By Natalia Ningthoujam
New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) Udyan Sagar aka DJ Nucleya thinks hip-hop music is going to be big in India because of its versatility.

India has seen many phases in the choice of music like pop, Bollywood and Electronic Dance Music (EDM). Which genre is expected to be the next big thing in India?

“I think hip-hop is going to be the next big musical movement in India. This is because of how versatile it is. The beats are universal and the words can be adapted to any language whatsoever,” Nucleya told IANS in an email interview.

“We already have rappers within India rapping in Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Assamese and many other languages. I think this versatility is really going to lead to it spreading all across the country and to rural regions like no genre before.”

If we go by the trend in the country’s music industry, we can see a lot of DJS remixing classic tracks or contemporary Bollywood songs. Is it difficult for Indian DJs to survive without remixing?

“No, I don’t think so. I think there are an incredible number of talented producers out there in India who are currently making a career releasing original music and not feeling the need to remix older tracks and especially not older Bollywood days.

“I think there is just so much potential for growth in the Indian independent industry that producers are much more interested in new territory and what has not been done yet, than going backwards and trying to reinterpret old works,” said the “Bass rani” hitmaker, who is more interested in moving forward and pushing this new generation to make original music.

Nucleya started his music career towards the end of 1990s when he co-founded the musical act Bandish Projekt. He is known for fusing his signature bass heavy sound with south Indian street and folk music.

On coming up with the ‘Nucleya sound’, he said: “I took inspiration from my world around me and what I was hearing in my everyday life. I then started to think about those sounds differently and tried to produce similar rhythm patterns using electronic sounds.

“That is what resulted in what people would come to identify with my sound. I’d like to mention though that even today that sound is evolving and there are new ideas being unlocked every day.”

He will be playing “about 90 per cent my own music” at the multi-genre Enchanted Valley Carnival concert, now titled Comio EVC Mumbai 2017, on December 17.

“This will be a combination of older releases as well as new stuff that I have put out this year like ‘Paintra’ – my collaboration with rapper Divine for the Anurag Kashyap film ‘Mukkabaaz’. Also, the show is much bigger with the addition of new visuals and special effects,” said Nucleya.

Apart from Indian festivals, he has entertained music lovers outside India as well.

Talking about it, he said: “In India, everyone knows my material now but outside India is a brand new audience. I actually really enjoy that challenge of having to win over a new audience, so it’s a new battle every time.”

“In the US, they really love hip-hop stuff, so I cater my set to that a little more but in China or Singapore, for example they really respond to the hardstyle stuff so I lean a little more that way,” he said.

After releasing a documentary this year, what’s next?

“We are currently touring heavily behind the ‘SUB Cinema’ tour, and will be busy with that until about April. I am currently working on my next full length album that will be released towards the end of next year,” he said.

(Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at [email protected])

–IANS
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