Lineup: 2010
Delhi 2 Dublin
Vancouver, BC
Delhi 2 Dublin continues to break the mold with the release of its new genre-busting album, Planet Electric, on May 4th. It’s as if the band has been sent on a mission to further spread their sound across the planet and out into the galaxy. They describe Planet Electric “as the buzz of the world that they are plugging into some large socket to electrify the people, to charge up their energy”. To capture that dynamism, all of the tracks on the album were road-tested in front of live audiences before being recorded. Something else the band did differently from the last album was going on a writers’ retreat where they worked on the music day and night for ten days straight. The results are definitely more representative of Delhi 2 Dublin as a band and a noticeable progression. The icing on the cake was being able to get Diamond “DJ Swami” Duggal (Apache Indian/Maxi Priest/Nusrat Fateh Ali) to mix the tracks.
The five members of Vancouver-based Delhi 2 Dublin come from different backgrounds and different musical influences. A live collaboration put together in 2006 as a one-off performance piece for a club night called Delhi to Dublin was so well-received that requests for additional performances lead to the official formation of Delhi 2 Dublin. “Not being able to fit into any specific genre allows the band to create whatever we like and not be judged for it, our audience expects nothing less.” The band finds this advantageous for their live show as it enables them to create a flow to their sets much like a DJ would for the dance floor. Tarun Nayar, Sanjay Seran, Kytami, Andrew Kim and Ravi Binning create a heady and energetic mash-up of Bhangra, Celtic, Dub Reggae and Electronica. “Audiences love to see a band transcending stereotypes and letting the music speak for itself”.
Delhi 2 Dublin are road warriors. They have played major festivals in both Canada and the U.S. including Bumbershoot in Seattle, Earthdance in California, High Sierra in California, Stern Grove in San Francisco as well as such diverse events as SXSW in Austin, the Keelung City Ghost Festival in Taiwan and the Olympics in Vancouver. The band has an ambitious schedule planned for 2010. They will perform from coast to coast in Canada, everything from an electronica festival like the Evolve Festival in Nova Scotia to Harbourfront in Toronto to the Winnipeg and Calgary Folk Festivals, before heading back to the U.S. The noise Delhi 2 Dublin anticipates making with their new album and relentless touring will help build a larger fan base for their music. After all, where else are you going to see a sexy kick ass fiddle player rocking out with a kilt-wearing Korean flanked by two bouncing Bhangra percussionists and a vocalist who looks like he would be at home in a Bollywood music video?