The My Fav DJ awards should be renamed the ‘All-My-Favourite-DJs-At-A-Party’ Awards. In its mere 4th year, the star-studded event (literally – not just talking about the guests, but the star-shaped awards too) has already gained itself a reputation as one of the most happening nights among India’s electronic music fraternity. An event where fans rub shoulders with a mélange of DJs, all in attendance are “bonded by the love of electronic music”, as Canadian techno king Richie Hawtin so romantically put it.
Over the past few months, fans in India logged on to myfavdj.in to select their “fav” DJs across a spectrum of genres, with three artists shortlisted in each category. Fan-voted and for the first time in its history, fan-attended, Mumbai’s Hard Rock Café set the stage for the award ceremony this Tuesday, and if that wasn’t a party enough, it hosted the after party as well. With an enviable line up comprising Rishab Joshi (aka Lost Stories), Bullzeye, Priyanjana, and the man who swept the awards last year, Ankytrixx, also on the line-up was a celebration set by the DJ of the year 2014 – more on that in just a bit.
The nominee roster boasted both seasoned greats and novices for whom 2013 was a launch pad of a year. Some notable winners were DJ Chetas in the Bollywood category, the mashup mastermind behind the Cocktail and Student of the Year soundtracks, who transformed otherwise intolerable songs into club thumpers. Of course, the genius/heartthrob Dualist Inquiry‘s sleight of hand on the console and the guitar gained him a well-deserved win in the Electronica category. House DJ of the Year went to none other than to the ubiquitous Anish Sood, whose energy radiates from his sets, where as the Producer of the Year award went to the dextrous Kash Trivedi. DJ Sa took away the award for Best Hip Hop DJ, while Sound Avtar and Ash Roy, who have been blowing up the Drum ‘n’ Bass/Dubstep and Techno scenes respectively were no-brainers to win – though we’d like to make a special mention to Nucleya, Joshi and Kohra, who might have just missed out on a MyFav, but are definitely amongst our favourites. Indrajeet Jadeja, or Indra J took away the award for the best in ChillOut, Gavin for Rock & Retro, Anees aka Paranoid for Trance and Nitin Mahajan for Psy Trance. Bangalore’s jungle-themed lounge Pebble won the award for Best Club, and Sunburn raved its way to the top of the Best Festivals list.
Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come, and the My Fav DJ Awards are exemplary of that. With the burgeoning EDM circuit in the country, the initiative of India’s first-ever people’s choice awards poll for DJs, clubs and festivals, couldn’t be more opportune. Nothing makes us want to dance more than the fact that an indigenous platform has pioneered to pay homage to the artists that make us live and love dance. Hats headphones off to the homegrown talent that has vindicated the electronic music industry in India today, as well as to the recognition platform that has brought the underground scene so proudly to the surface. Congratulations to the all the winners!
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