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A different beat
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VJ Nikhil Chinnappa and DJ Lee Coffey came together to spread the underground rhythm
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UNDERGROUND MUSIC rocks shindigs globally, in its various avatars -- industrial, experimental, techno, ambient, gothic to name a few. "Underground music is stuff that is not necessarily popular. It is sensible music, for people into music. It can change from place to place.
It can be rather soulful in New York with R&B and Hispanic elements or hard and industrial in sound in Germany. The influences such as Latino, Portuguese or Hindi, come from different places. Overall, house is huge as underground form of music. One year it may be progressive and the other it may be funky," says DJ Lee Coffey from London. "We have just started as an underground group Submerge," adds VJ Nikhil Chinnapa as both took the city on a high-energy underground dance music rollercoaster at Submerge— the Smirnoff Underground party held at Durgam Cheruvu , along with VJ Anusha.
For once Kaliyon ka chaman and In your eyes did not feature in the stack as the duo unleashed music that folks in New York, Paris, Detroit, London and Amsterdam dance to including Dusk 2 dawn, the track doing No.1 on European charts, as also the house versions of George Michael and Madonna. The music had a Latino tilt with Arabian and bhangra sounds as well.
"I play house, not trance but funky. I started deejaying in late Eighties, after I left school. It was at that time when house genre exploded on the music scene," says Lee Coffey who has played at Ministry of Sound London, Mardi Gras at Sydney and Amsterdam, Propaganda in Moscow and Ibiza. And Ibiza is where the Indian underground Submerge wave started, upon a chance meeting Lee Coffey had with Nikhil Chinnapa.
A glib VJ who makes girls go berserk on MTV Select, with a list of pastimes that reads ski diving, white water rafting and trekking and clubbing, Nikhil Chinnapa now takes to disc jockeying and does a very good job at the turntables, scratching, mixing not forgetting picking his select tracks for the set.
"I am a house freak. In between my shoots I would club at Ibiza, that's where I heard Lee play. I came back to Mumbai and started Submerge in November, inaugurated by Lee. From playing to a crowd of 40 every Thursday night, now we have about 600 people in the age group 21-40 who come for the Submerge gigs. Today we have tied up with DJs across the country such as DJs Ivan, Pearl and others who come and present an underground session. We are taking Submerge and underground music to different cities. But the fact of the matter is 90 per cent still buy Hindi film music. People come to our gig and ask why aren't you playing Bally Sagoo when I say, please leave. Yes we like being a minority," says Nikhil.
Agrees Lee, "in Wembley I was playing to a 5000 crowd and alongside bhangra rap was happening. But there is a world of opportunities out there.
You can be an accountant or a lawyer, you can go and buy music and turntables and become a deejay," says Lee who in fact not just deejays but also produces music for disc jockeys around the world. His Ultra Vinyl Records label produces music that is "hybrid in its style and feel. It is house in genre but takes influences from Arabic to full-blown 70s disco music," he says. Back home Nikhil Chinnapa makes some underground music. "In India we don't have the radio support. Magazines and music are not freely available. I have started making underground music on CDs for friends.
A lot of disc jockeys take the easy way out and play popular songs. As a deejay you need to follow your passion. Else, don't be a disc jockey then," says Nikhil in his serious DJ avatar. Hope the coming days hold a lot of underground current, the best of dance music for one.
SYEDA FARIDA
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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