From being an emcee, a theatre artiste to a popular VJ and DJ, youth icon Nikhil Chinapa has donned several avatars in his career. Music, though, remains his first love.
He says the dance music scene in India is thriving and more importantly, it is diversifying into various sub-sets and genres.
“Where a decade ago, everything was clubbed into ‘Desi’ and ‘International’ music, we are now seeing the emergence of sub-genres like Deep house, Techno, Drum and Bass and Dubstep,” the DJ says, adding that even Bollywood is dominated by dance music and has been for a while now.
The typical remixes in Bollywood, Nikhil says, are nothing but house music layered over Indian lyrics and melodies.
Image courtesy: kooves.com
“It is great to see this blending of cultures and several artists like BREED, Nucleya and BLOT are bending the boundaries of what is considered to be the norm as far as music and club culture are concerned,” says Nikhil, who is also the co-founder of Submerge, one of India’s leading dance music brands.
The music enthusiast adds that the Indian dance music scene is starting to come through global ranks of artistes. Artistes like Arjun Vagale, Ash Roy, BREED and a few others have made their mark on the global circuit.
“That said, our domestic scene is stronger than ever. There’s a huge wave of new talent emerging and they’re not playing sets made up of Tomorrowland’s top 10. There is diversity, ingenuity and most importantly – originality in our domestic scene,” says the 41-year-old, who is credited to be the pioneer of Electronic Dance Music in India.
For him, music is the catalyst that has built the community he loves.
“It’s what brings us together for those fleeting moments on dance floors across the world, as one singular, heaving, smiling mass of humanity. It makes us humane, connects us across cultures and borders; it shows us that love knows no boundaries and that true love can often be found in the beat of a bass drum,” says the ariste, who is also a popular MTV host and had launched his own exclusive line of menswear, inspired by the spirit of dance music, in collaboration with online fashion brand Koovs.com, last year.
Ask him about his new music projects and the enthusiastic DJ is quick with his reply, “Ask me no secrets and I’ll tell you no lies. But I will just say I have got some serious music planned for the upcoming Vh1 Supersonic fest in Goa.”
