Recap - the '07 Indian Electronica Festival in NYC

On September 20th we held the first ever Indian Electronica Festival in New York and I'm so happy to say that it was a smashing success!

This was our third installment of the 2007 Festival series and I worked with our Advisory Committee to program the event uniquely compared to the previous summer sessions in Toronto and London – NYC was all about the Djs... well, we also had a couple of live acts but the plan entailed creating a comfortable social atmosphere where people could chill out, shake their rumps, chat or whatever else they felt like...

The performance roster was fantastic – a Festival first saw some old school hip hop vibe courtesy of human beat-boxer Shamik – all the way from Calgary Alberta, his poly-rhythmic stylings had the audience captivated; with beats ranging from boom-bap to '94 junglis'! We also had Shaair+Func do a live set (which was electrifying, despite the venue not having a live set-up – which meant us plugging things into areas of the house mixer which may be considered profane ;) ) - this is a great duo that play an eclectic range of styles encompassing trip-hop, breaks, rock and more; further exhibiting their talents, under the name 'Fun'international,' one half of the group took to the decks after myself around 10 o'clock to spin a great selection of dubstep from around the world.

Of course, none other than the percussive impresario many New Yorkers love – Sharmaji, stepped up to the decks following Func'international to drop tracks from his magic bag of delicious indo-flavoured raggafantastic dubstep treats; which were so tasty I *had* to ask him to spin up a signature mix for Indian Electronica's 10th podcast show (download it – the set's sick).

Flipping the script, DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid jumped into the booth apres Sharmaji with an array of music cut up wildstyle – featuring bhangra dhols, bollywood classics, hip hop crowd-rockers, Jamaican dance-hallf fog-horn laden cuts and all sorts of other beats – 'twas nice nice. Of course, I couldn't help jumping in the booth and jamming away at some live visuals – remixing Spooky's prepared display of multinational flags on the spot with my own collection of WWII footage, fireworks, bharatnatyam dancers etc... Sexy stuff.

Thanks again goes to v:shal kanwar – who drove down from DC to end the gig with a mellow set; it was nice to see him play this time; unfortunately in Toronto we had too many acts on stage and v:shal didn't get the chance to spin.

To top off this wonderful Big Apple experience, the night after IE07:NYC, Tito G and I were at the Rubin Museum of Art's K2 lounge to host a listening party for Indian Electronica vol 001- IE's new 2 disc compilation release. It was a lovely evening of mingling with open ears – congrats to all who won a copy in the raffle, for everyone else please pop over to http://www.indianelectronica.com/records and pick up a copy from our online store ;)

To everyone involved including the Advisory Committee, the Rubin, White Rabbit and all who came, wished they could, helped spread the word far and wide etc... I thank you for all the positivity; hopefully this is the beginning of a long love affair between IE and NYC :)

The next sessions of the Indian Electronica Festival are being planned for December in Delhi and Mumbai – be there or be square yaar.

Qasim./

PS - Check the photos from NYC on flickr:
http://flickr.com/photos/indianelectronica/sets/72157604436550093/