Who’s Gonna Save the World Tonight?

India’s electronic and indie musicians send SOS for the Covid struck nation.

“Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life”, a song written by Michael Cleveland for American group Indeep fits apt for a bunch of Indian electronic music producers who stepped up during India’s second wave of COVID-19 crisis to help the patients in need. AsymetriK, an Indian techno label released a compilation album named ‘SOS’ on 30th April 2021 via Bandcamp.

The 14 track compilation has been released with an aim to raise funds for the COVID-19 relief effort in India. It includes tracks from some of India’s pioneer electronic music artists including Arjun Vagale, Ankytrixx, Audio Units, BLOT!, Browncoat, Dotdat, FILM, Kohra, Murthovic, and more. All the proceeds from the sales of this release go to the Hemkunt Foundation, an NGO doing on-ground COVID-19 relief work in India and helping to supply oxygen to patients that are critically ill.

The Goa-based imprint is the brainchild of Arjun Vagale. Speaking about the release, Vagale said: “The idea was to put this project out as soon as possible so we can start generating funds immediately. We need to help NOW! I want to thank all the artists who stepped up and contributed – we literally put this together in a couple of days – none of this would be possible without your art.”

The charity album collected over ₹3,05,000 in just the first two weeks of its release. On the immense support to the compilation, Vagale expressed his gratitude via his social media, “I am as amazed as I am grateful to each one of you (who bought the album). Thank you for coming together. Thank you for your generosity.”

Boxout.fm, a New Delhi based online community radio station founded by DJ MoCity (Mohammed Abood) and indie musician Dualist Inquiry (Sahej Bakshi) broadcasted a 96-hour marathon radio stream to collect funds for helping healthcare workers along with Covid patients and their families. The stream featured a long lineup with international heavyweights like San Holo, Seth Troxler, Oliver Huntemann, Martin Roth, to name a few. The all exclusive-set radio program went on air from 15th May to 18th May. The fundraiser concluded on 21st May with a collected amount of over 8,36,000 which was donated to GiveIndia NGO.

Sahej was also part of ‘CRSP’, a fundraising sample pack initiated by fellow producer-performer Sandunes (Sanaya Ardeshir). Apart from Sahej and Sanaya, the diverse pack contains sound samples from international names like George Fitzgerald, Half Waif and Rachel Collier, alongside homegrown talents Arushi Jain, KAVYA, Kna, OX7GEN, Oceantied, Parimal Shais and Sarathy Korwar.

Peter Cat Recording Co., a popular New Delhi based music group also re-released their old albums ‘Sinema’ and ‘Wall Of Want’ during early May. The albums were available on the group’s Bandcamp page for a week with a pledge to contribute all the sale proceeding to Hemkunt Foundation. Band member, Lifafa  (Suryakant Sawhney) also released a new album ‘Superpower 2020’ on 21st May. Sawhney has intended to donate 50% of all sales to various organizations helping in the battle against Covid.

Chennai band, The F16s also released their first new music in almost 2 years, with the single ‘To Be There With You’. The track has been released on 7th May, exclusively to raise funds for COVID-19 relief via Bandcamp for 4 weeks. The band donated the proceeds from each week sales to GiveIndia, Milaap, Goonj and Feeding From Far, in this exact order.

Other projects and artists that participated actively in supporting the Covid hit nation are – ‘Music For A Cause’ by OKListen!, ‘#OxygenSOS’ by Cymbal, ‘We The People V/A (Charity Compilation)’ by Pooja B, SNAD, PAV4N & More, Animal Factory Amps, ‘For The Community’ by FTC Delhi, Worldwide.fm, WAVLNGTH, Abhi Meer, Mera Bhai and many more independent musicians.

India experienced a catastrophic second wave of the coronavirus, crippling its healthcare infrastructure, leading to a severe shortage of oxygen tanks, ventilators and beds. Efforts like these played a major role in supporting and recovering from the situation.

It’s not the first of its kind of effort by the electronic and indie music community. The subculture music industry has time from time came forward whenever there’s a need. During the Nepal earthquake in April 2015 also, the non-mainstream music community did many gigs to collect relief funds to aid the grieved nation. 

However, even after such contributions to the society, artistic careers like musicians, especially in India’s new emerging electronic and indie scene is still not widely accepted as a profession in most of the Indian society. It is high time this mentality needs to change. Music is always there to rescue. So the next time you get to know any of these artists are playing around you, pop up at their gig and thank them, that’s the least we can do to appreciate their continuous contribution efforts.