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DJs Yogi, Pearl and Nikhil Chinappa speak
on music, moral policing and more
`You have to take it beyond the music'
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I am still to find a direct relation between, crime, criminals, mafia and house music. — Nikhil
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NIKHIL CHINAPPA is the new DJ on the block. Barely a few months into the turntable business, he is already making waves with his Submerge `underground' revolution. Deejays Yogi and Pearl opine that VJ-turned-disc jockey Nikhil loves his new profession so much so that he carries his DJ console to his television shows these days. This was when the trio got together recently with their underground stacks, mostly clubby trance numbers that have not been released by any known record companies yet have the power to rock gigs.
After hosting a rocking party they decide to do the next best possible thing to spinning discs, a chinwag over a cup of coffee. Given that they have a lot in common apart from an awesome gift of gab and keen observation, read house music, turntables and the consoles, the exchange between them is bound to be replete with their one line takes on music scene in the country, the issue of moral police, on deejaying as a profession and more. Syeda Farida follows the wacky discussion. Nikhil: Being a DJ, correct me if I am wrong, is being part musician, part psychoanalyst, part mental and part crazy.
Pearl: Not necessarily crazy but crazy about your music.
Yogi: To be passionate about your music is very important.
Pearl: You need to have the right kind of attitude.
Nikhil: And you have to understand that joining a DJ school is probably three per cent of the work needed to be a deejay.Pearl: You will learn something though, buts that's not enough, just like any other talent. It's like....
They think deejaying is about looking good and standing there with music just coming out of the speakers. — Pearl
Nikhil: It's like joining Laxmi Driving School or whatever.. so that it may turn you into a Schumacher (laughs). As a youngster if you are getting into disc jockeying, you really need to know what the word commitment means — be it time, energy or committing to a song, and to a mix.
Yogi: I second that. Also it's something you go through to learn. You have to go through the disappointments. Only then you learn, trust me. When you go through all that and come out and still want to deejay, that's when you know it's your field.
Nikhil: We have all had bad gigs, disappointing gigs, gigs we wished we had never done. But those gigs made us who we are, DJs, today.
Pearl: It's a little different from a woman's point of view. I get a lot of girls who come up to me and say they want to deejay. They think it is about looking good and standing there with music just coming out of the speakers. I tell them, it requires lot of hard work behind the console.
Nikhil: Pearl, I actually met this couple at your club, who wanted to learn disc jockeying. I explained to them -- this is one song, this is another and this is how you line them. And this is how the equipment works. Beyond that, what you do with it is a lifetime's work.
Yogi: While trying to figure out what you will do with the equipment for the rest of your life there is definitely something we learn every night.Nikhil: And here is something funny that nobody is able to figure out as yet. Play 10 songs on a Friday night. On a Saturday night, when you play the same songs in the same order and same time to the same group, you would get a completely different response. And that's why you have to be psychoanalyst trying to figure out what music to play.
Yogi: I also feel that it would help if we had an FM station for the people in order to relate to the kind of music we play for the floor.
Pearl: I agree. Music channels on television play one kind of music. More than music they are more like film channels. It really helps if there is this one channel or even a radio station that airs at least two hours of pure western music.
Nikhil: The fact is we are in an environment that has no radio support, no magazine support, no prevalent pop culture and where there is no following for a particular kind of music. In ten songs, play five songs that they know really well, three songs you kind of think will work and two songs that you would like to educate them with. Pearl: You have to find a balance.
Yogi: But here, people walk into a disco at 11 p.m. and are made to pack up at midnight. As a DJ we can't put the message across in one hour. The nightlife is growing in Hyderabad, but there are time restrictions.
If youngsters are allowed to party in one place there will be lesser accidents outside. — Yogi
Pearl: There is always a huge moral police.
Nikhil: And everything is skewed against going out clubbing.
Pearl: Clubbing is definitely not about drugs; people are basically enjoying music and having a good time.
Nikhil: You know I am still to find a direct relation or even a lopsided relation between, crime, criminals, mafia and house music. People insist that if they shut the places, crime rates will go down.
Pearl: There are little things that affect pubbing image, such as people leaving pubs in a certain mind set and minor accidents on the road. Frankly, if they have to do alcohol they do it at home with a bunch of friends. They don't have to be at a club to be doing that really. Yogi: I feel if the youngsters are allowed to party in one place there will be lesser accidents outside.
Nikhil: Have a designated commercial area as in Dubai and Singapore where you are only allowed to set up clubs, bars and restaurants. Have time limits. Bars close at 12.30 and nightclubs at 3 o clock. You have this place set up so that you don't disturb the rest of the city, like Durgam...
I am still to find a direct relation between, crime, criminals, mafia and house music. — Nikhil
Yogi Durgam Cheruvu. (prompts)
Nikhil: Yes, set it up as an entertainment area. Check people leaving the place for drunken driving.
Pearl: You need to have one person on the wheel who is not drunk.
Nikhil: Or offer a very efficient taxi service as they do abroad. You can leave your vehicle in the parking, take a cab home and come back the next day and pick up you car.
Yogi: Amidst all this where do you think the music scene is going?
Pearl: It is progressing. It is changing. You have international acts coming here.
Nikhil: I think the club culture in India doesn't exist but is emerging. About the audience, I would say polarising. Even though the large chunk wants the same commercial music we are also getting another bunch of people who want to experiment with music, hear different sounds. And that number is growing.
Pearl: There's lot of new music and new DJs who want to play new sounds beyond commercial.
Yogi: And a collective thinking that it is all about being happy, being positive, about bringing everyone together as a community and enjoying a form of music.
Nikhil: Now that's the passion I am talking about. We want to bring this music to an audience and say, `listen, this is so beautiful, look at the whole vibe around it'. You have to take it beyond the music. It helps to have DJs like Pearl who are attractive.
Pearl: Anything (laughs).
Nikhil: Who plays good music.
Yogi: Yes, who plays good music.
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