Music
On Track B
By Saachi Pai Kane
orn and raised in Goa, the dance music artiste Aneesh Gera has achieved the dreams of every musician – release 200 records, get your music played by Ryan Seacrest, to be present in the top 10 worldwide hits, become the highest streamed artiste for underground music in India, to hitting almost 5 million streams on Spotify – Aneesh has done it all. Aneesh started DJing professionally at the age of 17. It was a time when DJing was looked down upon, it was considered to be a job someone chose after they failed or didn’t have an option, but his mother supported him throughout. “There was no limelight or glamour, the nice part was, people who were into 38 | My Goa | July 2021
Aneesh Gera talks about the challenges of being an artiste today, along with how the pandemic has affected the electronic music industry
it were into it for the music, nothing else”, says Aneesh. When asked about why he chose DJing, he talks about his first time at a club, “I went to my first nightclub when I was really young, my mum took me to this club in Dona Paula called Lidos. It was a surreal experience. Everyone inside was having a great time and there was this one guy in the corner playing music from CDs. And this one guy is collectively giving everyone this experience. And I thought it was very empowering.” Aneesh was in awe
“There was no limelight or glamour, the nice part was, people who were into it were into it for the music, nothing else” ANEESH GERA
of how a DJ could control people’s emotions and their whole experience. People can go back feeling nostalgic, energetic and euphoric and it’s one man who made 50-60 people feel that way, it was very empowering, he says. As consumers of music, we see DJ Aneesh making the crowd groove
