210 Issue #005 October 2018
Your word on the streets.
Showing the world how India shreds it.
#DontHoldBack
Editor’s Letter Dear all, Street typography is an attempt to capture typography that exists on streets of chaotic Mumbai. It reminds one of the times when writing on the boards, signs, and walls was not globalized and standardized. On the other hand, it was much more local and handmade and hand-painted. The Bombay Local The local, strides through the rotten rails, Metal to metal, rust to rust The boggy sways and along with it, the hangers who Hang in there, not by choice but by the might Of time, distance, and bills to pay The feeling is mutual as we stand, sway Push, pull, and grab on to anything just to balance Yet the journey never ends It only begins.
Ashraf Fahd Editor in Chief
Cover Image
Editorial Team Skateboarding has taken India by rage. For some this may just be a sport but for many it has been an platform to express themselves.
Editor in Chief Ashraf Fahd
Photography D.K.Bose
Designers Tejas Vishwanathan Kevin Joseph Raghav Nandakumar
Model Atita Vergehese
Creative Director Guneet Singh Chaddha
Writers Mike Stan Srishti Nair Photographer D.K.Bose
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India’s Premier
SNEAKER & STREET CULTURE FESTIVAL 18th January, 2018 New Delhi
For More Details Visit: www.homegrown.co.in
Contents Art+Design Social Change Is Coming To India, One Masterpiece At A Time
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Spin— The Indian Furniture Brand That Hereoes Minimalism
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Painting The Town Red With Dizy
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Music Tracing The Rise Of Hip Hop In India
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Interview With Kavya Trehan Of MOSKO
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The People Forging a Brave New Future For India’s Alternative Music Landscape
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Fashion Doodlage: The Eco-Fashion Label
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An Indian ‘Thrift Shop’ On Instagram Is Stocking Beautiful Pieces
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Best Street Style Looks From #AIFW
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Sports Showing The World How India Shreds It
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Travel Just 500 Km From Mumbai, A Mystical Meteor Lake Awaits
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College Street: 200-year Journey Of A Street, A Culture, A History Of Book Lovers Paradise
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Gully Talk
Doodlage: The Eco-Fashion Label Keen to reduce fabric waste and the environmental impact of her label, Kriti Tula has designed Doodlage as a hip, ethical fashion brand. By Srishti Nair
above Founder: Kriti Lula opposite top-right Shirt Dress bottom-left Apparel
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About Doodlage If you leave Kriti Tula in a warehouse full of waste fabric, she is likely to emerge with an entire collection a few hours later. Swatches of fabric, an old pair of denims, tested pieces and even vintage garments – Tula salvages all by creating new garments out of them. It’s as if a denim jacket, as good as new, has been made out of your mother’s old pair of jeans. That fart face forms the foundation of Delhi-based fashion label Doodlage, which has been co-founded by the 27-year-old , who runs the label with Rachna Jhunjhunwala, Paras Arora and Vaibhav Kapoor. Working on conscious fashion Doodlage is now participating in the GenNext category at the upcoming Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai. “The collection is called ‘Purge’, as in unwanted and discarded. It’s the word we associate with. The collection is also inspired by the American movie, Purge, and will have a lot of stars and stripes on bomber jackets
and slouchies,” says Tula. Denim is the obvious choice of fabric for this range, and Tula’s team aims at creating a “zero-waste collection” for the fashion week. “All of our own waste becomes surface ornamentation,” she adds. Sustainability: a life choice It was while working on a project in fashion school that Tula began researching on the wastage in fashion industry. She created a fully upcycled collection and called it “Doodlage”. “Every garment looked different. Just the way you can’t replicate a doodle. Hence, the name Doodlage,” informs Tula. The four started the label in 2012, and have been selling from various stores since.
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TRACING THE RISE OF HIP-HOP IN INDIA By Mike Stan
Gully Talk
Rapper Divine from Mumbai
Dynamic and unapologetic, he rapped with a vengeance about issues like racism and discrimination, leaving the crowd fired up.
