The electronic music waves

In 1911, the “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Music” stated that their credo was, “To present the musical soul of the masses in a technologically driven world. To add to the great central themes of the musical world, the domain of the machine and the victorious kingdom of Electricity.” Now that we’ve entered the 2000’s, musical concepts which were once considered radical have now been subsumed by popular culture. Today’s youth are embracing  the use of environmental sounds, ambient music, digital sampling, turntable music, computerised music and the electronic modification of acoustic sounds.

“The future of electronic music in India is booming. Besides industry biggies like David Guetta and Tiesto, you’ve the kingpins of niche genres like glitch hop artist Opiuo and drum and bass artist London Elektricity performing in the city,” says Aditya Ashok, a self taught drummer, he is a multi-talented, versatile musician who has a keen sense of rhythm, para rhythm and percussive interpretation that goes way beyond his drums.

Besides performing with his homeboys, The Colour Compound and the eclectic Shaair and Func, his energetic drum and bass alias Oxy7gen has inspired several electronic music enthusiasts to follow suit.

Founder of indie artist management and booking agency, Krunk, Sohail Arora’s vision is to push non mainstream forms of music in India and to ensure musicians and artists can work within niche genres. As an artist, his solo project Ez Riser, focuses on cutting edge electronica, glitch and bass heavy hip hop music. “Earlier there was no market for Bass music or Reggae music. The scene is better established than it was three years ago.

You’ve a good number of festivals and venues popping up everywhere that are supporting alternative genres of music.”

With the arrival of Oji, India’s quintessential electronic music event production company, things are changing.

Founder Mikhail Mehra’s aim is to inspire Indian musicians to get creative, step outside their comfort zones and cultivate an environment, where they aren’t afraid to create a stir and break boundaries. “We want to enable Indian producers to have the freedom to make honest music, so no matter how obscure or mainstream your sounds may be, we will help you find an audience,” says Mehra enthusiastically. Dj’s Varun Patra and Paloma Monnappa aka AlgoRhythm, were the opening act for Oji’s first big successful event in Mumbai, “We are looking to introduce different sounds to the masses. Nu disco, ghetto funk, glitch hop are definitely my personal favourites,” says Patra.

“This is a crucial time for music in our country, a few years from now we’ll have several young electronic producers making it big around the world. There are 16 to 24-year-olds in different parts of the globe, spending endless hours on their laptops, making brilliant music available for everyone to hear,” says Monnappa.

True to her words, 19-year-old American artiste Marvel Years aka Cory Wythe, began making mashups with hip hop beats and acapellas when he was 15 and went on to sample and create his own beats at the age of 17.

“It’s incredible to see electronic music thriving in other countries besides the US and Europe; it says something

about the effect this type of music has on listeners. I’d love to travel to India, looks like such a beautiful place, inhabited by people so dedicated to their music. It’s a solid place to build a wonderful fan base,” says Wythe smiling. From ethereal sound waves played by esoteric experimenters to the thumping syncopation that accompanies pop records, once an underground musical movement, today Electronica is taking the world by storm, one suburban city at a time.