It may not be an art form, and many consider it a fad. Yet, one of the our poshest performance venues will throw its doors open to an EDM fest later this month (and, yes, there will be alcohol)
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Standing on the edge of Nariman Point, the National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPA) is where Mumbaikars head to in the formal best — a designer handloom sari or the best-fitted suit — to sit straight up in a chair and enjoy a performance by some of the best in the world. It's where we have been enthralled by conductors right from Zubin Mehta and Zane Dalal to Yuri Simonov lead the Symphony Orchestra of India.
Illustration: Uday Mohite
It's where the likes of Birju Maharaj, Vilayat Khan, MS Subbulakshmi, Kelucharan Mohapatra and Astad Deboo have performed to packed audiences. But, the nearly five-decade-old institution has a trick up its sleeve. And, a radical one at that. The SoBo venue is getting ready to host its first-ever electronic dance music festival. The two-day festival, held over August 27 and 28, will have DJ Anish Sood and Sahej Bakshi, aka Dualist Inquiry, wooing, what NCPA hopes will be a new crowd.
A new experiment
In its monthly newsletter On Stage, an article by Kenneth Lobo discussing the coming-of-age of EDM in India mentions that "six of the world's top 10 DJs were in India in December 2015. Dmitri Vegas & Like Mike, Hardwell, Martin Garrix, Tiesto, David Guetta and Afrojack toured eight Indian cities between them, playing three festivals with a combined crowd attendees of 2,00,000 fans."
The 267-seater Experimental Theatre will be turned into an only-standing space
For NCPA, cashing in on this crowd might be essential to stay relevant in a new and ever-evolving performance milieu.
Farrahnaz Irani, senior manager, programmes (western music), said that the festival could be natural progression for the NCPA whose goal it has always been to preserve and promote art and culture in India, which is not necessarily restricted to traditional forms. "Our aim was to reach out to younger audiences and, after seeing how electronic music is taking the world by storm we thought who better than Sahej and Anish, who have such diverse styles of playing, along with a huge fan base, to start this with. It was a perfect fit," she says.
Nikhil Chinapa
Accommodating the new
Even if the crowd and music are sorted, how will a music festival, associated with alcohol, outdoor venues fit into the "hallowed halls" of the NCPA, when the interval snack is coffee and cocktail sandwiches and doors are sealed shut once the performance starts? But, Irani has the logistics figured out. The festival will be held at Experimental Theatre, which is right next to the Sunken garden. Having hosted plays, theatre screenings in the past, the 267-seater venue is known for its acoustics. Irani says, "Since this is going to be an EDM concert, we have done two things to make the theatre conducive to the art form — the entire flooring of the Experimental Theatre has been upgraded, and all the seats from the theatre will be removed." So, all of you who turn up can dance. In another first, the venue will also serve alcohol. For a ticket price of Rs 1,000 + taxes, per day, it's almost a steal.
Tushar Borse
A necessary respite
In a city where live music venues are dwindling, with popular Lower Parel venue, blueFROG downing its shutters this month, the NCPA experiment may be what the city needs. Nikhil Chinapa, the pioneer of EDM festivals in India and the man who first co-founded Sunburn and then later the Supersonic festival, warns that some people might be outraged, however.
Khushi Hegde
"If some of your readers are outraged about a mainly classical venue turning into an electronica venue, I would nudge them towards a YouTube video of electronic artist David August playing the most wonderful set accompanied by the Deutsches Symphonie Orchestra in Berlin." Chinapa goes on to compare the development to him liking vinyl music but tiring of telling people who harp about it being amazing, as it's not about the medium you play it on, but the music itself. "I would also love to see abandoned warehouses, college gymnasiums, and the countless stadiums we have put to use as venues after sunset. I am not sure we are ready to turn places of worship into clubs, as has been done in many parts of the world, but I think it's interesting to juxtapose something that's 100 years old with something contemporary."
Farzana Ashraf
It could be the most interesting juxtaposition that Mumbai could hope for. An older, mature, well-heeled crowd could stand next to a Bandra hipster who can't make sense of music that you have to sit down and listen to.
NCPA has also picked two of the country's leading DJs, known for their groovy styles, to headline. Sood, who has played at all major festivals across India, and has played alongside international artistes such as David Guetta and Tiesto, will be playing on the second day. The Goan admits to have never stepped into NCPA but says he has heard it's a mecca for classical music in the city.
The DJ, who will play for 90 minutes, says that though he is hoping a younger crowd with turn up, he also wishes that NCPA members will also make their presence felt. "It will be an honour to perform there. There's definitely a lack of performance driven spaces in Mumbai. A lot of clubs and bars are not designed with performers in mind and that usually means they have poor acoustics and very little flexibility. But I don't think the NCPA has that problem." Others agree.
Sai Subramanian, aka DJ Psy Inertia, who has been playing in the city for a decade now says it's good to see non-contemporary venues taking up newer genres of music. "That's the way the world is working now. Music festivals happen at the weirdest of places — sometimes your console is set up at the end of a cliff."
Anuraag Chadha, aka DJ Madoc, who is the resident DJ at spots like Li Bai and Exo, says the only way a festival like this would work was if it kept its novelty factor intact. "EDM is saturated now, but if they build a hype around it, people will come."
That's what the fans say as well. Most EDM enthusiasts mid-day spoke to were excited about a new venue opening up in the city, especially one with the technical expertise that the NCPA will provide. It would then seem that NCPA has a winner on their hands. If done right, it could become the new music festival in town to watch your calendars for.
But, as Chinapa points out, "What would be wonderful is that if these places were curated by artists and people connected with the scene."
But, does NCPA stand to lose its loyalists with this new experiment? Irani thinks not. She says, "We don't feel our audience is conservative. Their foremost love is the love of culture and the performing arts so we feel that when we try something new we always have their backing and support." Let the music play, we say.
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