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IT WAS DECEMBER 4, 2016 WHEN it hit me. After closely following the homegrown hip-hop movement for many years from within and afar, I watched one of the country’s most popular music festivals dinka chika being closed by an entire lineup dedicated to the genre — an unprecedented event. To add to that, the expansiveness of the audience that gathered to watch, dance dinka chika and scream along with the rappers and deejays was a pleasant surprise. When Tripura-based Borkung Hrangkhawl took the stage, things got exciting. Dynamic and unapologetic, he rapped with a vengeance about issues like racism and discrimination, leaving the crowd fired up. What followed was nothing short of magical. All-star after
all-star, collaboration after collaboration, everyone present was treated to desi hip-hop in all its glory. From Delhi-based emcee Prabh Deep, slick producer Sez and Kurla star Naezy, to new-school deejay Proof, turntable pros DJ Kan-i and Spindoctor, veteran performers Enkore and Bobkat, and a double whammy of Indian-American star Raja Kumari and Bombay boy Divine, the NH7 Weekender team pulled no punches in their curation of class acts. This was a big night for artistes and fans of the genre alike, mainly because it had been a long time coming. India doesn’t naturally spring to mind for having a flourishing hip-hop scene. But if current drifts are anything to go by, we can safely say that termed ‘underground’ has evolved into a major crusade. A large chunk of the credit can be given to the influx of new talent, led by a fresh breed of emcees, a number of whom are now signed to big music labels, collaborating with international artistes and performing at major venues.
Far from the Honey Singh-esque sound that the general public might be familiar with, they embody a social consciousness and authenticity that is truly refreshing. “The tone has changed,” Tej Brar, head of artist management at Only Much Louder, tells me. “Earlier they were talking about bling, money, cars and fashion — it was aspirational. But what we’re hearing now are real stories.” Chandigarh-born Manmeet Kaur holds nothing back when rapping about her relationship with her parents, husband and music itself. Bengaluru-based Samir Rishu Mohanty aka Big Deal, is crowdfunding his debut EP and, on the first released track, talks about his mixed heritage struggle it created for him while growing up in Puri. “It’s the true essence of hip-hop,” Brar explains. “The stories are what the audiences find relatable and so they choose to support the artistes. They’re not faking it; they’re talking about their lives.” Another thing they’re doing is making a conscious move to rap in their vernacular.
Sofia Ashraf from Kodaikanal
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Gully Talk
This means that despite tapping into the sounds and vibes of their western counterparts, they’re speaking for — and to — every desi, from millennial students and NRIs to street hawkers and Bollywood fanatics. MC Mawali raps in Marathi, Prabh Deep in Punjabi, Feyago in Bengali, MC Bijju in Kannada, and Naezy in Hindi, Marathi and Urdu, while MC Todfod is the country’s first Gujarati rapper. Crews like Slum Gods, Swadesi and Dopeadelicz cover all these languages as well as Tamil. “The homegrown circle struggled to find its identity for a while, but I feel it had to go through that to get where it is now, organically,” Mo Joshi, founder of independent label DADA and CMO of desihiphop.com, muses. “It’s getting stronger and I can gauge this by the quality of submissions we get each month. We have established artistes as well as kids as young as eight or nine sending in videos recorded on phones.” There are so many more names to digest, but they come with a lot of soul just waiting to be discovered. So long as the paternal plan to make a State functionary contradicted my own inclinations only in the abstract, the
Prabhdeep from Punjab
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Guneet Param
India doesn’t naturally spring to mind for having a flourishing hip-hop scene. But if current drifts are anything to go by, we can safely say that what was once termed ‘underground’ has evolved into a major crusade.”
