Bollywood, why not?: DJ Paul Van Dyk

It’s quite a feat to hold a spot in the World’s Top 10 DJs since 1998, being named World No.1 DJ in 2005 and 2006. But DJ Paul Van Dyk seems to be at ease. His oeuvre speaks for itself. And it’s easy to tell why his recent gig in the city left party lovers craving for more. The German Grammy Award-winning Electronic Dance Music DJ, musician and record producer, who’s been touring the world for his next studio album Evolution, didn’t however have it easy.

Paul’s father left the family when he was only four. Growing up in Berlin, he worked as broadcast technician and began training to become a carpenter. The self-taught artiste credits all his knowledge to radio music. There were no record stores where he could buy music, so he kept in touch with the world beyond the Berlin Wall by secretly listening to the popular, forbidden Western radio stations. “After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the economy in Germany was low and in a way I had to take what I could get and that’s how carpentry happened. I needed to do something, otherwise I would have been unemployed and not able to buy any records,” Paul recalls.

His love for electronic music stemmed at an early age. “In the mid ’80s, I heard what was, probably, the house kind of music. I really enjoyed it because it had an energy and free spirit to it. I was probably 10,” he smiles. The DJ, who recently played at the Hard Rock Cafe, never had professional musical training other than the one time when he learnt the guitar. Paul was 12 then. “I wasn’t really good back then, but that was the only time I trained with a teacher. As I grew up, I started playing my kind of music and had a chance to work in the studio. I already had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do and then I realised I needed to know how everything worked and people who worked with me taught me a lot. Later, I learnt the piano too,” says the DJ.

Paul finds India’s culture and history a lot like Mexico’s, but only a lot more inspiring. “It’s a really interesting place. I love playing in Mumbai, love the crowd,” he shares. Ask him if he’d be interested in Bollywood music and he quips, “I heard a track from Agneepath, it’s really, really cool. You know the thing is, I never rule anything out, to be honest. It’s a question of timing and adjusting my schedule. I like Bollywood. It has a problem and solution to every problem — a happy ending. I wish everything in life would be like that,” Paul chuckles.

So is it tough being at the top? Is it an added pressure? “People can never expect enough of me; it’s my own expectations of myself to do the best that I can possibly do. I don’t feel pressured because of what I’ve achieved, I feel pressured because I love electronic music so much so that I always want to give the best I can,” he sings off.