It couldn’t get hotter than this in the winter month of December in Goa, when the Sunburn festival lit up Candolim beach. Touted as Asia’s premier music festival, at the helm of Sunburn are RJ Nikhil Chinapa and Shailendra Singh of Percept. Goa that has been the tourist hotspot of India vaulted into new heights of popularity, as regarding the music scene. In the state that is known for its beaches, places of worship, biodiversity and world heritage architecture, the music festival showcases the best of talent from the international circuit.

Amidst an electrifying ambience in what is nothing short of a musical extravaganza, an impressive line-up of artists take stage for the three day festival in the year end. It has been just four years since the festival’s inception. Yet, in a short span, Sunburn has become one of the most sought after music programmes in the country. ‘Ready. Set. Lose Yourself.’ These are a few catch words that summarize the spirit of the fest. True to them, the simultaneous gigs by a slew of artists, an average of 16 per day, make for an exhilarating experience.

Ranked by CNN as the 9th Best Festival in the world and twice winner of WOW awards for Best Live Event in 2009 and 2011, Sunburn completed its fifth run in 2011. Asia’s largest electronic dance music fest boasted of internationally acclaimed and nationally renowned DJs as ticket sales almost touched a whopping one lakh mark.

Mythily Ramachandran caught up with some of the DJs- Nikhil Chinapa, Norman Doray and Tuhin Mehta

Does Nikhil Chinapa need an introduction? The iconic VJ with the gift of the gab has regaled viewers on MTV for more than a decade. An architecture graduate, Nikhil has donned several hats, that of an RJ, VJ, DJ, Music Promoter and then Festival Director of Sunburn Goa for the past four years.

As festival director of Sunburn Festival, what were the initial challenges you faced in 2007?
“I’ll have to say skepticism. So many people did not want to believe that someone in India could conceive and create a festival that we in India could truly call our own. When I started to put the ideas and the artists together, most people tried to convince me to do a single stage event. I put my foot down and insisted we’d have a minimum of 3 stages plus activity areas like beach volleyball and the flea markets

The original name of the festival that Percept registered was something different too. When I came up with the name Sunburn, it immediately became sticky.”

And the lessons you learnt over the past four years?
The most important one; if you want to do something well, do it yourself. You have to lead by example. Having said that, I don’t dabble in areas that I have limited experience in. I find the best person for the job and put my trust in him or her. I believe that in order to do well, you must try and surround yourself with people who inspire and push you to do better. If you surround yourself with any less, you will eventually drop down to their level.

What plans for next year’s Sunburn fest?
The music at Sunburn will always be of the highest quality. I won’t settle for less. However, music is only a part of the overall experience and I will not sacrifice that experience for anything or one DJ. So as long as you have no pre-conceived notions of which DJs are good, Sunburn will always surprise you.

What keeps you going as you juggle between VJing, managing Submerge and Sunburn?
Usually coffee, buckets of it. I enjoy being busy rather than being bored. It does take its toll and sometimes I do reach a point where my brain freezes over and I collapse into a deep sleep.

How did an architecture grad find this career?
I’ve always enjoyed doing things I haven’t tried before. It led to me discover new places, people and experiences. However music’s been something that I’ve a deeper affinity for than anything less in my life. I find myself happiest when I’m listening to good music and have my friends around me. This is the ethos of Sunburn too. Friends, warm sunshine and great music all coming together. It’s the fundamental principle Sunburn is built upon and one of the main reasons for its success.

Can you share some fond memories of Sunburn?
It’s no secret that Sunburn as an event is very close to my heart. It’s an extension of my life and the things I love. It’s an extension of my marriage too, as music brought Pearl and me together ten years ago. It’s an extension of an idea Pearl had in Ibiza, when she said, ‘It would be nice to bring this music back to India.’

What fills me with joy is the knowledge that Sunburn means so much, not just to Pearl and me, but to thousands of people who come to the festival every year. It means something very special to those who were with us in 2008, when Sunburn was held despite everyone telling us not to. The people of Sunburn are my family that I never knew.

Tell us about your travel to Israel
I’m shooting a new show for MTV called Chat House. The format for the show has been developed and created in Israel and some of the technology being used is from here too. The show is currently on-air and you can catch up with it on www.mtvchathouse.in.com.

