Sohail Arora plays a DJ set

This festival, in effect, is the country's only such event that is focused entirely on bass-heavy sounds. It was initially just a three-city affair, travelling to Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. But the fact that it's now turned into a massive 10-city tour over the past three years speaks volumes about how much the Indian audience has taken to this particular type of electronica. We still can't call bass music mainstream, of course. But over the years, after the initial acceptance of drum 'n' bass in the early 2000s, the other sub genres like dubstep and jungle have also had their moments under the Indian sun.

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Evidence of this lies in this year's line-up for BASS CAMP, which features mainly homegrown artistes, with three international headlining acts. Oceantied, for instance, is a Bengaluru-based producer who's held the flag for footwork — another type of bass music — aloft on our shores for some years now. Then there is Tarqeeb, who plays a mix of drum 'n' bass, dubstep and jungle. And they, along with nine other artistes, will take over the ramparts of a central Mumbai venue when the festival returns to the city this weekend. But even as the exposure to electronic music in general has increased by leaps and bounds in the past decade — with numerous boutique festivals offering a nurturing ground for such artistes — the problem, Arora says, lies with a lack of supporting infrastructure.

Tarqeeb

"I feel that India is going through its worst time when it comes to having clubs with a proper sound system for electronic music. Most of them have a make-do attitude. And in the history of dance music in Bombay, I haven't seen such a bad time. Compare it to 2009-10 when we had venues like Blue Frog, Zenzi and J49. There is no real cultural support these days. The powers that be have a problem with people having a good time. So you have everything from moral policing to closing clubs down for random reasons to places downing shutters at 1 am — all these things have stopped the growth of a nightlife hub like ours."

On November 3, 7.30 pm
At Famous Studios, Mahalaxmi.
Log on to ticketfairy.com
Entry Rs 750

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