Deejays Skream & Benga get ready to enthrall Delhi. By Team Viva
Dubstep pioneers, Skream and Benga, are ready to rock India with their first multi-city tour, as part of their Asian gig line-up. Dubstep, a sub-genre of electronic dance music, has become popular over the years and the duo is considered one of the modern masters.
They will perform in Delhi (May 11) and Mumbai (May 12). The British musicians are also part of a popular dubstep group Magnetic Man, which features a third DJ, Artwork.
Excited about their first visit to India, Benga said, “(We’ll play) loads of new stuff. We’re bringing our classics, my new album, the Magnetic Man album, and Skream’s new album.”
He added, “India is part of a world I haven’t graced. It’s exciting to see people’s reactions to your music if you haven’t been somewhere. It’s exciting.” Talking about his new solo album Chapter II, Benga said, “One thing is that it’s very diverse and creative, but fits together well. I’ve got things with crazy chord progressions and tunes like I Will Never Change which is heavily in bass music. I haven’t heard an album like this since Kendrick lamar, and before him. People seem to make compilations of singles these days. An album is a missing format.”
On the future of dubstep, Benga felt it is the artists’ creativity that helps this form to live.
“I think one key thing is that in any music, it’s about artists. Not really about genres now. I feel people are starting to be more themselves and they just write music. I don’t know if it’s a trend or Dubstep will die — I just know artists and their creativity will live.”
Benga recounted how he met his partner Skream.
“Our elder brothers knew each other well. Skream rang up one night, and just said hello. And we started playing each others’ songs over the phone. Then we kind of started meeting up and hanging out. Meanwhile, we also met Artwork at a record shop, and decided after that we’re doing so well in our careers, we should make music together.”
The Delhi gig of Skream and Benga is organised by Wild City and Kitty Su.