Would you believe it if someone told you that a 37-year-old track by a German electronic music band has been the theme song of a theatre in mid-town Kochi for more than a decade? This is just one of the instances that shows that Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is everywhere. From deep lounge playing in the washrooms of a star hotel to psychedelic trance booming from auto rickshaws in Fort Kochi, this has not been an overnight phenomenon. It is the result of over 15 years of hard work and dedication by the city’s EDM enthusiasts and DJs, who etched it into the fabric of Kochi’s clubbing scene. And despite negative press and a recent crackdown on an EDM party at a big hotel, DJs believe that change is on the cards and the party is only just getting started.
Ram Nair’s career graph sky-rocketed after winning the national-level Kingfisher Ultra Soul Flyp DJ competition in 2010. It gave him the opportunity to travel across the nation and rock dance floors at festivals like Go Madras and Springzouk, and play at clubs across cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Puducherry. As the resident DJ at Skygrill Lounge, Nair knows he plays an important role in rebuilding the scene. The many years he spent as a clubber/promoter has left him with a vast pool of experiences to draw from. He intends to implement it by endorsing good music from across the EDM spectrum - from deep progressive house to uplifting trance. He’s working closely with the property’s management to deliver a quality clubbing experience to patrons. “In the past decade, every major city in India has dealt with similar issues that affected its night life. Now is the time that Kochi’s clubbers need to come together as a community and start frequenting such events. I believe such situations are cyclical in nature,” he says. “Change is already on the horizon,” he adds, explaining that young, affluent and energetic party people are hitting the dance floor, giving an impetus to the clubbing scene.
DJ-turned-actor Sekhar Menon was introduced to EDM in the early 90s. After stimulating conversations about the art of mixing with Kerala’s pioneering DJs like Johnson, Suraj, Jakes and Vishnu, who used to frequent the pool parlour where he worked, Menon decided to take a shot at the turntables, and has never looked back. “When I landed residency at Kerala’s first pub, Formula 1 (circa 2000), I started experimenting with four-to-the-floor (a rhythm pattern) funky house and filter house music,” he explains. Though people didn’t under-stand house music back then-because these were sounds they had never heard before-Menon decided to keep pushing the boundaries and dug into online record stores like Juno, to find fresh EDM mixes. “These special tracks are what DJs refer to as tools,” he explains, adding how they helped him create seamless mixes, to and from musical genres like reggae, disco and hip-hop. The growing party crowd came back for more of this blend of popular music and EDM. “Now when friends and fans tell me that I was the one responsible for introducing electronic music into the city’s clubbing circuit, I feel proud,” adds Menon, who is a regular feature on the line-up at Bangalore’s Storm Festival.
An unsung hero of the city’s clubbing scene, DJ Nash (hardly ever known by his real name, Anish Mathew) has been the resident at various establish-ments in his nine-year professional career, which start-ed at club Tandav. “When (music producer) Shree Shankar, Sekhar Menon and I started Merchants of Groove (a group that produced music) three years ago, we just wanted to make good EDM. So you can imagine our surprise when we got an opportunity to officially remix a soundtrack called Aanakallan, created by Malayalam rock legends Avial, for the movie Salt n’ Pepper,” Nash begins. He recently won a global DJ mix competition and got access to a three-month online EDM production course from Point Blank, a London-based institute and one of the best EDM schools in the world. “Until a few months ago, everything was going great-the dance floor was opening up to genres like Dubstep and Trip-hop, we had big gigs lined up and promoters were planning to bring in international artistes. But then the liquor ban happened and clubs shut down for a couple of months,” he shares. Nowadays, whenever Nash finds time between gigs, he is busy studying how to evolve his soulful house music-infused DJ set, into a live electronic act.
A veteran of Kochi’s clubbing scene and the official ambassador for Denon DJ in India, Savio Mendez has seen it all. He strongly believes in the city’s appetite for music-the most popular genre being house-though he rues the recent dry spell, a ripple effect of the liquor ban. “By the time the authorities repealed the liquor laws, late in December, it was too late for gigs to be signed and artistes to be brought in,” says the DJ. His biggest contribution to the EDM scene is God’s Own Music Festival, Kerala’s first ever EDM festival. The second edition was held at Bolgatty Palace last April and its line-up reflected Savio’s interest in nurturing local talent. “I also draw inspiration from festivals like Tomorrowland and try to bring the culture (of taking EDM to the masses) here,” he shares. “The first edition of our beach carnival in Fort Kochi, in 2013, had 15,000 party goers. This year, on January 1, there were 55,000 people gyrating to the sounds of my live EDM act.”
“I was a latecomer to the EDM scene,” John recalls, adding that he made the transition from grooving on the dance floor to creating the perfect groove on the turntables, in just three short years. He believes that his rise within the ranks was due to the popularity of his internet radio shows-In a Mind Place, Civilization of Sounds and Odyssey-on which he promotes quality sounds from deep house to melodic techno and his own signature style of merging electronica and indie dance music. He explains that no other DJ in the city has used online radio stations-like Frisky Radio (NY), Afterhours FM (SFO), Powermixfm Radio (UK)-as platforms to promote electronic music via mix shows. When asked about the general public’s misconceptions about EDM parties, John answers, “The media’s portrayal of the dance music community has been very misleading.” He elaborates, “I urge people to set aside their prejudiced views and try visiting a club with an open mind. It’s a safe environment where you can socialise and unwind while listening to some great music.”
Greg Tomaz was the very first music producer from Kerala to have internationally released an EP, The Light, with the established German record label, Mistique Digital. With over eight years of experience as a DJ, he has played alongside international artists/DJs like Liquid Soul (Switzerland), Alexey Sonar (Russia), Sebastian Brandt (Sweden) at venues across the state and beyond. “I think I’m in love with Kochi. Nothing beats the support you receive from the people who love this music, when you play here. The crowds have always been stunning and the energy they bring to the dance floor is indescribably beautiful,” he says. Tomaz quickly followed up the success of The Light with multiple, critically-acclaimed releases with another label called Balkan Connection, a South American record company renowned for its excellent deep progressive house music releases. “The future is bright,” claims Tomaz, explaining that a vast majority of Kochi’s EDM enthusiasts are optimistic about the future, as a revolution is afoot. “DJs are getting booked to play at EDM events all over Kerala and have noticed that there are small pockets of passionate dance music lovers nestled in places like Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Calicut and Varkala. Also, almost every college festival now hosts an EDM night. DJs have stopped behaving like jukeboxes, choosing instead to entertain the crowd by promoting great EDM through their sets. The younger generation are also venturing deeper into sub genres of dance music and are developing a new sense of appreciation for it,” he concludes.