Western Promises

Andre Gardeja

A Culture Must initiative, Sound Tamasha has been instrumental in strengthening ties between the burgeoning Indian electronic music scene and the strong European electronic music scene. This rich creative and cultural exchange aspires to expose Indian electronica to the West through collaborations, tours and resident DJs by getting international DJs to work with other DJs in India for months at a stretch. Kicked off in 2008, Sound Tamasha released a compilation, Spectaculicious House, featuring Indian and German electronic artists like B.L.O.T (Delhi,) Andre Gardeja (Berlin,) Nils Ohrman (Berlin) and Vipul Angirish (Delhi.) Gardeja and Ohrman were down for the album launch in Delhi last month.

Gardeja has been associated with the initiative since it started, but only now has he stepped in as an artist manager and producer for the Sound Tamasha series. The Berlin-based house DJ who runs his own record label, record store and booking agency in Berlin has also released Spectaculicious on his label, and is looking to work with various artists in the year that he is here. “I will be working on three to four EPs featuring Indian artists in the next five to six months,” says Gardeja. Based out of Delhi for this time he is excited about working with B.L.O.T and Angrish, “I think Vipul is one of the big talents in Delhi; I am starting a project with him in the studio very soon. He is very talented, he is 24 years old and he has also worked with DJ Hamza. I also think the B.L.O.T guys are some of the biggest and best guys for this kind of music in India.” Gardeja will be sending the original tracks of the artists and getting artists/DJs in Germany to put their own spin on them. The remixed tracks will make it on the EPs. Excited about driving the scene and this project at hand Gardeja feels the Indian scene bears great potential, “While the scene is very small when compared with Europe and the electronic music scene all over the world, I feel it’s grown up. The scene is very small and young, the problem here is you don’t have the right clubs, like in London or Berlin there are clubs dedicated to such music. Here most of the parties and DJ nights take place in hotel and lounges. This makes it very tough for electronic artists in India. But I feel it will grow up, since my last visit in 2009 I think a lot of things have changed. I have a good feeling that’s the reason I am here, to be a pioneer.”