Simon Green aka Bonobo hopes to defy genres given his diverse oeuvre, a point he is insistent to prove as he gears up for his debut show in India, next week
Bonobo
In the confusing world of electronic music genres where new nomenclatures appear every other moment (gorestep, happy harcore, aggrotech and psybient, anybody?), Simon Green aka Bonobo’s music is a slap in the face of ‘Genre Nazism’. His all-encompassing style has been described by many as downtempo, chillwave, acid jazz, among many other things, but the British DJ-producer would rather stay away from labels. As readies to play his debut gig in India at Johnnie Walker The Journey on December 13 in the city, we speak to him about the gig, the challenges of being a world-famous artistes and his new projects.
Q. What took you so long to come to India?
A. I don’t know really. India was on the top of my list, somewhere I always wanted to go… It’s great to finally be performing here.
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Q. What can the Mumbai audience expect from your group?
A. It’s going to be seven of us on stage. It depends on the city and the crowd. The more I trust a city, the more progressive and deeper I’ll go, whereas if it’s a crowd I think is not up for new music, I’ll just stick to a safer playlist.
Q. Is it a conscious decision on your part to keep your music as pluralistic
as possible?
A. My music exists in a space between many genres... I’d like to be remembered as someone who contributed something original to Electronic music. I wouldn’t want to be known as someone within a specific genre.
Q. Is it tough to keep upping the ante with every composition? What are the challenges of having followers across the globe?
A. For the last 10 years of my life, I’ve been making music. So, the main thing is to keep it alive. In terms of challenges, music is far more immediate now than it ever has been in history. I used to turn up at a party with white labels (unlabelled vinyl records). Now, the Internet gives you access to everything at a moment’s notice. Anyone can make music. It’s levelled the playing field.
Q. Do you enjoy Indian music?
A. I’ve heard Indian music in bits and pieces. But I have used the sitar a few times, in my debut with (the album) Animal Magic. It highlights Downtempo Dub and Funk, along with an equally likeable use of sitars.
Q. What projects are you working on, currently?
A. I am going to be spending a year making a record by the beach, perhaps on the west coast of California, starting from 2015.
On: December 13, 6 pm onwards
At: Mehboob Studios, Bandra (W).
Log on to: bookmyshow.com
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