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The Record catches up with DJ Aqeel Ali as he prepares to return to the charts with an album full of crazy tunes to rock your party.
The Record: What can we expect from your new album?
Aqeel: The new album is called ‘Don’. It's a very versatile album. It has different kinds of remixes in it - hip hop, R&B, disco, house, to tribal, techno, arabic. It covers every genre of music.
TR: And what about the new video?
Aqeel: The video is very cool. It's in a plane and no one's done that before so I'm quite excited about it. It's basically a story like all my videos have stories. People have come to the plane because they have information that the Don is there. The Don has harmed them sometime in the past so they want to get revenge. But the Don at the end outwits them - he jumps off the plane and blows it up!
TR: How did you start remixing the title track?
Aqeel: I was at home one day just matching beats on a song and that's when Anna Singh said 'Hey this is really cool'. I was doing one of Jackie Shroff's songs and she knows him really well. So she said 'You must make him hear it' and I didn't want to cause I thought it was quite ordinary. But she insisted so I took the track to Jackie and Ayesha and they loved it. They sent me to Universal music who also loved it. Then I remixed the track Kem Chhe from the film Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai and it did pretty well. Next I remixed the songs for Chori Chori Chupke Chupke the movie and it did well too. Then I got my break with a video and everything, so that's how it happened.
TR: People are a bit annoyed with the remix trend now. Comment.
Aqeel: Actually I don't see anyone getting annoyed. I think it's just the hype that is annoying people. Everyday people are enjoying new sounds, new styles and it is yesterday's music in today's way and today's time. It's like you're the same person and you dress up in today's fashion - 2003 way. You don't dress up like in the 80s - it's the same thing.
TR: What's the most interesting venue/setting you've played your music in?
Aqeel: There have been many. One of the most interesting ones was in Madrid at a nightclub called 'Joy'. I was supposed to play from 12 to 2 but the resident DJ there had an overdose of some…chemical, and he passed out. So the owner comes and tells me 'Hey you have to play the night. And the club goes on till 8 in the morning'. And I'm looking at my CD file and I said 'Fine what kind of music do you play here?' He said 'Spanish and Latin'. And I must have had only 7 or 8 of those kinds of songs, that's it. The other DJs files were there but it was all written in Spanish and I couldn't understand anything. So I just went on and I started playing completely different music, the kind I like to hear, and somehow the night went off really well and this guy wanted to hire me but I told him I wanted to come back. It was really interesting.
TR: So have you been back since?
Aqeel: I went back to Madrid, and played there again, but this time I took lots of Spanish music with me!
TR: What in your opinion, is the unlikeliest remix combination?
Aqeel: What I really thought would be odd was Madrasi hip hop. But it's happened now and it's doing really well. Black Eyed Peas has done it and it's amazing.
TR: What are the essential elements that make a good remix?
Aqeel: The song itself - the melody has to be really nice. You change the original, try and take it away from that and make it something different. You need a good bassline going, good rhythm, and good pieces in the intro and the middle. You need not have a rap all the time. I've seen everyone puts a rap on the song, including me (laughs), so now I don't think I'll put one again.
TR: Take us through the creation of any of your remixes.
Aqeel: I'll tell you about Keh Doon Tumhe. It was one of the most difficult songs because those days singers did not sing on the meter. So they used to sing all over the place, nowadays it's completely on the beat. To get Kishore's voice on time took me so long and to take the music out from behind his vocals took even longer. And that's just for two lines. Then basically I thought of putting the song I Just Wanna Be Close To You because on the piano when you play both the tunes, they're the same. Then Asha's part I could not get to go in time and I got Vaishali to sing that. Then I thought of putting a nice rap to introduce the song so I got blaze in to do that. So it's been so many things all in one song.
You can read the rest of our exclusive interview with DJ Aqeel in the November 2003 issue of The Record Music Magazine available at your local newsagent.
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