conflict was easy to bear. I could be discreet about expressing my personal views and thus avoid constantly recurrent disputes. My own resolution not to become a Government official was sufficient for the time being to put my mind completely at rest. I held on to that resolution inexorably. But the situation became more difficult once I had a positive plan of my own which I might present to my father as a countersuggestion. This happened when I was twelve years old. How it came about I cannot exactly say now; but one day it became clear to me that I would be a painter--I mean an artist. That I had an aptitude for drawing was an admitted fact. It was even one of the reasons why my father had sent me to the REALSCHULE; but he had never thought of having that talent developed in such a way that I could take up painting as a professional career. Quite the contrary. When, as a result of
my renewed refusal to adopt his favourite plan, my father asked me for the first time what I myself really wished to be, the resolution that I had already formed expressed itself almost automatically. For a while my father was speechless. “A painter? An artist-painter?” he exclaimed. He wondered whether I was in a sound state of mind. He thought that he might not have caught my words rightly, or that he had misunderstood what I meant. But when I had explained my ideas to him and he saw how seriously I took them, he opposed them with that full determination which was characteristic of him.
Khalsa Tribe from Nagaland
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Gully Talk
Social Change Is Coming To India, One Street Masterpiece At A Time By Mike Stan
FROM GRAFFITIS ON THE Berlin Wall in Germany to the present satirical works of Banksy, street art has now become a way to the environment around us, and among people of younger generations.
says more about our society than a woman with a soft, mysterious smile sitting inside a gallery. Graffiti and wall murals may be a recent development in the Indian public art scene, but the artists involved have taken to
“A man painted on a dirty, forgotten wall says more about our society than a woman with a mysterious smile sitting inside a gallery.” For millennials, who are the most engaged with this art form, street art does not put on any airs. It shuns museum hallways populated by old men holding glasses of whisky and cursing the government (which is, unfortunately, the infamous perception of art) and brings the game to the real world. A man painted on a dirty, forgotten wall
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it like fish in water. And while smaller cities have yet to witness this modern art uprising, the metros have caught on quickly, especially when the artwork makes you stop and think.With a name inspired by Tyler Durden, the titular character in Chuck Palahniuk’s seminal novel, Fight Club, Tyler has been combining art and satire to comment on
the degrading morals in society. It’s not just individuals who are acting as harbingers of changes armed with spray paint cans and stencils; now, corporations have also turned their attention towards this movement. Not one to back down from doing their part in making Mumbai cleaner, Viacom18 recently paired up with everyone’s favourite childhood artist Rob (of M.A.D fame) to create Mumbai’s largest wall mural. Spanning 900 meters in length, the artwork tells the tale of a clean city, with illustrations of famous pop-culture icons like Mary Kom and Milkha Singh encouraging people to keep Mumbai shining.
From top anti-clockwise Mumbai’s largest wall mural; Colourful tarpaulins installation by Samir Parker; Satirical art by Tyler Durden
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Art+Design
Spin – The Indian Furniture Brand That Heroes Minimalism By Srishti Nair
A subdivision of the Shark Design Studio in Delhi, this young, fresh furniture brand is capturing Nordic sensibilities with an Indian identity. Neo chair
THOUGH THE 21ST CENTURY IS AN age of excess, when it comes to furniture the standard credo is - less is more. The worldwide trend played off the Scandinavian design world and the Japanese aesthetic and made minimalism the need of the hour. Even in India, usually a hub of opulence and colour, we saw a rise in the use of simple lines and muted colours to express contemporary culture. One of the design houses that has adopted that ethos and elevated it to something even more enchanting is SPIN. Their designs are catering to the modern generation that wants to de-clutter without compromising on luxury. The idea behind spin was born when Shark team went on a furniture hunt and came up dry. ‘There was an inherent need for a minimalist brand at an affordable price, and because of our background in design, we decided to fill that space.’ says cofounder Avneish Jain.
