Nikhil Chinapa, a well-known name in the music industry today, has donned several hats as he constantly changes roles. Commencing his journey as a VJ for more than a decade, the dance music aficionado has taken his passion on a different level altogether.

Apart from being the co-founder and festival director of the premier music festival Sunburn and hosting a radio show, he also founded his company Submerge Music, instrumental in bringing prominent DJs to India like Fatboy Slim, Paul Van Dyk, Swedish House Mafia, Alesso and Above and Beyond.

With India gradually opening up to the live music scene, Chinapa is all geared up to bring down epic acts like DJ Armin van Burren and Tiesto for music lovers across the country. In a casual exchange with Radioandmusic.com’s Chandni Mathur, Nikhil Chinapa speaks passionately about dance music and how Submerge has evolved with the music.

Excerpts:

You recently brought down some epic acts to India, how was the experience?

The response was actually good and it all started with Above and Beyond and Trance Around the World 450, which was a game-changer. It really set the stage for large scale events in the country to take place. We brought down the Swedish House Mafia and now we have DJ Armin van Burren coming on 16 March with his global dance show, A State Of Trance, so it is getting pretty exciting ahead.

What does it take to bring down acts like Fat Boy Slim, Tiesto and more to India?

I've been chasing Tiesto for over 5 years and the most important aspect of booking any talent, is to work methodically to build mutual trust between the artist's managers and us. 

The managers, the artists and Submerge, all have the same interest, which is love for music. World’s biggest DJ agents were at some point of time either DJs themselves or they were bookers for venues and clubs, handing out flyers for friends’ parties. And with what we are doing with Submerge, the radio show I host, contests on facebook, performing concerts and more; they see something similar to them and that is the love for sharing music. And I think that is what makes it easier for us to have these conversations and build that trust.

As a director of Submerge, which were some of the most memorable acts?

I would say that TATW450 with Above and Beyond was one of  the best things we have ever done. The audience that we had, the experience both for the fans, and Above and Beyond as well was fantastic. I don’t think I have ever seen so many people cry after a concert. After that concert many people came up to me, normally people come and tell me that it was a ‘great job’, ‘fantastic’ or ‘killer gig’; but after this lot of people had smile on their faces and just said "Thank you." It was really sweet and nice, and meant a lot more. It was special for everyone. Looking to the future, I can’t talk about it, but everybody that’s on my wish list will be in India this year.

How do you aim to constantly revolutionize music through Sunburn and Submerge?

My aim is to just keep having parties where I can enjoy myself, and as long as I can keep doing things that I love, I think we are on the right path. Submerge just hasn’t been around for a year or so, we have been around for 10 years supporting dance music. One of the main reasons why the Swedish House Mafia came to India in the first place, was because Submerge booked Axwell to play in a little club in Bangalore of 800 people in 2007. Axwell fell in love with India at that gig and that is why he has been a huge supporter of the dance music revolution in India and that is why the Swedish House Mafia wanted to come to India.

Laidback Luke and Richie Hawkin recently enthralled crowd at Submerge Weekend. Tell us about the event.

Submerge's first BIG WKND was a huge success. Both Laidback and Hawtin play completely different styles of music and it was fantastic to see the audiences embrace them both. 

Well right now I am working on my calendar for 2013; we are in talks with an international artiste to be coming down in November and December this year. We are also going to host concerts in March, April, May and then November and December. What I hope to do through the monsoons is focus on smaller venues and clubs bringing down more underground DJs to play. We also have a very strong focus on Submerge to get into college campuses this year, and to promote these college festivals across facebook and twitter.

Tell us something about DJ Armin van Buuren’s tour that’s coming up.

It’s coming up on 16 March, where he is doing a series of events across the world. It was held in Mexico City a week back and had a huge turnout there, it was broadcast live. They are also doing events in Sao Paulo, Beirut, Russia and Kuala Lumpur. He is then flying from Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai to play for a few hours and then immediately he gets on to a plane to go to Miami. I don’t know any other DJ who would take the trouble to do that, but I think Armin really loves India. I think it’s going to be a fantastic event.

How was the music scene before you launched Submerge? How instrumental has it been in opening up newer forms of music to India?

I think we have had a significant role to play and it’s important to say that we have only been part of the equation. There have been so many people who have supported music from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s; and all of these factors coming together have helped us create the scene that we have today. Submerge has tried to bring in a little more order in the chaos and we have been a little more methodical and structural about promoting the music that we love. We've built on a foundation that DJs in the 80s and 90s created when they had pushed the boundaries for dance music in India and played the music that they loved. Clubs in India have also had a huge role to play by supporting local DJs every single week and spreading music that they love to others who may not have heard it. So it’s an entire community that is building this music together.

