Spin the electronic way

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Delhi may be capital all right, but it has been the omission central when it came to international musical acts. Pink Floyd, Aerosmith and Iron Maiden preferred playing for the abstruse audience of Mumbai or Bengaluru to paying the city a visit. And time and again, fans anguished, “wish they came to Delhi”.
But the stonewall seems to be trickling, at least when it comes to the electronic scene. In a mere month, we see Bob Sinclair, Yves Larock and Skazi scratching discs for our electronic junkies. Means change is bound to catch up, sooner or later.
“Delhiites have always been driven by great music, but there has been a major shift from commercial to electronic music. We have witnessed an increasing demand for this genre of music over the past two years especially,” says Deepali Narula, CEO, F Bar and Lounge. The well travelled, upmarket Delhizen now demands the same quality that he witnesses elsewhere, sparking a scram among the various nightclubs in the city, who in an effort to outdo the other are willing to go all the way to please the audience. Cyrus Dalal, manager marketing, PR and Events, Lap considers international acts a good measure to bring in the crowd. “The competition among nightclubs, restaurants and lounges has increased greatly due to the recent spurt in world-class night clubs in Delhi and international acts prove steady crowd pullers,” he says.
However, it’s not only the audience, but also the haunts themselves, which are pleased with this recent development. Earlier, what was a risky gamble has now turned a golden goose with all monies flowing in, thanks to these events.
Debajit Banerjee, F&B Director, The Park, New Delhi explains. “The changes have occurred thanks to the local market going places. The amounts charged by international DJs have reduced, with the indigenous ones often charging more. Also, a lot of international brands coming to town have helped fuel this trend.”
International DJ Yves Larock, whose chart topping single Rise Up was released in 2007, agrees to the market becoming more conducive for international DJs visiting Delhi. “I have been wanting to come here for 2-3 years now, but it is now that I got the opportunity to do so,” he says. The India head for Vh1, Ferizad Palia, which has been responsible for bringing several acts, including Larock to the country, recalls the time when even holding a hip-hop gig in the city would be marred with the fear of Bollywood and Punjabi music requests. “Things have definitely changed in Delhi, People have become receptive and even a beat box band like Bauchklang, which came visiting last year, is received very enthusiastically,” he says.