Neo stools
Agro bar stools
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Travel
Just 500 Km From Mumbai, A Mystical Meteor Lake Awaits By Mike Stan Photography Muskaan Chawla
EVERY TIME A WEEKEND ROLLS around, the people of Mumbai pack up and head to the same old stomping grounds in Lonavla, Panchgani or Alibaug. This year it’s time to get adventurous and start delving into the unexplored secrets Maharashtra has to offer. The first place on your list should definitely be the enchanting Lonar Lake. Located in the Buldhana district, this area is truly one of a kind as it was created by a meteor impact during the Pleistocene epoch and is the velocity impact crater in basaltic rock anywhere on Earth - yes, read that again if you
must. The waters have the curious property of being both alkaline and saline which has drawn the attention of the international science community and even the likes of NASA.
From top Temple ruins; The Meteor Lake.
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Gully Talk
College Street: 200-year Journey Of A Street, A Culture, A History Of Book Lovers Paradise By Mike Stan Photography D.K.Bose
College street, also colloquially known as “Boi-Para” (book-mart), is a prominent center of Kolkata’s literary crowd. It is the largest second-hand book market in the world.
Shops made of books that act as walls
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Shops made of books that act as walls
THE INCEPTION OF THE NAME “College Street ” goes back to the time when the Hindu College was established in 1817. Hindu School was also established in 1817. Nothing has changed since on the ground. Only a fraction of the total of of the parks the city has is open to children. Playing inside the rest is not permitted. According to the records of 2015, only 16 of North Corporation’s 2,920 parks are for children. East Corporation has 2,058 parks. Of which 114 are children’s parks. South Corporation has 6,400 with 190 children’s parks, while NDMC has 211 children’s parks and DDA. David Hare established the Hindu college with twenty scholars in 1817.
Thus, the street on which the Hindu College was located came to be known as “College Street” under the Governorship of Lord Wellesley. Lord Wellesley first introduced the construction of planned road in Calcutta or Kolkata. In 2007, College street freatured among the landmarks of India made it to Time Magazine’s “Best of Asia” list.
Shop Owners gaze at people as they walk by
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SHOWING THE WORLD HOW IND SHREDS IT By Srishti Nair
G
DIA T
Gully Talk
Raghav showing how its done
I DON’T LIKE CONVENTION, and skateboarding has taught me that it’s ok, she says, the weight of her words ringing around the skulls of every woman who has challenged misogyny. For someone whose inspiration and passion are attached to a wooden board with four wheels, Atita Verghese has an immense amount of drive, vision and hope. The youngster is possibly India’s first female skateboarder, but in the short span of three years has passed the infectious germ around the nation and left little pockets of skate everywhere. In a country where a patriarchal view of defined roles for women 22
still pervades, her contribution to overcoming stereotypes and keeping street children out of trouble cannot be overlooked. She was introduced to the skateboard at six years, a Jonex that she did nothing much with other than “push around and bomb down hills” on her butt. It changed late in 2012 when she came to Goa to learn how to surf. The 22-year-old recalls, “I used to skate a little before I learnt to surf – just cruise around on flat ground listening to music. When I learnt to surf, I got better at it faster than I did on the skateboard, and that got me stoked for more.”
“Family and friends didn’t quite see the light initially, a natural reaction seeing as skateboarding is not a popular activity anywhere in India.”
