Fernando Monte
da Silva
PANJIM: Goan Producer and DJ, Aneesh Gera has been making waves for all the right reasons. He is currently placed at Number 28 on the Billboard Dance Top 100 charts, and is the first Indian to have done so, no less. His track, titled ‘Flashback Rewind’ featuring Lisa Williams from Newcastle, is all the rage in the electronic music industry.
Having debuted on January 15, 2015 at the number 49 position of the Billboard Dance Top 100, Gera’s track has since leapfrogged positions to number 34 on the Republic Day weekend before climbing further to number 28 on February 1. This in itself is a huge feat, given that the number 29 spot is currently held by Calvin Harris who Forbes estimates made $40 million in 2014, from DJing and producing alone. Other big names currently charting are Beyoncé with 7/11in the number 1 position with as well as Madonna’s new single, Living for Love at number 6.
However, it wasn’t exactly the smoothest of sailing for Gera either. His record went through a process of scrutiny that involved several big name labels turning it down, including Defected, Ultra, Hed Kandi and so on. However, it eventually found a home in the label, Carrillo Music owned by Rod Carrillo. “While I was debating what to do with the track next, Lisa (Williams) came up with the suggestion of working with Rod. While I was initially uncertain, it has turned out to be a great decision in the long term,” Gera shares.
However, in choosing to work with Carrillo, Aneesh had one condition that wound up paying great dividends. The DJ very candidly states, “One of the major reasons that I was keen on working with Rod Carrillo, the label owner, is because I realised that he also had Eddie Amador on his roster. I have been a huge fan of Eddie’s since 1998 when he put down this track that still resonates within me with a lyric that goes ‘house music, it’s a spiritual thing, a body thing, a soul thing’.”
Shortly after his having worked of the Gera project, news broke that at the 57th annual Grammy Awards that will be held on February 8, 2015 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Amador would be one of the nominees up for Grammy Award for ‘Best Remixed Recording Non-Classical’ for his Tech House take of the Five Knives track ‘The Rising’.
He has gone from being the resident DJ at Club Cubana a decade ago, to charting at the top of the world’s biggest league. For the DJ from Caranzalem, the world; nay, the console spins madly on.
