With the slow but steady growth of the Indian independent music scene, indie artists are now starting to feature in the line-up of international music festivals. And a number of indie artist management companies are doing everything in their power to expose these artists to newer audiences. Delhi-based Wild City recently revealed that it will feature alternative music from India at the UK festival Alchemy in May this year. Wild City co-founders Sarah Fatemi and Munbir Chawla, in an interview with Radioandmusic.com talk about the association with Alchemy, an upcoming IP and more.
How did the association with Alchemy happen?
We got connected with the Alchemy guys via a mutual friend – Shane Solanki (a spoken word poet). We sent them a set of ideas, people, concepts, artists and musicians who we think are changing the creative landscape in India. That turned into a Skype which turned into a meeting, which resulted in the collaboration. We are incredibly excited about working with them – they are a fantastic team and have really taken a leap of faith by opening up their programming to this space. We are excited and nervous to see how people in London respond.
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Is this a long-term association? Will other Wild City artists perform at future Alchemy festivals?
This is, hopefully, the beginning of a long term collaboration with Alchemy. It is our first partnership with them, we have discussed a lot of ideas but we are taking baby steps this year.
Are you tying up with other international festivals or brands?
We have an ongoing association with Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) which is hands down one of the most exciting brands in the international music space! We are also in talks with other international cultural bodies, which have an interest in the contemporary creative space in this region. Nothing announceable yet.
Is Wild City planning on brining more artists to its roster?
Vital Agency is the artist management/booking agency that falls off Wild City. While we do not anticipate the Vital roster expanding in the near future, we are always programming artists at our events that we feel are exceptional regardless of who they are signed with.
Do you plan on having any other IPs apart from Magnetic Fields?
Yes, we are working on a new property/concept which we are incredibly excited about. It is very different from Magnetic Fields. We cannot really share any details at the moment as we are aiming to launch it in early 2016.
What is happening with Border Movement?
This year we have a residency planned in Karachi and a few more in India plus plans for ongoing Sound Labs in Berlin. The Sound Lab in Mumbai was a huge success and engaged with a completely new audience as it coincided with the Khala Ghoda Arts Festival. We are also digging deeper into the electronic music scene in Iran which is slowly revealing itself – hopefully planning some interesting cross region collaborations soon.
What other independent music areas are you looking to expand into?
We are just about to launch a new sub-company called City Press – a music PR and communications agency that specialises in personalised solutions for the Indian music industry. We have just expanded our team and hired an expert in the field so it just felt natural to expand into that area.