Skating helped her stay on a board when the waves weren’t so good. On her return to Bangalore, she joined India’s first skate company Holystoked for its Epic Build in March 2013, and an explosion of ideas and passion for the sport blew up in her brain. Together with 40 skaters from around the world, she helped build India’s first free public skate park. Verghese to work with Holystoked, giving classes, and participating in builds and demos. She says, “I learnt from that build that there was so much more possible. Tricks and styles and speed and all the technicalities started making
sense and I entered a new way of thinking about what you can do on a board by learning from the best. I soon found that skateboarding had its own special space bust in me.” Family and friends didn’t quite see the light initially, a natural reaction seeing as skateboarding is not a popular activity anywhere in India. It is only a small group of passionate individuals who go out of their way to engage in a sport they love. Verghese’s mother too didn’t understand the implications of being involved in skateboarding full-time, but warmed up quickly enough. “She loved that I was active, getting
Kajal SIngh aka Dizy working on a mural in South Delhi
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Gully Talk
out there and doing something every day. She’s an athlete’s mom, for sure,” states Verghese. Since she touched wood on wheels, Verghese has participated in skate events around the world. She has been part of The Third Eye Tour of Bangalore, Hampi and Goa in January 2014; the Copenhagen Girls Skate Camp and the Levis world premiere of the ‘Skateboarding In Bolivia’ documentary in Berlin in July last year; 2er on Fire in Hannover soon after that in August; and The Spot Delivery Tour of Germany, Belgium, America and France a month later.
Across December 2015-January 2016, she organised the first all-girl skate tour across India, in which 14 skateboarders from around the world toured four states to build ramps, give demos and teach participants – mainly girls – how to skate. She was also part of the Holy DeTour organised by Holystoked this February. Her experiences have pushed her to introduce skateboarding to communities across India to keep children on the street out of trouble.
“ Her experiences have pushed her to introduce skateboarding to communities across India to keep children on the street out of trouble.”
Bottom Verghese shredding it; Left top to bottom Skateboard Meetup; Active8 building a rink
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Gully Talk
Interview with Kavya Trehan Of MOSKO By Mike Stan Photography Muskaan Chawla
Gully Talk: What’s your story? How did MOSKO happen? Kavya Trehan: I was fortunate enough to go to a school called Mirambika, where we were given the freedom to explore what we really like doing. So I up music early on. When I turned fourteen, I went for an open mic gig. GT: How easy or hard has it been for you to carve out a niche for yourself within the Indian music circuit ? KT: Well, we were independent, we didn’t have an agent or a manager. I was the manager at that time. So when we’d just started out, it was kind of tough, but people gave us an opportunity..even though we hadn’t released our music yet. GT: Have you gotten really nervous before a performance ? KT: Always. It’s a perfect blend of nervousness and excitement. I love crowds. I don’t drink for two weeks. So it’s not like I even have something to calm my nerves. Performing gives me an adrenaline rush that nothing else can provide. I don’t like feeling inebriated when I’m on stage because I want to feel the crowd, 26
I want to feel the words. I do get nervous, but I feel like I can get through it every single time because I have three incredible musicians who I perform with. They guide me when I hit a wrong note, or when I start a new paragraph and so there’s a lot of communication and everyone is helping each other. But I never get cold feet. GT: Tell us about your creative process and what inspires you ? KT: A big source of inspiration in the beginning of MOSKO was anime and Japanese manga. Also, the fact that we [the band] all come from different backgrounds and have different kinds of vibes itself is very inspiring. Our songs are purely collaborative in nature and the process itself results in the development of new tracks. As a vocalist, composer and a songwriter, I end up new material by turning a real life story into a dramatic one in my lyrics. GT: What’s your favourite song from the band? KT: I like all the songs! But My favourite would be Drance 109.. that song is just ruthless. It’s unexpected. It’s musically very
fresh and I think it’s a pretty solid representation of MOSKO. And it’s just so much fun to perform and words are crunchy. It’s also the song we usually end with. So it’s associated with the high you get as a performer. GT: On a serious note, do you think the music scene in India is sexist? KT: That is a serious question! It’s very obvious that there are more male artists than female artists and more male producers than female producers. It’s not a 50-50 ratio at all, but I also think otha dei that it’s changing in the recent past. I’ve come across female producers, in fact I’ve also started producing now.
Anticlockwise from the top A fierce Kavya Trehan Kavya Trehan and the band.
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Gully Talk
Painting The Town Red With Dizy! By Mike Stan
Despite being born into a family of art and being a talented and creative young girl, learning Bharatnatyam, acing school dance competitions and managing to stand out from the crowd, Kajal had never imagined becoming a graffiti artist.
