Music Talks
Mixtaped 200
I am married to a man who is married to the music. I have no qualms about this. The hubby has introduced me to everything from rare grooves to phenomenal commercial ones, from beats you can’t get out of your step to hooks you can’t wait to unstitch from your being. Music is an integral part of our lives. Its presence goes through us like a thread through a needle such that everything we do is stitched with its colour.
And due to being exposed to one of the best disc jockeys in the country and his taste for tunes, I view music, the industry, gigs, etc through a very specific coloured spectrum and or Ayesha-tinted glasses as many friends call it. But it is this specific coloured view that landed me the music beat at Financial Express, that got me interviews with great musicians, and a foot in the door at some fabulous venues and gigs.
Photo Credit: The DenAnd it was exactly this coloured view that had my feet grooving toward The Den Bandra on Wednesday, January 22, 2020 for Mixtaped 200. I had first and last heard Dj Ivan spin music at Three Flights Up. Stepping into The Den at around 10 pm with DJ Ivan already on decks spinning classic house tunes on vinyl and I felt like it was just yesterday I was standing in Three Flights up, yellow tee, blue jeans, signature boots, cue stick in hand, alone in a crowd, wanting to be anywhere but there and then the music began… and I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
Photo Credit: The DenThey say music bridges gaps and takes you on a journey. Well for me, last Wednesday night transported me back and yet ensured there was nowhere else I’d rather be than right there on that dance floor. The tunes were old but the style was fresh. The beats were oh so familiar but the flow was so very different. Dj Ivan transitioned from tune to tune and record to record with effortless grace and a style that comes so naturally and without force. There was magic in the air and it was palpable.
Photo Credit: The DenThe dance floor filled up fast and as the music moved through the masses, there wasn’t a stationary body in the house that night. From the beats of Sing it Back to the groove of You See the Trouble with Me to the tone of Dooms Night to the voice of At Night right up to the familiar spark of Brimful of Asha closing the night out… Ivan’s dedication to his craft was conspicuous through his music and all the familiar faces on the dance floor. A little over 30 disc jockeys populated this gig with his old-skool contemporaries and colleagues making up a large part of the crowd. From the likes of Djs Bosco, Gavin, Major C, Manoj Pathare to Russel, Ryan Beck, Suketu to Amit Makwana, Ankitrixx, Pradeep Maharana and many others; Dj Ivan drew the crowds out by the droves and kept the groove in their so(u)l(e)s long after they left The Den.
Reji, what you’ve created with Mixtape is nothing short of legendary. And you have given this night shape and form. Digamber, no dance floor would have been better than The Den for Mixtaped. And 200 gigs down the line, a big up to you for creating this safe and exciting music space.
Photo Credit: The DenMixtaped 200 was a micro party that is a microcosm of what the DJing industry needs to look and be like right now. Together. Supporting. Music. I’d like to leave you with a line that DJ Russel keeps reiterating that the many in the industry have forgotten… ‘The DJ is but a medium between the music and the masses. No one is bigger than the music.’ And with Ivan on decks and his contemporaries on the dancefloor, they truly schooled us in who was the bigger one at MIXTAPED 200.
Photo Credit: The DenMixtaped 201 will feature legendary mix master Akbar Sami in his Groove Stomp avatar tonight Wednesday, January 29 at The Den. Don’t miss it.