and decided to take it up as my profession.
So now that this chance decision has turned into a success story how does it feel?
I started out when there was no media, no MTV or Channel V to give me a boost. So all I can say is that I never got it as easy as these new-generation DJ’s and I have gifted them a tradition, which they have happily built on.
Now about music…do you think that DJ-ing is an art by itself ?
Yes, of course it is. DJ-ing is not what it seems like from outside.
It takes a lot to be a good DJ. There should be love for music, a sense of rhythm and a complete understanding of what the audience wants. Being a DJ you are the one who has to make it a night to remember. So the way you mix the music and feed the audience makes it an art it itself.
Some of the recent remixes end up sounding cluttered and like noise. Why do you think that is? Where are these new DJ’s going wrong?
Well that is exactly what I was talking about…all this new DJs are busy promoting themselves, they do not even know the basics of DJ-ing. They are picking up songs and pretending to make good remixes out of them. But you can’t just take a random film track and put in western beats. You cannot suddenly say I want to remix the songs from Pakeezah and put rap into it. It is disrespectful. No wonder people think ill of the remix world.
You have remixed some of the most well known old songs from the Shammi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan era… what is it about these old songs that lends itself so well to getting remixed?
Those songs are fantastic. They have depth and complexity, which music nowadays lacks. So fusing them nicely with modern beats seems very interesting to me. But it’s not strictly about old or new music, which matters while remixing, it is actually the melody in them, which has to be brought out.
What do you think about the Indian music scene today?
I think the whole music industry is now revolving around remixes and as a result all the tracks are starting to sound similar to each other. Moreover most of the music being produced is blindly aping the West, and is losing its basic essence. It is really sad.
Jalwa rocked the dance floors all over the world…so tell us what can we expect from Jalwa Returns?
Jalwa is back after 10 years and if you have heard Jalwa and Jalwa 2 you will know what to expect from Jalwa Returns- true good music, with the melody intact and a 2008 sound.
You know, I moved away from the remix scene because it was filled with rubbish, but wherever I traveled they told me that they were bored of the rubbish music being played over and over again. They asked me when I was going to come up with a fresh new album. So I decided to take up the challenge and return to the Industry in collaboration with Times Music, who launched my previous albums… and Jalwa Returns was born.
So what kind of music does DJ Sami personally like?
Hmm. If you mean Western music then I am a Funk, Soul and Jazz kind of a person. I love listening to Ray Charles.
But if you are asking me about Indian music, it is ghazals, qawalis and generally puraane gaane, which are to my taste.
What plans after Jalwa Returns?
I am composing the music for a film called Fast Forward and this will be my first fullfledged film album with nine tracks. So lets see how that goes.
madhurima@epmltd.com