Rummy Sharma
In a freewheeling and hilarious chat with The Score Magazine, Rummy talks electronic music in India and more …
One of the earliest trailblazers of electronic music in India, Rummy Sharma is no stranger to the country’ s buzzing clubbing scene. If anything, he has contributed a decent amount towards, bringing state of the art international sounds from Europe to India since the 90s. Rummy today lives in Berlin, Germany with frequent visits to Delhi and other parts of India that his shows take him to.
If one thinks back to the early 90s when electronic music was barely setting foot in India, a name such as Rummy Sharma would be hard to miss. More so for the party goers and initial converts to the electronica magic in the capital city of New Delhi.
Recognised as one of the oldest and most cherished of Delhi DJs, Rummy has played at some of the most cult clubs of the city and the world. He has been responsible for training a whole generation of DJs, for bringing world class artists to India along with introducing international bar chains such as Capitol, Orange and his very own Kuki.
And of course, working hard towards inculcating a taste of Techno and thereby other cousins of electronic with a series of curated gigs.
Rummy has several firsts to his credit and is often credited as the pioneer of Techno in India. He was also the first and the only Indian to have played at the prestigious Love Parade Festival in 2006 where he brought his own truck and played alongside Teisto, Pauk Van Dyk, Andre Nalin, Martin Eyerer, and several other world class DJs.
Rummy Sharma started his DJing career in 1992 but amidst his busy spinning schedules across the country and continents, it is now that he is finally concentrating on the producer in him.“ It is a natural progression. It was always my dream to become a producer, however, for a long time; I didn’ t have the bandwidth to do so as I was busy running my clubs. Production requires a lot of focus, concentration and time and it’ s vital to do so internationally” he said.
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But, is just DJing a viable profession in the long term?“ I think just being a DJ can be a little limiting as a career move, not just in India, but anywhere. As a producer you control the creative process and you can create large scale projects that are international in scope, by working with diverse artistes. Production of good quality music is vital. India as such is not a very developed club market and is still many years behind the international scene, but I’ m glad to see it evolve.”
But, back in the day, DJing or producing music was not looked upon as a jolly task or even a much acceptable profession, says Rummy narrating the ordeal of his initial days.“ I remember when I started DJing in the early 90s rather 1991, hardly anybody knew about this profession in India. I was almost disowned by my family as they assumed that I work as a band master in some cheesy cabarets in Delhi.”
“ You know, I would be stopped by the cops in the middle of the night who ask me about my profession, when I told them it confused them and how. They had no clue about what they should do with me, so eventually, they let me go,” he chuckles.
On a serious note he reckons,“ It’ s not necessary to spend lot of money on the equipment initially, but I would strongly recommend high quality training by a professional, for people who aspire to follow this profession in all seriousness”.
Cut to 2013 he shifted base to Berlin, Germany and has been winning accolades in the international Electronica circuit with several releases such as Wade in the Water with Iranian maestro Namito, among other tracks. The song had Rummy bringing great gospel vocals from a children choir from UK, combined with Namito ' s studio skills. Over time he has shared the stage with the likes of Oliver Klein, Dimitri, DJ Rush, DJ Quicksilver, Grand Master Flash, Akon and Edward Maya, among others such as DJ Sven Vath, Dr.