From India to the world: Krunk turns fifteen

In the labyrinthian Bandra suburb of Mumbai, down a flight of stairs into the basement of a Portuguese-style house and through a doorway so short most of its staff have to duck to pass through, are the offices of one of Asia’s most sophisticated underground music operations. Its name? Krunk.

It’s mid-May and I’m in Mumbai for the first leg of a four-date tour in India organised by Krunk—a brand now synonymous with electronic dance music in the subcontinent by way of its multi-pronged business as events promoter, artist management and booking agency, and record label.

In the cavernous, air-conditioned haven, I meet founder Sohail Arora for the first time IRL, to paraphrase a then-forthcoming track (‘Breaks Irl’ by Shantam) on the label that Arora’s team plays on the office soundsystem at his request so that I could hear a preview of the release.

Arora happens to be sporting a fresh new look when we meet: blue hair. It’s an alternative vibe for an alternative person who got his start in the music industry playing in a metal band in college and writing for Rolling Stone India in the noughties. Now, however, he’s fifteen years deep into Krunk and his team is working hard to deliver a series of events, aptly hashtagged “#15yearsofkrunk”, to celebrate the milestone.

As we sit across from each other on the office couches, my eyes glance over to a big whiteboard tracking the movements of four different artists Krunk is touring in India that month (myself included) and ask just how many people are working in the company.

“We’ve always been a boutique agency with six to eight people in the team on average over the years,” Arora replies.

“We had to completely reset, of course, when COVID-19 happened as we’re pretty much an event-driven company and were down to three or four people, which was quite challenging. It felt like starting from scratch back in 2009. Right now, we’re at a ten-plus strong team and quickly growing, which truly is a reflection of the growth of the underground and the overall electronic music culture in India.”

In the background, Shantam’s EP, ‘Out The House’, is still playing. “How has the A&R evolved at the label?” I ask. “It’s constantly evolving,” Arora explains, “because as a listener I listen to many styles and moods of music. While we’ve focused on various electronic genres at the label [Krunk Kulture], we’ve kept our identity strong with a heavy focus on quality electronic dance music which is slightly leftfield. It kind of represents the overall ethos of the parent company, Krunk. We’ve also had some really incredible lo-fi and chill releases at the label, giving it a fine balance, I feel.”

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With that, Arora’s iPhone starts buzzing but he ignores it answer another question on which other forthcoming releases he’s excited about: OX7GEN, Rafiki, Inspector Maal, Nimbu… I can sense he needs to get back to work, so I ask for the WiFi password and catch up on re-sharing assets to my Instagram story posted by Krunk, reminding its 24.3K followers about my Mumbai show with ‘Dance OK Please’ that night.

The next time I have a chance to sit and chat with Arora is a week later, on a blisteringly hot Goa afternoon under the shade of the restaurant patio of his favourite beach-facing Goan hotel. I’m on leg three of my tour and Arora, well, he can’t count the amount of times he’s played here. Thankfully, our dates lined up so that we have a few days to hang in the historic seaside party destination—a place Arora says he returns to gig at frequently to “unwind” and “recharge”.

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Digging into an aromatic vindaloo and sharing a basket of sensational garlic cheese naan, Mixmag Asia asks what the Krunk founder is most proud of, fifteen years into the game. “Mostly that we never really chased trends or money. The intention was almost mostly pure,” he replies. “I never imagined we would survive fifteen years at all, it’s a bit surreal to be honest, but we respected real art and real artists while not getting distracted with big money projects that didn’t align with our vision, as much as we could. I’m also very proud of all the artists that we discovered and provided a platform to for the last fifteen-plus years. We made an effort to give a platform to many up-comers in the industry.”

It dawns on me that this platform is precisely why I’m sat there, watching a spectacular Goan sunset. A comment Arora made earlier in the day about wanting to tour more Asian artists comes back to me and I ask him to expand.

“I think its important to focus on building communities in Asia that are open to supporting Asian acts,” he says. “Communities that support the promoters irrespective of the artists—strong communities that trust promoters and their tastes and focus on inclusivity of Asian acts as much as big ticket-selling acts from the West.”

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“It’s quite hard for Asian acts to really make it in the States or Europe. There are very few success stories of Asian acts making it big in the world. Also, most of them who do make it, only make it ‘cause they spend time in the West,” he continues. “We need a strong support system and network of Asian bookers, promoters, agents, and artists all working together to build an inclusive music scene in Asia, just like they have it in the States and Europe.”

By now, the sun has gone down past the horizon and we both need to get back to our rooms to get ready to head out to Juna, where Arora will be deejaying an all-night set under his house, techno, and electro moniker, Rafiki.

Krunk may be fifteen, but the night is still young…

Mengzy is Mixmag Asia’s Music Culture Columnist, follow her on Instagram.

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