Many DJs Behave Like Clowns: DJ Pearl

DJ Pearl has pioneered the cause of house music across the Indian subcontinent. This commitment to EDM led her to be one of the co-founders of ¡®Submerge¡¯ (along with Nikhil Chinapa and Hermit Sethi), which is perhaps India¡¯s premiere electronic music party and serves as a platform for upcoming DJs in the country as well as responsible for bringing down some of the world¡¯s finest talent. From a humble beginning seven years ago of a few hundred fanatic clubbers, Submerge, which Pearl spearheads, now hosts weekly nights across all the major cities in the country and can now boast of a nationwide community of loyal members. Among them is a gig by celebrated Catalan DJ and producer, Coyu (who hails all the way from Spain and supported DJ Pearl) who is set to burn the floor in Mumbai at Tilt All Day.

Pearl went on to be the only DJ invited from India to play at the famed club Ministry of Sound in London. This was soon followed by her personal best, a set at the legendary Pacha in Ibiza. From decks in Tokyo to France and Ibiza, she has done it all and at present she is arguably one of India¡¯s best EDM exports to the world. In a candid conversation with Indiatimes.com DJ Pearl reveals why the clubbing scene in India needs a lot more innovation.

What's your take on the current EDM scene in India?

For starters, I¡¯m not too fond of that term. Only because of all it stands for and signifies today. It doesn¡¯t really engulf the vast scope of electronic music and the landscape it has to offer. Not really sure when this term took root and exploded but I reckon it was about the same time DJs turned into performers and good clubbing nights into pop concerts.

Sadly, it¡¯s a rampantly used term now and is sometimes the only way many people can identify or name what¡¯s all around them at the moment. So many people want to be in on it as well. Whether it¡¯s kids, or promoters or clubs. It looks all shiny from the outside but there is so much going on in this process and behind the scenes that is not visible to people. As a promoter and a DJ, for me it¡¯s sometimes a shocking perspective to have and live with. Today¡¯s EDM, kicks off a huge cycle, one of inflexible agencies, expensive artists, sky rocketing club and ticket fees and business wars between corporations that want a piece of the pie. You¡¯ll be surprised how many people¡¯s lives get badly affected by this money game. If they can help it, the big corporations will keep that particular kind of EDM healthy and alive for as long as possible. They will sell it to whoever is willing to buy their glitzily wrapped story. Once the kids don¡¯t buy it anymore, they will look for any audience who will, from any corner, just to make up the numbers. Then they will continue to sell this whole shebang to sponsors who are willing to bite. This is a cycle that is very difficult to break but I¡¯m positive it will all collapse under it¡¯s own weight very soon, especially and uniquely in India. Ours might be similar to the journey this music is taking in the rest of the world, but our market is unique. Our music tastes have very deep roots. We will naturally accept and reject music trends because of this, quicker than in some other parts of the world.

Look at our history in music, it speaks volumes for what we appreciate as a people. I have faith in this taste and am waiting for the time we will see through these bunch of sounds that are being sold to us, and the spectacle that we are so enamored by at the moment. No doubt, there is little to replace the experience of being outdoors or at a festival with your friends, experiencing this music in that format or setting, but the trouble starts when the experience begins and ends there. When we stop seeking what else this music has to offer. When we stop asking what else we can hear in clubs besides these formulaic sounds. When we get scared to break away from the herd.

How has it evolved from the time you started off and which areas still need work to enhance it even further?

A lot of my contemporaries will tell you that there is a stark difference between clubbing from even a decade ago to today. Those of us who held down residencies saw thousands of people pass by our console and dance floors, people who were just out for a good clubbing night. Out for the sake of clubbing. I see less of that now. I see people being drawn out now only for a name behind the console. And when they¡¯re there, they want to hear the same chosen tunes that they were listening to in the car on the way over to the club. It¡¯s become tougher for residents who have to constantly submit to this demand. Not just from clubbers but from management as well. No doubt requests were part and parcel of a residents job but now, as a touring DJ, I can tell you with some assurance that there is a lot less freedom for residents to experiment. This is not just due to the popularity of tunes that are easy to relate to.

There is a business side to it and the timings of our clubs affect a club¡¯s music policy in a big way. There are limited hours to earn either at the door or at the bar and most clubs compromise on the music to keep those feet walking through the door. Having said that, there are some club owner¡¯s who stand their ground and have built a little culture of their own in their clubs. These are usually the ones who were clubbers themselves and can understand critical aspects of clubbing like sound, artistic freedom and the need to deliver a bit of a journey to their clubbers.

DJs now also think that you must go straight from playing to your curtains to playing to a crowd of a few thousand with blinding led light¡¯s behind you. That¡¯s not DJing. That¡¯s usually being a clown. All that¡¯s missing is a red nose and big shoes that they can jump all over the console with.