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Kajal SIngh aka Dizy working on a mural in South Delhi
ONE OF INDIA’S FIRST FEMALE graffiti artists, Kajal Singh, 22, was never an average Jane.“Even as a child, I knew I was different. I never merged in with the crowd and wanted to lead.” she recalls. Although a shy child, she was extremely competitive both at home and in school. Art has always been an integral part of Kajal’s life. Her mother is a painter while her b arother is also a graffiti artist who goes by the pseudonym ‘Komet’. Despite being born into a family of art and being a talented and creative young girl, learning Bharatnatyam, acing school dance competitions and managing to
stand out from the crowd, Kajal had never imagined becoming a graffiti artist. From Kajal Singh to ‘Dizy’ In ’70s and ’80s America, hip hop served as a platform for the minority to express themselves regarding social and political injustice and other issues. However, it only began to attain widespread popularity in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Eventually, this genre helped create unity amongst the races and turned into an $80 billion market. While most of us may equate hip hop solely with rap music, the hip hop movement actually consisted
of four distinct elements: rap, DJing or turntablism, B-boying, and graffiti. Over the last few years, while hip hop has undergone a slowdown and is in a phase of evolution in its place of origin, the US, it has gained widespread popularity here in India. There are over 200 million youth with increasing purchasing power who are making a beeline to become a part of the movement and this number will only expand. Being a girl in an evolving hip hop culture She was introduced to hip hop by chance through a friend in 29
Gully Talk
2008. However, Kajal only got to see the street dance aspect of the movement at that time. Her flair for dancing had found a new muse and she was so smitten by the genre that she started frequenting these events, or jams, as they are called in hip hop terminology. As she got acquainted with the movement and the community, Kajal and her brother were introduced to the art aspect of hip hop, which we popularly know as ‘graffiti’.
“ Kajal was fighting an even bigger battle in addition to all the operational challenges the graffiti artist community in India was reeling under as a whole.”
Kajal SIngh aka Dizy working on a mural in South Delhi
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The brother-sister duo started by emulating foreign artists they discovered online. Kajal and her brother learnt the basics of the art including the basic knowledge of letter proportions and dimensions through these videos and incorporated this knowledge to develop their own style of art. This was when the graffiti scene was just beginning to develop in India and every artist was encountering the problem of the day is acquiring the extremely expensive spray paints. “It was as luxurious an item as gold for us. Since most of us were just about getting started, most of our savings would go into buying these spray paints,” Kajal explains. But as they say, necessity is the mother of invention and the artists developed a ‘Jugaad’ to overcome this problem.“We started working with wall paints
Artwork on a bus by Kajal Singh
as a base and used the spray paints only for outlines.” The hip-hop scene in India – then and now Kajal was fighting an even bigger battle in addition to all the operational challenges the graffiti artist community in India was reeling under as a whole. Being one among the very few girls in the hip hop scene, let alone in graffiti, was anything but easy. “There were always prejudices. Being a girl meant always feeling the pressure of doing well all the time and proving why I was better than the boys. Also, the boys were thought of to be more free-spirited than the girls and were always preferred over us. It was very difficult, the problems just didn’t seem to end”. But Kajal was not one to be
easily discouraged. She kept reminding herself of why she got into graffiti in the first place and that kept her going. “I’m so glad I got through that phase. I am a free bird now!” she exclaims. The turning point of Kajal’s life was when she was called to Germany to work with the Indo-German Hip Hop Urban Art Project in 2012. Her career only went upwards from then on. She worked on the same project in India in 2014 in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and in Germany again in 2015. In the same year, she also travelled to Siberia and Russia where she was invited to feature on a cooking. She also showcased her skills aan art exhibition at the Creative World Fair at Frankfurt, Germany, hosted by the graffiti marker company she works for currently.
