Electrosplash festival, native to the community of Valencia, was born way back in August 2003 at Gurugu Beach (Castellon, Valencia) - as an almost ad-hoc series of underground parties (rave). The movement today has grown into a full fledged international festival, and a fairly sought-after line up, with over 30 artists from various nations performing to approximately 5000 odd people. The festival opened out to a completely new location and 'vista' on July 21nd and 22nd.

This year the festival relocated into the heart of Valencia, the Marina, situated next to one of the busiest shipping hubs of the Mediterranean sea route. It was our first glimpse of this underground movement of the past, take new roots and urban features. Split into two stages, the festival promised a heady line-up of techno, deep-house, acid, nu-disco, electro-live & even some darker shades of EDM  (very unlike most commercially chocked festivals dotted on the coast of Spain)

The roster of artists makes a festival worth going for, or not : as is the case for Electrosplash. Like past years, the festival's curators have stayed loyal to the rising native talent within Spain as well as presenting emerging artists from South Africa, US, Netherlands & UK. Some of the notable (super energy) performances included Floor Plan (USA), Black Coffee (South Africa), Begun (Spain) and Legowelt (Holland). Pushing certain emerging electronic sounds of Spain, DJs like Juarez, Los Suruba, Luso and Mundo D were way more exciting than the eagerly waited for heavyweights like Octave One and Skream. The spectrum of electronic music is limitless today, yet 'boutique' festivals like Electrosplash could include many newer artists (and emerging sounds) from other parts of the world. Also, we felt that there was a negligible representation of women artists.

Giorgio Moroder continues his 'revisions' of contemporary dance music with a new remix of a Munich electro-pop group, Claire. The song marks Moroder's return to the mixing desk, and his stunning arrangement of modern fidelity combined with lush analog soundscapes, amok swirling string stacks backed by vocoded voices surfing over and under the beaming songstress Claire  ... Somethings are totally worth putting your hands up in the air ...




FUCK SOUNDCLOUD & IT'S COPYRIGHT BUNGLES.

Babla and Kanchan were an Indian husband-wife musical group, best known for their runaway success and accidental legacy in chutney music, also referred as Desi-Disco music. They performed together for almost 40 years with various musicians, until Kanchan died in 2004. Originating from Bombay their music was a hit across the world, especially in countries like with Indian expats such as Canada, United States, Trinidad, Guyana, Netherlands, South Africa, Mauritius, Suriname and UK. Initially around 1973 Babla made his mark in the burgeoning Bombay music scene via the Kumari Kanchan Dinkerao Mail Shah Band.

1975 Babla Orchestra : Babla coined the term 'Disco Dandia' around late 1970's, yet it remains much argued as to what Disco has to do with Dandiya (traditional gujarati music form) Yet the combination of folk and electronic instruments with catchy lyrics and silly rhymes collided in a strange way, which picked up steam as a full movement circa 1981-82. Early 80s saw him tour the world and become a star bollywood name in India. A pot-pourri of musical styles, syncopated by a large band, modernized via synthesizers, drum machines, electric guitars and choral voices. The album in question, Disco Sensation by Babla Orchestra / The Pressings of this album have become very rare over the years, never seriously collected or preserved in India. Babla and Kanchan were key propagators of dance music, spreading much needed diversity into Indian popular music. Babla's Disco sensation struck an instant reaction way earlier than the loud and pompous predecessors like Bappy Lahiri and R.D. Burman. Three decades past, these propagators of desi-disco are almost invisible within bollywood history or even kitsch.

Ironic part is, that Babla and Kanchan's music and records have soared in the collectors market, as seen on boomkat reviews and several shops in Holland, Germany and the US. Yet the man, now in his 80s, remains obscure and almost unknown in Bollywood or indie realms.

DOWNLOAD FULL ALBUM (320K)

Read full review of
Babla's Disco Sensation on Boomkat.com

Discogs - https://www.discogs.com/artist/534485-Babla