'It feels good to be back'

Beyond its notable soccer players, the other thing Holland is synonymous with is Electronic Dance Music (EDM). Joining the ranks of DJs like Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Hardwell and Afrojack is Dutch house DJ and producer Fedde le Grand, who recently performed at the City’s edition of Sunburn Festival.

Though always inclined to music, it took Fedde time to realise what exactly he wanted to do.
“I was always very interested in music. When I was young, I was more into hip-hop. Then there was a phase where I played keyboards but found it a little boring. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do within music and as soon as I started producing and DJing, I just fell in love with it. It never let me go,” he shares.

Well-versed with the history of electronic music, Fedde feels that EDM is going to dominate the music scene in the coming years.

“I compare it to what happened in Europe in the 90s when we had a big boom. But while it’s good that so many more people get to enjoy and get into this music, I believe that now, the music needs to gets more serious. We need to go in-depth instead of just looking for music to dance to,” he explains, adding that this process takes a long time.

Specific to Holland, he adds, “We have all genres back home but EDM is very strong at the moment. What used to happen earlier was that it would switch from trance to progressive to house. But for the first time, we have artistes from across the board.”

Asked what he looks for in collaborations, Fedde shares, “I look for the same thing in collaborations as I do in remixes. I have to have a personal click with the artiste and it’s a certain musical feel that I’m looking for. I personally don’t care who it is and if it’s a big name or not!”

In India for the second time, he expressed genuine excitement at being back.

 “It feels good to be back. I was really looking forward to this trip because during the last time I was here, I was really blown away by the crowd. People here are just so energetic! This time, I have two days off to just see the place, which I’m looking forward to,” he wraps up.