Sunburn's six-year journey video not complete without DJ Nikhil

On Oct 9,  Sunburn — the journey, a video celebrating six years of the music fest was shared online. The move was received with flak from EDM music lovers who credit the success of Sunburn to Nikhil, and saw this as denying him due credit. First DJ Pearl took to twitter, and posted a series of tweets. This is what she had to say:

‘‘All this support. Written a thank you and deleted it many times. Strangely lost for words this morning. They’re just not adequate...together and prevent it. To fight against the system that threatens to destroy all that we have worked for together. While this is happening in our own backyard. We are in the midst of it ourselves and don’t realise that. This is our only chance to stand. We discuss the explosion of ‘EDM’ in the States. We read about big corporations buying out smaller players like they were commodities. Stories that even their own closest family are not privy to. I feel like I have spoken to each one of you individually today. Someday you will know the real story and the reasons. That time will come. rarely accompany this intrusion.

This video was the proverbial last straw. I’m sorry I couldn’t hold my silence anymore. We find ourselves in a corner today. After a game of six years. Corporate intrusion into music is inevitable.
Unfortunately, business ethics.  I could go on with horrific stories and instances. Suffice to say, this was never a business to us. We never needed them. now. No one speaks of all the relationships with artists Nikhil brought to them. Relationships he and Submerge had built for years. I still remember Aman Anand coming home for a meeting with Nikhil. He and Nikhil are the ones who started this talk. No one speaks of Aman. Yes, you should be.

Every time you stand in front of thousands of people and spray the champagne, he’s the man you should thank. I was asked ... ‘should we be grateful to him forever?’ Is an empire enough? An empire you build on the back of every djs work? On Nikhil’s work. I was told there’s too much money in this. Yes, today there is. But where is the line you draw for yourself? How much money is enough? Living in fear of harm to you and your loved ones is not living at all. I was not given a second chance at life to live that way. I have been held back from speaking. But I really don’t care now what happens. They’ve done enough. They can orchestrate what they want..

The Submerge part of it, I will not say, not now. But I’m sure you will be able to put the pieces together. Monitored for the message he was sending out about his own creation. Messages were sent to him to get off stage. He was cut out of all promotions, videos, articles. His facebook and twitter was monitored. to them. He carried on till he was told in the past few years to get off the mic, to get off stage. He knew those crowds needed to be led by the hand. That they would receive the music and the artist better if he spoke to them. Really spoke. He ran from stage to stage, screaming on the mic, like only he can to make every stage a success, every artist’s set a success. He cut his set out one year to accommodate Ankytrixx. I was witness to this.

Today people say they don’t want to choose sides and they shouldn’t have to, but I ask, would that side have existed if it wasn’t for Nikhil. artists in year one. He handed over the curation of stages to many djs because he had faith in them. accomodate Vachan and Iggy, because they were such incredible talent. He ensured Midival Punditz and Jalebee Cartel were the most prominent. He fought for the Indian artists to get equal representation on those stages. I was witness to these conversations. He fought for a stage to. Instead he created all that for someone else. Selflessly. those sands. He made the festival his priority. Today he is told he got the glory. He didn’t need the glory. He didn’t need fame or money. As soon as the scaffolding was down, he started planning for the next one. He worked relentlessly. He walked side by side with his team on. I have watched Nikhil work at this festival all year through. Every year. Poring over maps, artist line ups..

Constantly working at it. Nobody knows what transpired the past six years. The story must be told.
If it can protect even one person, that’s reason enough to tell it. It’s not just business anymore when you attempt to take apart people’s lives and work. When you try and harm people. Those who stand by us, we thank you. Those who don’t, we hold no grudges. I’m happy my husband could create this platform for you. But I have faith in our community. If this can happen to us, it can happen to anyone from our industry. Tomorrow this storm will die. And with it the truth. The new wave of clubbers won’t care and they rely on this eventuality. Some people think they can rewrite history, manipulate public consciousness, manufacture legend. They steal legacy because they have none.’’

We tried to contact Shailendra Singh from Percept, the organisers of Sunburn but he refused to comment.

Some reactions to the video on twitter
Varsha Sethia @Varsha1901 23m
The face of #Sunburn was @nikhilchinapa. @PerceptEMC wanting him out is a biz decision but you cannot not give him credit in a promo video!

roshanabbas @roshanabbas
And so the Percept-ion burns away the spirit of the creator artist! #Sunburn’t

Adarsh Munjal @TheBigBhookad 5h
I salute his spirit and sympathise with what happened. Shame on Sunburn! RT @nikhilchinapa See you in Goa, as always.

M @MeghaGhosh 5h
It’s appalling that @PerceptEMC made a Sunburn journey video &didn’t give credit where it was due to @nikhilchinapa or @Submergemusic in it.

Daman Chadha @daman_c40m
I would prefer going for Chinappas EDM fest in goa in Dec over sunburn. Sunburns shit any ways.