Celeb Speak: Nikhil Chinapa

He’s been the game changer of the dance music scene in India. The face generations have grown up with on MTV is not about to slow down any time soon, finds Ambika Muttoo.

My Story, So Far
I was studying architecture in Bengaluru and spending more time outside college. I used to MC club events and host gigs to earn pocket money. Later, I got a job at local radio station, Radio Mid-Day, which turned into a daily show. Then, MTV launched a talent hunt, which I took part in and won, leading me to move to Mumbai in 1997. I started travelling across India on shoots and I’d always end up in clubs afterwards. I actually started my own parties because I didn’t like the music. I was inspired by my wife [DJ Pearl], and three of us – she, my best friend Hermit Sethi and I – started throwing parties, and that’s how Submerge was born in 2002.

Sowing Seeds
Pearl was already throwing parties in Delhi, booking artistes like 100% Isis and Richard Van Overbeek. She got me to travel, having already been to gigs like John Digweed in London in 2000. I don’t know if I would have travelled to Ibiza or Amsterdam without her. In 2001, we spent a dancing holiday in Amsterdam, Ibiza, Barcelona and London, literally clubbing every night. In Ibiza, Pearl said, we need to bring this to India. That’s how the seed for Sunburn was planted. We threw parties at a friend’s shack in 2002 in Goa. It then evolved into the Zanzibar Submerge beach parties, which functioned as the blueprint for Sunburn.

The Turning Point
When I booked DJ and producer Axwell in September 2007. He was on holiday in Goa with his family that year and played at the first ever Sunburn, alongside an incredible line-up, including Carl Cox. Sunburn happened with me, Aman Anand and Devraj Sanyal, who were from Percept then. Axwell went back and met Simon Dunmore — DJ and head honcho of Defected Records — and told him about the scene in India. Simon played at Sunburn in 2011. I get stubborn and obsessive and chase things. Because I worked with MTV and Submerge, a lot of the public’s attention was directed towards me and that didn’t sit well with everyone at Sunburn, so I left. When Viacom heard that I had left, they approached me to curate this new festival, Vh1 Supersonic. That’s where we are right now … the story keeps writing itself.

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Source: Jabong