The Delhi girl jet sets around the world to showcase her art while frequently shuttling between her hometown and Berlin.
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Gully Talk
An Indian ‘Thrift Shop’ On Instagram Is Stocking Beautiful Vintage Pieces By Sirshti Nair
IN EIGHT SHORT MONTHS RED Empress label has racked up more than a 1,000 followers, with no sign of slowing down, and it’s easy to see why. Rare, authentic vintage fashion is sold exclusively through Aesha Merchant and Asu Longkumer’s ‘thrift shop’ Instagram handle, Red Empress, filling a glaring gap in the fashion landscape of the country. Speaking with Aesha on how the duo source these one-of-akind pieces (this aqua blue and gold silk Versace blouse has us dreaming of whiskey sours on sunny afternoons), she tells me that she picks these one-of-akind pieces from thrift shops back home in New Zealand, while Asu sources them on her trips to the North-East. The best part? “Our pieces are not expensive at all. Our shirts range from Rs. 1,800 to Rs. 2,000. If they’re branded (like the Versace piece), the price point is a little bit higher, starting at Rs. 3,500,” Aesha clarifies. The most expensive piece that Red Empress stocks is Rs. 8,000, she tells me as my vintage fashion-starved heart does a cartwheel.
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“In New Zealand, there’s a huge culture of wear vintage clothes. So there are many many thrift shops in Auckland, where I grew up, so I’m used to picking up things from there and they cost a couple of dollars.” In comparison, she found vintage fashion in India so ridiculously expensive that she wanted Red Empress to be both affordable and accessible. “The point is for people to actually be able to wear more vintage.” The minute stock starts running low, one of these champions makes a trip to source more pieces, hitting the streets of Delhi and Mumbai for hidden gems tucked away in export surplus shops or, Aesha says, she calls on her younger sister in Melbourne to ensure a constant supply for their buyers. Currently, Red Empress is stocked with some stellar finds like this vintage Pierre Balmain blouse or this gorgeous oversized denim bomber that’s straight outta the 80s.
From Opposite Denim Jacket; Purple Jumpsuit; Wool Coat; Oriental Patterned Shirt Jumpsuit.
“Rare, authentic vintage fashion is sold exclusively through Aesha Merchant and Asu Longkumer’s ‘thrift shop’ Instagram handle, Red Empress, filling a glaring gap in the fashion landscape of the country.” 33
Gully Talk
Jazz At the Quarter
The People Forging A Brave New Future For India’s Alternative Music Landscape By Mike Stan
Jay and Krish of Nrtya
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LESS THAN A MONTH INTO MY move to Mumbai, I was already amazed at the city’s ‘going out’ culture as I found myself at a Baba Stiltz gig at Lower Parel’s Summer House Cafe. Bless my soul and my limited playlists, I knew very little about the genre-fluid Swedish artist but the tasteful laser lights, nuanced beats, and the fact that hundreds of bodies were swaying in sync to the same musical experience around me, had me hooked. You see, back in Delhi, on nights I could hustle myself into going out at all, a low-key house party, a few drinks at Khan Market’s latest offering or (when I was feeling truly adventurous) dancing at a club were my limited poisons of choice. And the latter was only courtesy a few friends who knew where to go for music that was not a jazzy remix of Honey Singh’s ‘Blue Eyes’ or the extremely over-played mainstream EDM. Azadi Co-founders of Azadi Records, Uday Kapur and Mo Joshi take
“ Bless my soul and my limited playlists, I knew very little about the genre-fluid Swedish artist but the tasteful laser lights, nuanced beats, and the fact that hundreds of bodies were swaying in sync to the same musical experience around me, had me hooked.”
