Armin van Buuren: The Dutch Armada

Armin van Buuren

Trance producer and DJ Armin van Buuren’s “J’ai Envie De Toi,” arguably his biggest track of 2012, was premiered last year on A State Of Trance [ASOT] as a surprise. It was played without an ID, so no one knew who the artist was at the time. Turns out it was the man himself, made from his Gaia alter ego. Will there be any surprises this month in Mumbai? We’ll have to wait and see.

To call ASOT just a “radio show” would do it a vast disservice. ASOT, which was kicked off­ in 2001 as a weekly two-hour spot, was also streamed online at a time when the internet really wasn’t as intertwined with life as it is now. The broadcasts now have a cult following reaching out to an estimated 20 million listeners in over 26 countries, through regular and internet radio stations. ASOT’s birthdays are always ushered in with a big bang. Number 550, for instance, in March 2012, had shows in London, Moscow, Kiev, Los Angeles, Miami and Den Bosch. This current tour, number 600 [named ”˜The Expedition’] has 12 cities on the roster. Over its 12-year-run, ASOT revolutionized dance music. The epic tradition of celebrating ASOT comes to Mumbai and Armin will take to the decks with fellow Armada artists Aly & Fila, Arnej, Rank 1 and Shogun on March 16th at Turf Club, Mumbai.

Armin has just wrapped up a summer residency at Ibiza’s monolithic club, Privilege. When he talks to us from his home in the Netherlands, he tells us that he didn’t foresee that the internet would turn ASOT into a monster worldwide tour. ASOT also became a massively successful sub-label under his Armada label, launched in 2003, and represents over two dozen labels now. He says, “Email was big. We had some forums, but there was no social media and internet streaming was just coming up because the ”˜net wasn’t fast enough yet.” But a radio show was going to happen anyway, as far as he was concerned, and for a very personal reason. “I always promised myself I would do a radio show because I love radio. As a kid, I literally had the programming of all the Dutch radio stations right above my bed so I could see what shows were on,” he says. “Also, in the Netherlands, I wasn’t old enough to go clubbing, so my birth into dance music happened because of radio.”

In 2011, when ASOT hit 500, Armin considered calling it a wrap. “I thought I would focus more on, say, producing or something. But the radio show only got bigger and the fans wanted me to do another series of events.” The radio show has become the centre of his life now, says the DJ. “I share my music with my fans, my events with them”¦ my personal life. I play my tracks, tracks from my competition; from other labels ”¦ everything possible is there.”

This story is from the March 2013 issue of ROLLING STONE India.