One of UK’s premier house music production duo The Shapeshifters recently came down to India to celebrate their decade long career in dance music. Spinning some funky, deep and progressive house tunes, The Shapeshifters were joined by Nikhil Chinapa, DJ Aditya Wanwari and an intimate crowd of their fans and dance music enthusiasts at Amadeus, National Centre for Performing Arts, Mumbai on August 2.

The Shapeshifters are one of the most prolific names in the house music industry, finding consistent success in the scene ever since their first track ‘Lola’s theme’ made it to number #1 in the UK & US & became a club anthem all around the world. The partnership between Max Reich, who is originally from Gothenburg-Sweden, and the British Simon Marlin resulted in a succession of hit dance tracks, including the brilliant ‘Treadstone’ and their remake of Orbital’s ‘Chime’.

While The Shapeshifters have always adapted to the DJ-ing culture over the years, their own productions have always stayed true to their musical values and principles. Each production is tied to the other while still breathing new life to each of their soulful melodies. With tracks like ‘Back to Basics’, ‘Helter Skelter’, ‘Incredible’, ‘The ones you love’ and ‘Only You’, they have shown how their sound can still adapt to musical tastes over the years despite having the same inherent spirit in each production. Meanwhile, their live sets are constructed for one thing and one thing only – for you to lose it on the dancefloor! And that’s precisely what happened at Amadeus!

It all began at about 10 pm with resident DJ and Mumbai-boy Aditya Wanwari. The 20-year-old has made some serious headway as he has opened for the biggest DJ’s in the last couple of months including Lost Stories, Jordy Dazz, Denis Shepard, Anish Sood and Cedric Gervais among others. Aditya Wanwari was spinning some deep house tunes keeping the tempo up and groovy.

The dancefloor at this time was relatively empty as people were lingering around the bar and enjoying their meals and drinks. This happened to be the first time that Submerge was hosting an event at Amadeus and as the crew arrived about 30 mins later, Submerge co-founders Nikhil & Pearl headed straight to the Sound room for a sound check.

There seemed to be some technical difficulties as they both were seen constantly pacing around the dancefloor trying to get the right balance for sound reception. Nikhil also took to the decks to play a couple of tracks to better judge the sound quality in the room. As the sound systems were being synced, we got a chance to speak to Nikhil about his recent announcements on Twitter & Facebook on uXX. Programmed by Submerge, uXX is providing India’s next generation of music fans with an unprecedented opportunity: a concert that’s ONLY for those 20 years-old and younger.

Besides attendance, uXX also gives passionate young fans a chance to help create, produce, and execute the show. They’ll work hand-in-hand with the crew to learn how to put together world-class music experiences. Talking about uXX, he said, “It’s meant to be a platform for youngsters to come together and do something for dance music. The idea was to involve them in this process as they will be the people in a couple of years who’d be here doing this.” He further added, “I think it shows that when people come together and they have the right energy and passion, anything can be achieved.” He also jokingly added that, “Do you know what uXX stands for? It means ‘Under 20′ as the two X’s represent 20 in Roman numerals. I get the strangest queries as to what it stands for?!”

Once Nikhil and Pearl were satisfied with the sound quality encompassing the dancefloor, Nikhil joined DJ Aditya on the decks to warm-up the crowd present on the dancefloor. Nikhil greeted everyone present and said, “..tonight promises to bring House music to you like it was meant to be…so be prepared for some groovy and funky tunes! I should warn you that there will be songs which you might never have heard before..but try to keep an open mind only for one night..and that it..that’s all I ask, for one night only!!” He began with Francesca Lombardo’s magical ’Sofiel’ and the soulful Artful & Ridney ft. Terri Walker’s ’Missing You (Ridney Re-work)’.

While the crowd remained limited in number throughout the night, the energy was unlimited as more space allowed audience members to express themselves freely as melodies and riffs took over the empty pockets on the dancefloor. With tracks like ‘Hope’ by Guti and the pounding ’Hamburg Is For Lovers’ by David August, the tempo was amped just that little bit more. The track selection was palpably exquisite as music flowed through the audience members – the way House music was invented to be! With tracks like Hot Natured ft Anabel Englund’s enigmatic’Reverse Skydiving (Shadow Child remix)’,Urulu & Steve Huerta’s ’Things I Didn’t Mean’ andBetoko’s ’U So fine’, a little euphoric edge was now added to the night.

Nikhil now shifted gears and moved from funky to more progressive sounds when he dropped Anil Chawla’s remix of Joe Brazil, Jack Michaels & Marc Houlihan’s ’Oops A Daisy (Anil Chawla remix)’. Taking to the mic once again, he urged audience members to move closer to the console to make the experience as intimate for him as it was becoming for them. The crowd obliged as formations were re-grouped. Nikhil caused a few of us to do join in the acapella when he unfolded the yesteryear classic ’Missing 2012 (eSQUIRE Remix)’ by Everything But The Girl right after he dropped mastermind Franky Rizardo’s ’The End (Original Mix)’.

Ending his spectacular set with tracks from Candi Staton called ’Hallelujah Anyway (David Penn Mix)’ and Soul Central’s deeply melodic ’Need You Now (Sergio Flores Remix)’, the time had come for Simon Marlin – one half of the Shapeshifters – to take over the DJ duties and to give the crowd a lesson in House music!

Starting off where Nikhil left off, Simon began with Soul Central’s ’Strings of Life (Danny Krivit re-edit)’ with an acapella from Mr. Fingers and Inner City’s Big Fun (Full Intention Remix). Perhaps the funkiest moment of the night had to be when Simon dropped tribal delight ’Miami Vice (Original Mix)’ by Franky Rizardo. Those chunky beats and tribal chants got us all raving just like we would in a circular dance in the Amazonian forest! With tracks like Storm Queen’s ’Look Right Through (MK Morning Vocal Mix)’ and the inexorably genius ’Your Love’ by Mark Knight, we were falling short of dance moves as Simon continued to seamlessly shift between sub-genres in House music!

Nobody likes a classic remade. But when the classic is Wamdue Project’s ’King Of My Castle (Crazibiza Remix)’ and it’s remix is so fantastically synced into a set curated of melodic genius, who is to complain! What especially set Simon’s set a class apart was the fact that he hadn’t played a single home production from Shapeshifters-an occurrence you do not see very often from most artists nowadays.

But we would have been sorely disappointed if we hadn’t heard even a sample of Lola’s theme that night. And surely enough, there it was! Inventively layered under Criminal Vibes’s dancefloor stomper ’Bring the beat (Original mix)’ was that unmistakable chain sound of ’Lola’s theme’. It probably lasted about 30 seconds but was completely worth the wait as the basslines from Bring the beat bought us straight back to Amadeus. Ending with the triathlon of Pagano’s ’Pornochanchada (Original Mix)’, Rober Gaez’s ’You Stole My Love (Original Mix)’ and the House classic Tori Amos’s ’Professional Widow (Armand Van Helden Remix)’. So amazed was Nikhil when the final track played, that he went on to specially ID it for the crowd and add that it had been nearly 20 years since its release!

Submerge went on to add on their Facebook page, the delightful comment ”…house isn’t a genre; it’s a feeling.” These words would do more than aptly to describe the night and the stellar set by Shapeshifters. Despite the rains and the tormenting traffic, when music can be this blissful, everything is worth it!

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Thank you The Shapeshifters & Submerge!

Reviewed by Hamed Khalidi.

Edited by Angelica Syiemiong Pereira.