It’s not often that you meet a musician who starts off with Hindustani Classical and moves to trance and electronic music. But that sums up Novlik Nisudan’s career graph in the musical circuit. “I learnt harmonium and vocals in my teens. Although I loved music, it was slightly sidelined when I worked as a hotelier. But I knew music was my calling,” says the Hyderabad-based DJ producer. After a couple of years of a full-time job, Novlik moved to Manchester for a course in music production and DJ-ing in 2016 and there was no looking back.
This weekend, Novlik is organising a musical event, The Journey, an evening dedicated to trance and electronic music, under his new initiative — High Tempo Fitness Music (HTFM). “The idea is to bring together fitness and music under one roof. I want people to understand how music, especially Psy and Goa trance, affects their reaction to workout. Although this event is not about fitness, it’s our first step towards announcing the initiative,” says the 28-year-old.
Novlik has earlier hosted quite a few trance concerts in the city, where each weekend was dedicated to a certain kind of sub-genre — dark forest psytrance, 12-hour trance journey, among others. This time around, as a part of The Journey, Novlik will collaborate with city-based vocalist Shri (Shridevi Keshavan) to render a mix of Indian Classical and electronic tunes, with a few Sanskrit chants added. “It’s going to be a slow transition from basics of electronic, classical to purely trance. The good thing about Goa trance is it’s smooth with no domination of either the lyrics or the tunes. Thus, vocals and other genres blend well,” informs Novlik.
Starlab
Energetic and atmospheric is one way to describe New Delhi-based DJ Starlab’s (or Bharat Bindal) soundscapes. At The Journey, Starlab will be performing an hour-long live electronic music set and further close the event with an additional electrifying DJ performance. The line-up includes DJs from our city — Alex Light and Tosmo.
Tickets: Rs.450. At Date Restaurant. On August 25, 6 pm onwards.