On the positive front, there are a lot of young DJs in India who I see giving everything they¡¯ve got to this profession. It¡¯s heartening to see and know them and I know the frivolous ones will fall by the wayside while these ones will dedicate their lives to it. I just hope that the infrastructure we are creating for them can do them justice and take them where they deserve to be.

Tell us something about DJ Coyu and your association with him.

Coyu is a Spanish DJ and is an extremely respected artist and label owner. His label Suara is one of the best and most prominent labels in the world. Submerge has seen a huge graph of electronic music in India and been part and parcel of it. In the early years, we were able to introduce artists like him and of this caliber relatively easily since like I said, people had more open minds to clubbing. You¡¯ll be surprised what a rich underground scene our country had before the big fat commercial wave hit. We saw it coming and knew we could probably use it to popularize this music further and get more people into its fold. There was also very little space to maneuver around it. Now that we¡¯ve come out the other side and those kids are a bit jaded and experimenting again, it¡¯s time for us to continue doing what we did best. Introducing incredible talent to India.

What's his USP according to you?

We¡¯ll just have to experience it ourselves now won¡¯t we! See you at one of the gigs?

So what is it that fans can expect from this event?

A heads down, dark floor, with good sound and a brilliant artist who will take you on a proper journey musically. In these nights we like the focus to be purely on the music, on being part of a community for those few hours, smiling at each other, understanding exactly what joy the person next to you is deriving from the music, without saying a word. There will be no flashy champagne sparklers and especially no velvet rope or VIP areas! We¡¯re all just clubbers.

What kind of events and target group you think EDM events need to associate with to really do justice to its growth?

It really doesn¡¯t matter but yes the most amounts of energy and enthusiasm is with the younger lot who¡¯ve barely stepped out of college. This is where trends are first set. Today in India, this age of exposure to electronic music has dropped even further to kids in school. It¡¯s perfectly normal. I think once they¡¯ve had their first taste of the YouTube videos and tracks their friends listen to, it would be the perfect time to introduce them to something different or experimental. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s ever too early. I was introduced to some strange, obscure, wonderful artists at 12 or 13 and was the better for it immediately.

The older lot does come out to gigs but as life piles on the responsibilities, these clubbing excursions lessen in number. It¡¯s difficult sometimes to bring artists who were popular or known to an older generation and be assured of a full house. We will keep trying to make them relevant to the younger lot though. That work is in progress constantly. They carry the true art of DJing with them and I¡¯m hoping more exposure to them passes this skill and their thought process as DJs on to younger generations.

EDM is a hugely misused term and every second sound engineer claims to produce it. What¡¯s your take on this clutter and what quality in the music spearates the original from the me-toos?

I¡¯m not a producer so am not the perfect choice to comment on this as many will tell you.

But I have enough of a grasp on this music and substantial experience to know what¡¯s going on in the production world. Yes there is clutter. But ask some of the people making that clutter and they won¡¯t think so. They actually believe they¡¯re making good music. I¡¯ve seen this and am baffled every time. But it convinces me even more just how subjective music and musical taste is. What really amuses me is when more evolved musical minds sit in judgment of people¡¯s tastes, efforts or choices. Let them be! Let them find their own way and evolve just like you did.

What saddens me though, is when well-known artists, who were known for their incredible production and quality tunes dumb down or commercialize what they¡¯re producing just to appeal to the masses, to be able to be stars at the pop concerts. It¡¯s bizarre how many gems I have in my record collection from artists whose music I wouldn¡¯t touch now. They haven¡¯t suddenly lost all their good taste, they just got consumed by this vortex that EDM is and it¡¯s sad to see them choke their own legacies. They also become idols for the me-too¡¯s as you put it. It takes years to learn production and you¡¯re constantly learning. Ask me! I¡¯m still at it. So I would like to think of this optimistically as well. Eventually, every kid in front of his computer will evolve. His or her tastes will evolve. Some are naturally more gifted than others so there are limits to certain producers¡¯ growth. While some are just geniuses.

It was easy to sift through records and get to your sound in record stores and while there¡¯s a lot of choice in online record stores, it¡¯s a more tedious process since you come across a lot more of the kind of music you¡¯ve gone beyond or are not into at all. This wasn¡¯t the case when you had dedicated people discussing with you which direction you wanted to go in at a physical record store. But we can¡¯t stop change. So all we have to do is find an effective way to make the same thing happen online. It will eventually get there.

Finally, I¡¯d like to end with this - Our future with nightclubbing and electronic music is not going anywhere unless we have the law and government on our side. First with treating our cities like cosmopolitan cities that should have a healthy nightlife and then extending this progressive thinking to actually educating kids about all that the lawmakers fear.

That¡¯s the only way to move forward. Not by being restrictive.