risks with the artists they sign on, but that’s instrumental to the realisation of their dream.The idea behind Azadi Records (born from Uday’s final year thesis project at college in Delhi) fit in nicely with Mo’s vision of a label for homegrown hip-hop artists. Its core foundational belief, that India is home to politically and socially relevant folk and regional music, was shaped to some extent by Kapur’s time at Irom Sharmila’s support group in Delhi University,
he told us. The sounds of rock band Indian Ocean, a TedX talk on Contemporary Protest Music by Rahul Ram and Swarathma’s Topiwalleh were some of the other influences that led to the ultimate fruition of Azadi, he tells us. Both Uday and Mo describe their label as a sort of “support structure” that they felt was especially lacking for Indian hiphop performers and producers. By working almost selectively with musicians who otherwise might
Team Azadi
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Gully Talk
not get the reach large audiences or release an album, the duo’s label is championing “regional, socially-conscious music” from all over the country. The release of their first single from Delhi-based artist Prabh Deep’s debut album Class-Sikh last year is testament to just that. Signed about six months ago, Prabh Deep uses hip-hop to shine light on his unique experiences growing up in Tilak Nagar that was scarred by as a Sikh man. Nrtya A dramatic shift from mainstream hip-hop or electronic music that venues and promoters put their money behind, Azadi offers both support and management to artists who make music that is politically charged; a term often synonymous with controversy in this country. Their contribution has had an evident impact already. The rise of indie or gully hip-hop that took place in 2017 is in large part due (and promoting) music that tells stories, empowers communities and brings more and more. 36
Boxout A Rolling Stone India article was on the money when it asked the industry - ‘When Will Indian Radio Root For Alternative Music?’ more than two years ago. The piece lamented the lack of a radio channel dedicated solely to independent, alternative music despite the presence of 245 channels across 86 cities. So, when Sahej Bakshi (Dualist Inquiry) and Mohammad Abood (DJ MoCity)
“Looking to the future, expect some top notch acts, milky tunes and maybe even a festival. Jai is confident that this new wave of music that’s sweeping the country will only gain more momentum the coming years.”
decided to start a community radio station for independent music, they were filling a glaring void in the country’s music landscape. Sahej recounts that when boxout.fm launched, less than a year ago, someone asked the duo how long this was in the making. “I said about 8-9 months but Mo added that he’d been working towards this channel dedicated solely to all his life.” Sahej was absolutely right.
Jwala “Five or six years ago, all non-commercial music was put under one umbrella - rock, EDM, indie, house - everything was played at the same festival.” The rise in popularity of festivals like Magnetic Fields or Echoes Of Earth, that curate a certain kind of lineup, as well as more patient, open-minded audiences has meant that artists with noncommercial sounds can slowly carve a niche for themselves. “A core part of boxout’s vision is to expand the circle, so individual artists can grow their audiences. Whether someone likes to play esoteric or is a techno don, what we hope to achieve with boxout is they can grow their own circle of listeners and our collective audience will discover new artists through the archive”.
From Opposite Members of Boxout; Dj Nrtya at a concert; Raj and Suresh of Jwala; Vishal and Shekar.
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Gully Talk
THE BEST STREET STYLE LOOKS FROM #AIFW By Srishti Nair Photography D.K.Bose
I’D BEEN WANTING TO capture India’s street style scene for quite some time and was curious to see how things had changed since I was there for the ready-to-wear and couture shows in New Delhi almost five years ago. Judging from the pics both on and off the runway, the biggest surprise was the lack of celebrity presence via front row guests or “showstopper” to close out a show. The focus was firmly on the business of fashion and as it has happened in around the world from New York to Tokyo, street style was the new star.
From Top Denim Jacket; Purple Jumpsuit; Wool Coat; Oriental Patterned; Shirt Jumpsuit
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Watch the streets of Mumbai come alive. From November 30th to December 14th, 2018. St+art Mumbai, Street Art Festival.
St+art IndiaÂŽ
Jaico Publishing House Address: 14, Kalidasa Marg, Rajaji Nagar Industrial Town, Gandhi Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560009, India. Website: www.jaicobooks.com