By Siddharth Jha
New Delhi, April 4 (IANS): After ruling the hearts of youngsters throughout the country, rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh has now impressed American electronic music artist Derek Vincent Smith, who performs under the stage name Pretty Lights, on his maiden tour in India. Smith "cannot wait" to listen to more of the rapper's creations after he came across his music on the radio.
Smith's Indian tour, wherein he performed at Le Meridien, Gurgaon on Friday and will play in Pune on Sunday, is part of Vh1 Supersonic Arcade, which provides an experimental music experience to its audience.
He landed in the country not long ago and Smith has already left fans enraptured by his performance on Friday. Although, it was long before he played in Delhi that he'd been acquainted with the "Brown rang" hitmaker's tracks.
"I went out filming and heard an amazing music on the radio and I loved it -- Honey Singh. I loved the beats he put in. Cannot wait to hear more of him," Smith told IANS in an interview.
The 33-year-old music artiste, who has been "dreaming about coming to India for a long time", says he is interested in learning about the current electronic music scene in the country.
"The current beat production scene in Mumbai and all of India is what I am most interested in learning about. And by 'learning about', I mean hearing as much of the music as I can. I have met several cool producers and DJs so far while I've been here and I am getting connected with the music. What I've heard so far has got me really excited," he said.
Smith, along with producer Michal Menert, began working on Pretty Lights in summer 2004 and by the end of 2007, they had started performing for large acts. He says rock band Pink Floyd is his greatest inspiration not only when it comes to music, but also in other spheres of his life.
Being a “vinyl junkie”, Smith has been exposed to “a lot of old Ravi Shankar records” and he has amassed quite a collection of his work which he loves to listen to on original vinyl.
Visiting India Gate and the famous Taj Mahal is on the musician's check list, as is “enjoying Indian delicacies”.
“Michal has been to India a couple of times and he always talked about the beautiful and exotic places around in India. I have read a lot about the country and its heritage. We would like to visit a whole lot of places, from India Gate to Taj Mahal, enjoying Indian delicacies,” he said.
Smith, who hopes to gather a lot of memories by the end of the tour, has a keen ear for Bollywood music and has “developed a wild curiosity” about the music scene in the country.
“I love Bollywood soundtrack music and I love the sitar in general. That probably sounds a bit ignorant, but it's because I am a bit ignorant to the music of India especially the modern music of India.
“In the short time that I've been here, I have developed a wild curiosity about the different types of music that are blossoming and evolving within the Indian music scene today. I can't wait to hear that and be inspired. I can say for sure that I will be on the lookout for this kind of music moving forward," he said.
Pretty Lights will also perform for 'SPIRO' which is a part of MTV Indies on Saturday at Mehboob Studios in Mumbai.