IN 2016, JAI Anand, an alumna of Berklee College of Music started Milkman, a concept with which he wanted to bring a hybrid of ideas, emotions and sounds to life through live music and entertainment experiences. Although started while he was still in Spain, the idea was to bring Milkman, and its brand of ‘good music experiences’, to India. Particularly, Mumbai, the city he grew up in. As part of the plan, he started bringing celebrated composers from various parts of the world for individual gigs. A few names among the many artistes who made their maiden visit to India include one of techno’s most authentic DJs Detroit-based Sherard Ingram (DJ Stingray) and a household name in global electronic music Ben UFO from the UK.
“I wanted to create a happy dance friendly environment for music lovers, something that was lacking here. I started with monthly shows in Mumbai, bringing international artists and doing an individual act party. During these gigs, I saw around 800-1,000 people showing up in a warehouse for an unknown producer, who may not even have an Instagram account, just to experience good music. This made me realise that if I will curate an underground lineup, thousands of people will show up,” says Jai, who found many existing festivals ‘poorly organised’ and therefore wanted to have a festival that allows him to curate it — pick a good lineup, create a theme and organise it well. Thus begun Terminal 1.
Interestingly, Jai describes Terminal 1 as such, “It isn’t essentially your regular music festival”. When asked about the same, Jai says, “It is not EDM. It is different, it is more avant-g arde electronic music, some good jazz as well as experimental music. It does cater to the audiophiles of the city but it is also for people who are willing to let go of their guard and are interested in experiencing new sounds.”
Building blocks
Started last year as a two-day festival — which saw luminaries like Roi Perez, Alienata, Aux 88 and Mount Kimble making their debut in the country — the second edition of the festival would span across three days at three different venues across the city. While day one would be at a club, the second day would be at a warehouse and the third day would be a rooftop party (at a secret location).
Talking about the lineup, Jai says, “This year’s line-up is very special and a lot of work has gone into it. Berlin-based Klasswrecks label boss will open the festival at Anti-Social on the first day.” A returning name on the roster is Hamburg’s electro queen, Helena Hauff. The second day will also see legendary musician Neil Landstrumm, who has been in the game for over two decades and is one of the true innovators in techno. Fans can also look forward to an experimental electro-pop live set from producer Aisha Devi. He adds, “On the third day, we’ve got one of the most influential names in jazz music, Henry Wu, who will be closing the festival with a DJ set at the rooftop. On the local front, we have some of the best in the country — Kavya Trehan, Anushka, Drum Ani Bass, Yung Raj, Chrms and Sid Shirodkar, who will be joined by our resident DJ, Spacejams.”
Stockholm-based Samo DJ, best known for house tunes like Grasshopper, is making his Indian debut at Terminal 1. “I am delighted to be invited to Mumbai. It will be interesting to sink my teeth in the local cuisine and saunter the terrain by foot. I have had plenty of friends who have visited India and they all came back with smiles plenty of anecdotes. From what I gather, it's more or less the polar opposite of where I live in Sweden,” concludes the label boss at Born Free records.
Constant reinvention
What happens when Scotland’s most inventive techno artists, Neil Landstrumm, loses a large chunk of his live performance rig due to an airline mishap? Neil, who is headlining Terminal 1, insists that it has inspired him to write a whole load of new tunes — like the upcoming LP on Swamp81 label. “I still enjoy being unpredictable when I perform and combine playing danceable beats and riffs with more experimental sonic experiences. My live set has always had a lot of raw energy and is bass-heavy. I also mix in snippets of old tracks from other artists which help break up the set and give it different flavours,” shares the maestro
From February 28- March 1. At multiple venues across Mumbai.
Email: heena@newindianexpress.com
Twitter: @heenakhandlwal