There’s another new show I’m shooting next year. The show is based in Goa and has never been shot before.

What is your company Submerge coming up with?
More tours and events. We’ve pushed the second edition of our boutique festival ‘Supernova’ to the first quarter of 2012 as well as the next edition of the Ultimate DJ Championship.

While music dominates your life, is there any moment when you like to switch off into complete silence?
Yes, when I’m underwater. One of the things I love about scuba diving is that there are no cell phones and no internet underwater. I would like to listen to some music while I watch the fish though. Some Sarah McLaughlin maybe!

Norman Doray, who grew up in France released his first track, ‘In the Name of Love,’ in collaboration with Pierre De La Touche in 2006. A globe -trotting DJ, he has played at Miami WMA, Pacha Ibiza, Sankeys in Manchester and The Sunset Festival of UK. Last year, was a memorable year for him with his releases ‘Tobita,’ an Essential New Tune in Pete Tong Show and ‘Chase The Sun’ with David Tort.

The music that influenced you during your growing years:
The sounds of Bob Sinclair and Daft Punk.

Playing in front of crowds
The largest crowd that I played for was at the Amsterdam music festival. And for a small crowd, at a birthday party when I was just seventeen.

The Sunburn Experience
I have played in India before and the kind of energy the Indian crowd brings is unbelievable. I have always looked forward to coming here. This time was even better.

Other interests
I know this may sound clichéd but music is my only passion! This is what I wanted to be since I was four years old. Music is what I want to be good at.

Tips for budding musicians
Be able to pick the gigs you want to do and being able to say no if you are tired or if you just want to be with your friends or family. The achievement is to be big enough to have the choice.

Tuhin’s DJ journey began that day when as a 12-year-old, he hooked up his CD players and a two channel mixer to a home stereo in an attempt to play songs in a continuous loop. There has been no looking back for this Chennai lad and audio engineer who was named a ‘Pioneer Pro DJ for India in 2007. Among the most sought after DJs, Tuhin is part of the core team of Submerge, India’s leading dance music community. He turned producer with the formation of ‘Brutal By Birth, the first independent dance music label in the country in association with Shane Mendonsa. Tuhin in association with Shiv Gupta and Hema Sethuraman launched ‘Go: Madras,’ a musical experience akin to Sunburn.

Music that influenced you during your growing years
Neil Diamond, Cliff Richards, ABBA, BoneyM, Hindi ghazals and Ananda Shankar.

On DJing
In simple words it is the art of playing pre-recorded music in a sequence that creates a journey for the audience. As a DJ you have the responsibility to take your audience on a musical journey by introducing them to sounds that they may never have heard before. Playing one track after another in seamless fashion and keeping it interesting and engaging enough for your audience is harder than one might imagine. As a DJ you need to stay true to your music and to yourself. You need to educate and lead people into new territory. You have to keep pushing the boundary. It’s a journey of discovery for all.

Sunburn Experience
I’ve been lucky to have played at all Sunburn editions till date. Each one has been an experience to remember. There have been some crazy as well as tender moments. I remember in 2008 when I dropped Yahel’s mix of ‘Fear in the dark,’ there were some folks in the audience who literally dropped to their knees when that vocal line hit. It was surreal to say the least. I also have this vivid image from last year, Richard Durand running up on stage when I was playing and literally grabbing the mike out of the MC’s hand and then saying some extremely kind things on the mike.

Preparations for Sunburn
I have no real formulae for preparing for it! I’m a DJ who likes to freewheel it at a gig. I don’t really prepare a set of tracks to play. I just feed off the vibe and energy from the crowd. As for the challenges, for me it starts with remembering NOT playing tracks of artists who are also performing at the same festival. Sometimes we get a time slot that really doesn’t suit our ‘sound,’ that’s when one’s experience comes to the fore and we learn to engineer our set accordingly.

On your company ‘Brutal by Birth’
We are looking to re-launch the label in 2012 and bring on board upcoming talent from the country.

On Nikhil Chinapa
Nikhil and I have been friends for a number of years now. I came onboard at Submerge in 2006 and haven’t looked back since. Apart from being a DJ for Submerge, I also handle tours for foreign artists that Submerge books.