ITV

Tag: DJ Cavo

  • While good, ‘MTV Just Grind’ featuring Swaraj hit some dead spots

    While good, ‘MTV Just Grind’ featuring Swaraj hit some dead spots

    Deafening sounds! Laser lights! Cameras all over place! Teens hopping up and down like jack rabbits! This was the scene that MTV created for its Just Grind bash. The show took place at Mikanos on 11 July.

    The show saw around 1800 people in attendance. Sonik Gurus’ DJ Khushboo, Dum Dum Project’s DJ Cavo and Shiv Sound Systems Nerm represented the music group Swaraj. The aim was to give party happy music buffs a taste of the latest sounds emanating from the club scene in the UK and US.

    While the show certainly was a hit with the people on the dance floor there were noticeable moments when they had difficulty getting into the rhythemic beat of the music and thus stopped moving altogether at times. This could be attributed to the fact that the exposure of Indians to underground sounds is severely limited.

    DDP kicked things off with bhangra tunes, which as expected got a huge response. Cavo shrewdly introduced hip-hop into the mix in a seamless manner. Rarely has one heard music with such a consistently heavy drumbeat. Admittedly at times because of the excessively high volume the constant thumping did grate on ones nerves.

    A major plus of the evening were the laser lights especially the green ones, which emanated above the DJ’s desk.

    They moved around the room at times in brilliant sync with the music thus creating a hallucinatory effect.

    Cavo also did his best to interact with the movers and shakers and managed to create a reasonable level of crowd commotion with the “I say hey you say Ho” thing. Cavo however faded at the end when he tried to introduce electronic sounds. The crowd got lost and didn’t seem to follow the point and direction of the music. At times the last tune sounded as if different sounds were just thrown into the mix to see what would happen.


    Milind Soman lets it hang loose at the MTV Grind bash

    Live music came in the form of the Sonik Gurus DJ Khushbhoo who introduced the Trio. Two of them had drums and therefore the beat became more eclectic. The guitar and keyboards were also able to create a variety of sounds such as the wail of a police siren. Two screens on either side of the dance floor gave people a chance to see themselves on the telly. The show was hosted by MTV VJs Anusha and Nikhil Chinapa. All in all this was a pretty good show by MTV and one is sure that if events such this one happen on a regular basis then the appreciation by Indians of different kinds of fused music will grow.

    Also Read:
    “There’s nothing worse than watching a DJ who looks bored and doesn’t interact with the crowd”: Interview with Swaraj group members

  • Swaraj to rock ‘MTV Just Grind’ on 11 July at Mikanos

    MUMBAI: Sitars, tanpuras, dhols and thumbi mashed up with dancefloor beats, rocky guitar riffs and catchy vocal. International music with eastern influences. is what music fans can expect at the MTV Just Grind bash. This takes place at Mikano’s on 11 July from 8 pm.
    Presented by White Mischief Holidays, MTV Just Grind will showcase the refreshing sound of Swaraj that comes at a time when Punjabi/bhangra is the new flavour of the west. In India, Swaraj will be represented by Khushboo from Sonik Gurus, Nerm from Shiva Sound System and Cavo from the Dum Dum Project. Swaraj consists of 20 DJ’s, musicians, producers and visual artists.
    Swaraj was formed nearly six years ago and they have taken their ‘Future Asian Beat’ sound – a heavy fusion of eastern sounds and rhythms with Hip Hop, Funk, Breakbeats, Drum ‘n bass and just about any other western dance floor style – around the world.
    Swaraj made the following comments about their upcoming trip to India “Swaraj is your birthright, performing live in India is ours! We’re looking forward to making MTV Just Grind the most happening party in Mumbai so make sure you’re there.”
    MTV’s Chillout crew will also be around shoot a half-hour special that will capture the music, the mood, the people and the maasti.
    Formed a couple of years ago Sonik Gurus have been likened to an urban version of Blur with their cheeky British pop lyrical sensibilities and heavy urban club grooves. Their music defies categorisation, crossing just about every musical boundary while forging a genre of it’s own. Sitars, tanpuras, dhols and thumbi mashed up with dancefloor beats, rocky guitar riffs and catchy vocal hooks comprise their sound. Sonik Gurus are rapidly establishing themselves as top remixers, having recently remixed tracks by U.S R ‘n B diva Toni Braxton and Shakalaka Baby from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams musical.
    Shiva Sound System formed an alliance with Swaraj just before their compilation “Future Asian Beat” was released. Soon rising to the headline act in the Swaraj roster, DJ Nerm’s sets grew incorporating new collaborators and methods of performance at each turn. While the seeds of the Shiva Sound System were sown here, Nerm toured around the globe with Swaraj, including territories from the US to India causing a storm wherever he went.
    Meanwhile The Dum Dum Project are currently making their own in-roads into Asia with a popular club residency in Bangkok. They introduced a new Asian- Indian sound, which combines Indian music with breakbeats, samples and live instrumentation. Their new single Punjabi 50 has been at number one on BBC radio1 Asian chart for over a month. Their sound is Urban Asian, with a heavy New York streetwise influence. The band comprises of Sean alias DJ Cavo and producer/instrumentalist Niraj Chag.