One of the country’s top EDM stars, DJ Bobina, tells Shana Maria Verghis how two years of holing up in his studio paid off. He played recently at the Maddox Club
What’s this about you locking yourself in the studioIJ What did you survive on...airIJ
Hahaha... I survived on music! Being a DJ and music producer is different from remixing... people deride remixes. But this is serious art... you have to have perfect sense of sound before attempting it... a remix should sound better than the original... though originals will be originals... or else you’ve lost it. Now that’s challenge because how can you better a best... I didn’t want to waste an a iota of second when I realised I need to master this too. Studio is where I slept and ate for two long years!
What was a major training ground, vis-a-vis the craftIJ
For a DJ his sets and console... no matter where you learn the craft formally... if you are not able to gauge the mood and what people in the club wish to listen to... you’d be a failure.
What does Bobina meanIJ
Reel-to-reel, that is the cassette copies of the cassettes. A lot of pre-CD stuff was released on cassettes. The bobinas would travel from city to city... everybody would copy copies of copies. The quality can be shitty and tape shortages forced padding out the end of one bobina, with parts of the next.
What’s the scene in Russia...
In 2003 EDM started becoming popular and that’s when I thought of coming up with an album. In 2004 I came up with Catchy, soon my sound spread like wildfire across Russia... turning Catchy into the country’s first electronic dance album. This is when Russia woke to EDM... since then there has been no turning back... EDM is what made me win the Russian Dance Music Award (RDMA) twice. Slow — an electro-trance cover of the Kylie Minogue hit — that came out some five years back, became Russia’s best and fastest selling electronic dance album to date. In 2010, I played to an audience of more than 60,000 at the Moscow Day celebration in lubyanka Square. In October 2009, I took over Moscow’s legendary Gaudi Club for my first spotlight DJ concert.
In fact EDM is so popular in Moscow and whole of Russia that I have a dedicated radio show — Russia Goes Clubbing (RGC). Beaming out around the Russian Federation & Ukraine, it is my once-a-week, every-week snapshot of what is making the country’s cities boom.
It is broadcast through stations in 50 of the biggest cities in Russia and has a staggering 10 million + listeners... the dance fans. In late 2011 the show expanded its reach further, when Ukrainian station KissFM began broadcasting it weekly across its network.
Does Russia have many electronic music festivals...
It is the Europe and the Americas that are a hotbed of electronic music festivals... there isn’t much to say about these festivals in Russia.
Dance and trance is popular all over. Do you know whyIJ
The good part about youngsters is when they do something they want to get lost or immersed in it completely... be it work, music and dance. They want to attain that trance stage... in the recent past electronic trance is catching up like wildfire... I guess it is something to do with escape... from serious work pressures or harsh realities of life... or that feeling of living it up... EDM gives momentary nirvana.
Why become a DJIJ
Music is in my blood... I think I am doing well. I am currently ranked #53 internationally by the DJ Mag. I was earlier #33. As I am in the top 100 list which is what matters... I know one thing... if you keep doing good work today, your tomorrow shall be bright enough.
Have you listened to Indian musicIJ
Yes, I have listened to Indian music... DJs from across the world are experimenting with Indian film, sufi and classical music. It is a part of the underground music you hear at international pubs.