Herald Café: How and when did you start
deejaying?
Rinton D’Souza: I started in 2002. It’s
been about 13 years. I used to hang a lot of other DJs like Joel and others.
Being a dancer back then, I had a keen interest in music. I started off by
playing at this place called Rock Your Blues (RYB) at Taj in Sinquerim. I
started a couple of signature nights there. It kicked off well and brought me a
lot of opportunities. Then, from 2003 I started playing at Café Mambo and Tito
in Baga as the resident DJ. Later I moved to Dubai for three years where I
enjoyed residencies at two clubs. In 2013, I came back to Goa and since then I
have been the resident DJ at SinQ in Sinquerim
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HC: What is the difference between Dubai
and Goan nightlife?
RD: The music there is very hip-hop with a
little bit of commercial here and there. As far as we are concerned in Goa, or
even India, we are more open to Electronic music and the likes. In Dubai, there
are very few selected places which prefer this. Even Bollywood music has a big
market there. They tend to play a little more commercial or retro kind of
music. The crowd that they have there consists of People from all over the
world. When I was there, I used to play Hip-Hop and commercial music but you
can’t always play the same thing. It gets boring and that is one of the reasons
why I came back to Goa.
HC: In what way did you have to modify your
style of music when in Dubai?
RD: There’s a lot of holding back that is
done. What I used to play in Goa before leaving for Dubai, I had to cut down on
that. I do a lot of Hip-Hip, House, Electro but sometimes I like to do
Progressive Electro sets. There they also have stringent time restrictions. So
as a DJ, you have to play all your music in quick succession. There are some
places where you have to play British retro that most people here may not be
familiar with. Having said that, my stint in Dubai gave me a lot of exposure
and gave me ideas about how I could renew and refresh my music in Goa.
HC: Given an option between performing to a
Goan audience and that of Dubai, which one would you choose?
RD: Goa, anyday. In India, we are not stuck
to one kind of genre. Even if I experiment with genres here, I know that I will
get an audience that will understand and enjoy that music. In Dubai, there are
very few places that will play this kind of music. Also with EDM festivals like
Sunburn and Supersonic bringing in international DJ acts to Goa, it opens a lot
of choice of music for us. Not lot of people knew what Deep House or Tech is.
Until few years ago, everybody used to call one style of music as Trance. With
regards to the music sense, Goa is far better than Dubai. And moreover, it
always feels good to be home.
HC: Any interesting things in the pipeline?
RD: I’m planning to start my own studio. My
whole career has been as a resident DJ. So I’d like to take some time off and
learn about music. I will be giving classes in basic deejaying whilst learning
how to make music. In the future when I get good at producing music, I may want
to teach that too.
