The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat hosted a Pool Soiree on August 26 with an unforgettable headlining act by the Mumbai-based DJ/producer duo Lost Stories. The event also marked the introduction to Johnnie Walker’s Blonde — a bright fruity blend of wheat and malt whiskey that’s a perfect addition to your cocktail. A cocktail bar with pouring tipple, a counter for tasty treats and a dip in the pool went perfectly well with the mixes that filled the air from the console. Prayag Mehta and Rishab Joshi started making music as Lost Stories in 2009 and the duo have won plenty of accolades across the globe for bringing an Indian twist to electronic dance music. Alan Walker’s Faded mixed by Lost Stories was one of the many successful collaborations the duo has delivered over the years. Numbers like Zara zara, Heer Ranjha and Alan Walker’s Faded made the Pool Soiree enjoyable. A t2 chat with Prayag Mehta.
What inspired you to bring such a twist to famous pieces?
Rishab and I both grew up listening to a lot of Indian classical music. It’s one of the major reasons why when we started making music back in 2009, the idea was to incorporate ethnic elements into dance music. It was rare back then and it still is. Very few artistes do it. The music has evolved with time, previously we’d do a lot of progressive music but right now we focus on pop songs to fuse Indian ethnic elements.
Even after years of Alan Walker’s Faded (Lost Stories Remix), it still is one of the most popular party numbers. What do you think made it so catchy?
Paneer Achari Tikka
When we got this request from Alan Walker, Sony and the entire team to do a remix — we really liked the song the way it was! Then we thought of adding a few Indian elements to see how it sounds. That’s when we decided to collaborate with a guy named Sajid from Pakistan, who played the flute on the track. We recorded, we composed the entire thing and gave it to him, and when it came back it sounded very different — but kept the essence of the track intact. It’s one of the major things to keep in mind while remixing. Post Faded, we also remixed for Marshmello’s track OK Not To Be OK and you’ll hear the flute again. We aim to keep the crux of the track intact and do justice to it, one way or the other.
How would you describe your journey of being an avid listener of Indian classical music in your childhood and growing up to become an EDM artiste?
Trust me, neither one of us planned it. Rishab comes from a musical background; his dad is a professional keyboardist and it’s safe to say that music was in his blood and we happened to meet and found a common love for EDM. Being from India, we always wanted to represent our country at a global level and that’s when we decided to add Indian elements to dance music. The journey has been very natural and even now when we do music, we don’t necessarily try to put Indian elements into it — we only do it on tracks that sound great.
Do you guys have any upcoming projects lined up?
We have tonnes of new releases lined up. Within two months, we’ll be able to put out a new track. We haven’t decided on the name yet and it’s something we’re working on. You can expect a good balance of Indian vocals with dance music.
French Fries
Where do you enjoy playing the most — live gigs, parties or music festivals?
All three are equally important. You get a very different crowd everywhere. Festivals are really great. For an artiste, it cannot get bigger than festivals where you’re playing before thousands of people at a time. We even like doing club shows because that’s where we really try and test our music. We try to balance everything out — we do a few festivals, a few campus gigs and club shows.
What’s your take on playing at pool parties?
It’s fun. Pool parties are fun and it’s a different vibe. People don’t come only for the music, they come to enjoy a bunch of things at a pool party and it’s very important to understand the crowd. It’s sort of a challenge, to be honest. We try to play very different kinds of music at pool parties, something we usually don’t at festivals. It’s a good platform for us to test a lot of our other music.