Azadi Records Turns 5, Plans to Usher in A New Era

Over the last five years, New Delhi/Mumbai independent record label Azadi Records – founded by Mo Joshi and Uday Kapur – has been at the core of pushing South Asian independent music to a wider audience. To celebrate their fifth anniversary, thehas organized a four-city tour in Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai and New Delhi with a lineup that includes artists such as Prabh Deep, Seedhe Maut, Ali Saffudin, Ahmer, Tienas and more.  

We caught up with Kapur to talk about the label’s initial years, their biggest milestones thus far and what they have planned going forward. Excerpts from the interview. 

If you could tell me about the early years of Azadi Records and how it initially came to be? 

Azadi initially started as a small conclusion in a thesis I wrote in university about protest music in the country and how I saw space for socio-political art being integrated into the scene. The idea had been bouncing around in my head for a while but once I met Mo in 2016, everything changed. None of what has been built would have been possible without him – having a partnership that allows creativity and belief to flourish, not just between the label and our artists but between us and the larger team at Azadi has been the foundation of everything we’ve managed to achieve over the past five years. 

Were there any hurdles or setbacks that you guys faced over the years, which you’ve now learned from? 

Besides the usual obstacles faced by bootstrap, independent start-ups, I think the biggest challenge has been learning how to stay true to the idea that Azadi Records sought to serve while still surviving as a business. 

What according to you are some of the biggest or most memorable moments at Azadi Records? 

Taking the roster to Srinagar along with the BFR Soundsystem crew was extremely special, as well as having a chance to be involved in the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh. There are many of these smaller moments, such as having the family and friends of our artists share in the important moments that have defined their respective careers, which really make all that we do worth it. 

How has the label evolved over time? 

There’s definitely more nuance in the way our artists and the label as a collective approach narratives and issues. From an artist perspective, I think we’ve moved beyond the box of just being a record label, with many of our artists incorporating different cultural fields into their creative process. 

What does the future of the label look like? 

We’ve had a pretty seminal year in terms of our catalog with the release of albums such as Nayaab [Seedhe Maut], AZLI [Ahmer], Wolivo [Ali Saffudin], Bhram [Prabh Deep] and Enda Vishesham [Rebel 7]. There are still a couple of releases in store before the end of the year, but our main focus over the next few years is to build upon the Web3 journey that we kick-started this year, and we will hopefully play our part in building a creator-driven economy that is sustainable and transformative for the South Asian music community. 

Click here to buy tickets for Azadi Records’ Fifth Anniversary Tour.