BorderMovement

An in-depth account of Sri Lanka's alternative nightlife over the last decade featuring some great insight from key individuals: “I think a lot of our initial energy as movers and shakers was spent fighting the general hierarchical systems here of club owners and ‘star’ DJs that have done less for music and more for their own egos.”

w/ Good Music Movement Bang Bang Asvajit Jambutek Recordings Pettah Interchange Sunara VAN LUUP BOOKA BOOKA

Image courtesy of Booka Booka

The Evolution Of Sri Lanka’s Alternative Nightlife Image courtesy of Booka Booka In 2018, popular British-Norwegian EDM artist Alan Walker graced Sri Lanka for a performance. The country’s foremost alternative electronic music label Jambutek Recordings went to Berlin for a showcase. Burgeoning homegrown band The Soul crowdfunded their way to a tou...

“Given the loosely defined and unorganised nature of the industry—which is more a collection of clusters and movements, rather than a consolidated entity—groups tend to take traditional industry roles and adapt and reimagine them in this space. To develop a sort of fundamental ethos and take it from there, rather than merely recreating western modes.”

Akhil Sood interviews a number of people across the region to explore the evolving role that labels play in the independent, non-film music communities.

"Ghose, an economist by training, says: “I had a thought that, inherently, the music industry is unsustainable. We can see now — it’s an example of how precarious the whole thing is. When it works, it works. But when it doesn’t, it just falls apart. As ever, there’s a push-pull between art and commerce, but it’s comforting to know that, as the music industry in the subcontinent comes into its own and expands, there are enough voices out there with integrity and love for music.”"

http://www.bordermovement.com/the-evolving-role-of-labels-in-south-asia/

Image credit: Malaka MP

w/ REProduce Artists Jambutek Recordings Azadi Records Consolidate Forever South Music

The Evolving Role Of Labels In South Asia Image of Sunara playing at Pettah Interchange in Colombo. Image credit Malaka MP Old-timey incarnations of record labels — glitz, glamour, big money and big exploitation — are great to watch in movies, but their relevance has diminished over the past two decades. The music industry, internationa...