The world becomes a canvas when a musician wants to experiment. Paji’s canvas brought together electronic and classical music. Touring India since 2014, the Berlin-based artiste’s performances have fallen nothing short of melodic harmonies from his violin backed with electronic beats.
Octa, the pub on Park Street, got a taste of his sound on December 12 during its weekly techno night called Dimensions. Resident DJs Iimrran and Kichh opened the night.
“I am absolutely stoked to have Paji at Octa. I see that the crowd is equally excited and really enjoying. Octa always looks forward to these musical evenings and tries to bring in new artistes,” said Abhishek Kajaria, owner, Octa.
You have visited India several times. What has the experience been like?
Super good... always super good. I am always looking forward to coming back. I have been coming here since 2014, every year, twice. I have so many friends in all the cities. So it’s not like I only come to tour, but also to meet friends.
So you have had a chance to go around?
Yeah,when I have a day off, I like to go around cities. On the weekends, it’s quite busy. So I travel between two cities, then Friday, Saturday and Sunday I am playing. Then from Monday to Friday I am off, so I have some time to get around. At times I am so tired that I sleep for two days. (Laughs).
How do you bring the worlds of electronic and classical music together?
I have been playing classical instruments since I was five or six. So it has been a part of my life. Then, around age 18-19 I got into electronic music by just attending events and some friends produced electronic music and we just stuck together. So I thought: ‘Let’s try to put some strings with some tracks.’ Then I was totally fascinated because there are no borders; you can do anything. Before, there were just four strings on the instrument you and I would play. But then you see what is possible in the electronic world and it was super exciting to start experimenting.
When you’re planning a set, what are some of the things you keep in mind?
I play live, so I just play my music and I don’t play music by other artistes. I know the tracks and what will happen. But I still have to see how the crowd reacts to it... sometimes you have to play more of the instrument and at times you don’t. It’s a feeling; you have to get it from the crowd. You never know how the crowd will react.
From someone who has toured this country for long, what is your take on the underground scene here?
It’s growing so fast, it’s crazy. I would say it is the number one destination worldwide. Before the pandemic, there were a lot of EDM events, everywhere. If you went to restaurants even there would be loud EDM. Now it has changed completely. It’s house music, electronic music, techno.... People are really into it and they educate themselves.
Can you give us an idea about how it has been in Berlin?
The underground scene is super insecure right now because nobody knows what will happen.
Does that affect your touring?
I will stay here till December 20; my last show is in Mumbai on December 19. Then I fly back to Berlin for Christmas. On New Year I should play in Germany... it’s still confirmed and not cancelled but no one knows what will happen. Maybe I will come back in February.
What about your music, what’s coming up?
I am planning to release my next singles and then by end of 2022 there will be two albums. Around February I will do the first single release.
How about some details?
(Laughs) It’s still a secret and work in progress. I had released an album at the end of 2019 and a tour was planned. But the pandemic arrived, so from the album tour I played just the first three shows and then it got cancelled. What was the way forward? Should I do singles? Then I stopped releasing music and started working a lot and educating myself again. I dived into many different genres and also used the instruments to practice more.