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Finding their own tune

DJs Tony Da Fish Kipper and Anna Kiss surely have one-off names and they try to inject similar individualism in their music

PHOTO: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.

ULTIMATE AIM Anna and Tony aspire to get their signature sound as they grow

DJs are often identified with wacky nicknames and two with such aliases are rocking clubbers in the city at the Castle Loud parties. DJs Tony Da Fish Kipper and Anna Kiss are names partygoers in the city will remember for a long time. Tony is just called Fish because his last name, Kipper, stands for salted and smoked salmon or herring. And Anna Kiss is a play on `anarchist'.

Tony is from South Africa where he became a club DJ after starting out in radio and Anna also followed a similar path. "When I left school I started out with a community radio station and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had a funny personality and they appreciated that. As I grew older, I started clubbing and since I was in a lot of sports (athletics), moving to clubbing was a big change. I haven't left radio but I want to find a more permanent place in it. You're lifespan as a DJ is very short," says Tony.

While Tony plays a variety of genres in his sets, with emphasis on commercial dance, Anna is a specialist in garage and house genres.

"I wanted to be a radio DJ. I used to play rock and grunge. My boyfriend taught me a lot more and in 2000 I decided to go for it. I left radio and the U.K. six years ago. I play both house and garage. I first bought house record and then U.K. garage records. I try to push garage but it is not as worldwide as house. I like the two because I can play both together. I am fussy about my music but I don't like to label it," Anna says.

Anna hails from the United Kingdom, which is famous for its pub and club culture but Tony is from a country that doesn't exactly boast the same traditions.

"It's taken a long time but we (South Africa) are still behind the U.K. and the U.S. We are catching up. We can pull 1,500 to 1,800 people to small venues and at beach parties you are looking at a good 15,000 people turning up. But India is still trying to grasp where we were 20 years ago," he says.

Familiar sounds

The duo performed at Delhi at the Castle Loud parties before coming to Bangalore and they find that crowds there are very different from here, as they prefer music that they already know.

"Two different types of people live in the same country. Delhi was interesting, a big learning curve. It is mixed feelings on how they accepted what we played. We played at places, which play rock, so it was hard to play house there. They like their local music. Delhiites know what they want, how they want it and whom they want it by. They are decided on what to listen to. DJs are there to introduce new music, not play what you hear on radio."

They further go on to say that clubbing and DJing are all about who is going to the latest tracks, the quickest.

"We are always in a race to see who is playing the newest music. Anything from a dance point of view that has hit radio or television has probably come through a DJ, somewhere along the line."

And Tony adds that trends in club music are changing for the better now. "Raves started as a front business for drugs. It was an easy way to distribute drugs. With changing times and with alcohol being more accessible, the music changed. The association of music with drugs has come down. That is why trance is dying, wherever you found a trance DJ, you would find drugs."

Anna is from a rapidly growing pool of female DJs. Initially regarded as a male bastion, more and more women are taking to it, even in India. But Anna says that female DJs are treated differently.

"It's different from being a guy. The producers see your feminine side and not a DJ. It is like you are a different breed from a male DJ. But is good in one way because I get a lot of bookings because people want to see a female name in the line-up. But overall it is a level playing field between men and women, but it might be harder in a place where there are no female DJs."

Every DJ's ultimate aim is to have that signature sound. But as Tony and Anna have discovered till now it is difficult to discover your own sound and then making others like it.

"We like to compose our music, but getting it across is a difficult thing. When we travel to countries like the U.A.E. and India, they usually want to hear what they know. I always try to inject my own music, even if it is just one song at the end. I don't really care if anyone likes it or not. It's a risky thing to do as you could clear the floor," says Anna, while Tony adds: "The more you tour, the more your song will develop into something. You will have a picture in your mind that this is the sound I am trying to create. And it grows."

ANAND SANKAR

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