As I walk into his wing, there are clear signs that Aarnav Dhanuka calls it his abode. A clean room, one conducive for the high levels of thought required to appreciate the styles of music the Association of Rock BITS Pilani (ARBITS) prefers. The club is host to a small inclusive group, passionate about music.
ARBITS began as a club with the initial purpose being to organize and conduct Rocktaves, the oldest semi-professional electro-band competition in India. Rocktaves has been a great launch pad for budding talent in the past, with winners receiving cash prizes upwards of a lakh and a half. Far more importantly, bands recieve album record production deals, that if done right can amount to far more returns.
On being asked about how it feels like to be the coordinator, Dhanuka says that he’s proud of what the club is and has become, and is proud to be a part of its legacy. He also admits that he’s been able to fulfill his dream of calling the shots in a large setting.
ARBITS organizes the English Prof Shows, the Indie-prof shows and Rocktaves for Oasis, and they handle almost every band that comes down. This year’s artists will be Dan Deacon, an electronic artist; Pakshee, a world music band; and Ape Echoes, an electronic group. The latter two are of Indian origin. On being asked about the public and general audience’s perception and connection with these events, Dhanuka clarifies with a simple answer. While the music culture is quite rich in BITS Pilani, more so than most other colleges he has been to, Dhanuka believes that the artists ARBITS call usually appeal to a niche crowd. “We know this; the artists know this,” he says. While he can find artists that would have a general overall appeal, Dhanuka believes that this goes against the essence of the club, a goal to bring up new material, and to introduce everyone to new things.
ARBITS has taken upon itself to foster and improve the Indian music scene, in many different ways. Showcasing varied artists and conducting Rocktaves, with headliner artists like Sutej Singh are just some of the many. The public’s understanding of electronic music is also something Dhanuka wants to change this year. Electronic music increasingly gets mistaken for EDM and vice-versa, but Dhanuka hopes this year’s line-up will make the difference stark. He also admits that audience reception is a fickle thing, and Agam and Guthrie Govan attracted unexpectedly large audiences over other bands of the same genre.
On being asked his opinion about the theme, Dhanuka indicated he was excited about integrating the events with ‘Neon Noir’, particularly because there are two electronic artists. The selection metric is simple, as the community usually comes to an early consensus based off the culture of listening to artists as a group, and sharing good music around.
On being asked about the future for ARBITS, and how the club has evolved, Dhanuka says that he has loved being a member, and that ARBITS means a lot to him on a personal level. Therefore, he takes inclusivity very seriously. An old ARBITS tradition involved distributing and collecting the then uncommon records and albums of artists, developing a repository for good music. The weekly playlists are a modern reincarnation of the same with the intention to foster knowledge of niche groups and get people acquainted to more music. There has also been thought of creating a Reddit community, but Dhanuka believes that they do not have the resources or collective time to maintain it at the moment.
Another big step towards inclusivity is to conduct elimination rounds for Rocktaves online. This is especially because bands from smaller cities might find it infeasible to attend the physical elimination rounds in the more common locations. Since the move was made last year, Rocktaves has expanded to 16 states across the country.
On being asked if online eliminations are a good metric to judge people, Dhanuka said they provide a fair idea about a bands competence. They are not very stringent on the type of recording—the recording may be bad, or of low quality—as a good band may not understand the production and tone correction aspects of making a video, therefore sounding worse than they actually are. However, Dhanuka believes that a new sound will always stick out to an experienced ear, and one may single out the bad ones.
With the advent of the internet and better news media, bands have better means to publicise their music. Rocktaves augments this, because they provide album record deals which facilitate better production of their music. This year, ARBITS intends to record the performances of all the bands for their own promotional or creative usage.
The one thing Dhanuka wants the average BITS student to do is to discover and gain more knowledge about the Indian music scene. To be able to help foster the growth of the music culture in BITS, or in India, at any level, is something that means a lot to Dhanuka, and he believes ARBITS stands with him when he says this.