Interview with Anil Chawla

Q. As resident spinner at Mongo Bongo, how different is the clubbingscene in Bombay to London or anywhere else in the world?I've only spent a short time in Bombay, and have never DJ'd there, socouldn't really compare the scene in Bombay to anywhere in the world. You'llhave to ask me that question again in a week's time!
Q. How would you define the kind of music you do? Rather how would youdescribe what you do?It's all about house for me - from the deep groovy stuff right through tothose twisted 5am moments. If I'm opening, I love the deep house/discosound. Later into the night and on a more twisted flavour; groovy tech houseand techno is what I'm about... With a splash of acid thrown in for goodmeasure.
Q. How open do you think the Indian audiences are to electronica? Orperhaps, how big is the electronica scene here as compared to Europe?I think it's certainly a developing scene. However, because it's relativelynew to a lot of people, they are very enthusiastic about the music - whichis very much positive thing. My experience in Goa (for the Sunburn festival)was very encouraging, and it was great to meet so many people who were sopassionate about house music. Also, you have groups like Submerge who areopening up the scene to so many new people and really pushing it forward.It's a very exciting development for global music.
Q. Do you think India has the potential to be a leader in the clubbingscene as much as Europe is known for?I certainly don't see why not. It will take time and the right people behindit, but I can certainly see it going that way, with more and more peoplegetting into clubbing. Also, there are some great electronic acts coming outof India like Jalebee Cartel and Midival Punditz, which will help push the
movement forward.
Q. How different is your music from your contemporaries? How do youdifferentiate yourself?That's a really good question, but ultimately it's very difficult to answer!I guess the way I try to differentiate myself is by only playing music thatI love, rather than being caught up in following trends.
Q. Can you explain what Global underground UK house music connotates?Global Underground is the record label that I put out a lot of music with,and whom I am working on my album for (in collaboration with Dale Anderson).It's a great honour to be associated with them, as they were the firstpeople to really grasp the concept of DJ mixes, putting out legendaryselections from Sasha, Digweed, Danny Howells, Sander Kleinenberg, SteveLawler, and loads more.
Q. How far with you go in experimenting with your music? Do you thinksomewhere genres get diluted in while mixing music? You think thatwould take away from the essence of its roots?I think it's healthy to experiment to a certain extent... I'm not up therewith Laurent Garnier, but I love to have a play with different sounds forsure. It keeps it interesting. But there are certainly other times when youneed to just keep it as straight house/techno and hold a consistent groove.It's all about reading the crowds.
Q. Where do you see yourself headed with your music?Right now, getting the album finished is priority number 1... Myself andDale have been working on our debut artist album for the last year, whichwill be coming out on GU early next year. We're both very excited to see itout in the shops. I've also been doing a fair bit of touring over the summer(through South America and Europe), and will be continuing with that untilthe end of the year, and beyond. Also, on the production front, I've justfinished a couple of remixes for Cevin Fisher and Redanka, both of which
will be getting their debut on the India tour.
Q. How long has it been since you got into what your'e doing? How longbefore you take a different route, if ever?I've been playing with record decks for about 8/9 years, but I've onlyreally been pursuing it properly for the last 4 years or so. As for the longterm... Well, I'm just taking each day as it comes, and I'm really happywith the way things are going right now. I have no plans to take a massivelydifferent route at the moment, but I certainly shalln't rule it out for thefuture.