Do you feel people’s music preferences have largely changed due to such live events?

I think live events mirror the preferences of the society that we live in. I will give a lot of credit to the internet. I think the visual imagery of the videos on the internet combined with the raw energy and the innovation that dance music has ingrained in its structure, has all come together to make it a popular force for live events today. We have concerts because there is a demand for it, so it is mirroring what society’s preferences are.

How would you say Sunburn and Submerge are different from each other?

Sunburn is a music festival, while Submerge is more of a collective and a dance music portal. So Sunburn is a large event that is staged in Goa, with concerts being held across India as well. But the artiste relationship or the movement of the dance music pulse in India on a one-on-one, day to day communication with the community is what Submerge is. It doesn’t mean that Sunburn doesn’t do that too. There is not much of a difference actually; we have been around for 10 years while Sunburn has been there for six years. I have my feet in both boats and I am involved in both the projects, so I kind of sit on two chairs.

Being involved in both the projects, do you share the acts in Sunburn and Submerge?

That is exactly what is happening with Tiesto. Submerge has done the booking, and we are handling the artiste and the requirements of the artiste and event. On the other hand, Sunburn is actually going to stage the event. They do the marketing, communication, infrastructure, ticket pricing and more. In some cases like Alesso or Above and Beyond, Submerge handles everything.

You also host a radio show ‘In the Mix’. What kind of an audience do you see there?

I am actually quite blown away. That radio show when we put it out every Saturday becomes the number one trending topic on Twitter across India. It’s become very popular and we get a huge number of messages on the online sites. When I travel to the cities where the radio show is available like Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai; people come up to me and say they love the show. It’s amazing to see how many people listen to it as it’s quite late from 10pm-1am. I am going to keep playing music to educate people in India about different genres. That is going to be a constantly changing process, but the heart of the show is music and entertainment.

How has Submerge evolved over the years?

We have grown as a company, but we still believe in doing the same thing in exactly the same way. We promote music that we care about and we believe in doing that the right way. We don’t believe in taking shortcuts, or overestimating our own potential and capabilities. We like to work within our own comfort zone by continuing to push the boundaries. With Sunburn we have a very effective partnership.  We are also constantly looking at new people to partner with to promote the music that we love.

Any more partnerships in the pipeline?

I am hoping that there will be. I constantly get calls from people who want to work with Submerge and are interested in building properties together. I answer all the calls and help in anyway I can, but it is very important to find the right like-minded partner to work with before we can progress.

What does it take to put up such a successful event each time?

It actually just takes one thing, the will of an individual to say how he wants to do things without compromising. It takes a strong team of dedicated professionals who love what they are doing, love dance music and who are very professional about their work. For example, a lot of our artiste contracts are done by a lawyer who is in Delhi, and she has been a dance music fan, enthusiast and part of the Submerge community for 7-8 years now. She has been a lawyer from the past four years or so, but she understands the music, artiste and what they are doing. So the guys who work in backstage production, or handle the lights, sounds, artistes and more are all dance music fans, which is why they love their job even more.

Everyone knows established names like Edward Maya or David Guetta, do you think lesser known faces in India can create the same impact?

Well, even the established names used to be lesser known people. David Guetta used to stand on street corners in Paris and hand out flyers to get people to come to his club where he was playing at night. So David Guetta was not created by the media overnight. Lesser known DJs need to be known as talented working DJs before they can become huge superstars. Axwell, the Swedish House Mafia, Tiesto all used to play in small clubs and venues. They have all worked their way up.

How important is it to really understand a genre like EDM or more rather than just listening to it?

You don’t need to understand anything about the genre at all. At the end of the day, if music makes you smile then it does not matter what genre it is. Of course there are others who enjoy the process of understanding the music too. I love doing it as well. If I hear a song that I like, I want to know what band it is, where they come from and more. So there are people who want to delve into music as well and there is nothing wrong in that as they enjoy it because they have more knowledge about the music. There are others who just want to enjoy the music, doesn’t matter if it’s Swedish House Mafia, Coldplay or AR Rahman.

How has India opened up to consume this new form of music? What change do you see?

I think music as a force has always been very powerful in the younger generation. It’s been a part of our culture for many years and the internet is making it easy to access music from all across the world. I think as the growth of internet increases, people will be able to listen to and share the music that they love. The future for events in India and international and domestic artistes playing in India is very positive.