Jazzing up EDM

One of the most awaited Electronic Dance Music artistes James Copeland a.k.a Broken Toy will be ushering in Independence Day in Mumbai this weekend, with a vintage version of his musicu00a0

The first time James Copeland visited India in 2005, the most memorable part of his trip was the Taj Mahal and doing the usual tourist-rounds of New Delhi andu00a0 Mumbai. This time, Copeland will give music enthusiasts in five Indian cities a taste of EDM.



Mumbai-based event management company Shalom Inc will bring South African-born Copeland to the city. But this time the tube-table maestro will put aside his science fiction tones and textures for sounds that are paced slower. He will perform a new variation of his music, tech house with vintage elements mashed together.

"It is a slower version of EDM that draws inspiration from jazz, swing and blues. These styles were dance music during their time, I've just added a modern touch to it," he says. Having performed this vintage version of dance music to rave reviews in the UK and South Africa, Copeland believes that what he calls 'crazy circus music' will find an enthusiastic fan-base in India.

Like most other youngsters, in his teens, Copeland was a big metal fan. Megadeath, Iron Maiden and Metallica were some of his favourite bands. A bass guitarist who could also beat rhythm on his drum set, he was a proud metal banger with his high school band.u00a0

Now 31, he says, "I realised that it was difficult to get a group of people with the same level of motivation and dedication as myself to keep a band going. So I decided to go solo." Solo, for Copeland who started out at age 15, meant making music on his computer. He learnt to create and compose music on his own. At that time, SA had a good scene for psytrance and Copeland along with a friend, who likes to call himself Damage, jumped from one live gig to another, recalls Copeland.

In 2001, a fierce desire to go professional led to the birth of Broken Toy, a name that stuck well with fans andu00a0 went on the make Copeland a worldwide artiste, known to be one of the pioneers of EDM in SA. Broken Toy made waves at the Boom festival in Portugal, Glade in the UK, Full Moon in Germany, Sonica in Italy and Universo Parallelo in Brazil.

Having completed 10 years in his solo journey, Copeland is more than happy with his work. "I wouldn't trade it for anything.u00a0 It is very satisfying as an artiste to survive while doing what you love," he says.

August 14 - Mumbai (Vie Lounge)
August 19 - Bengaluru (Pebbles)
August 20 - Kolkata (Swissotel)
August 21 - Pune (One Lounge)
Call 9702930001 for more details