Raúl has always had a great love for music. He sleeps, eats and breathes music. Raúl believes it to be his strongest form of self-expression. He’s not alone in this belief, he sees it in every party on his dance floor; an assortment of people dancing together united through music. Whether it’s a song’s lyrics, its beat, or its rhythm, some element of the music touches the crowd and him and inspires emotion within them. Raúl takes great satisfaction in expressing himself through the music he plays and even greater satisfaction in knowing it has affected someone else.”
“For Raúl, to see people touched by music is a truly beautiful experience – especially when those people are on his dance floor”
Raúl is an artist and believes an artist can’t fail; it is a success to be one. Art is the highest task and proper metaphysical activity of this life. It takes a lot of devotion and work, or maybe he should say play because if you love it, that’s what it amounts to, he hasn’t found any shortcuts and has been looking for a long time. Raúl started his carrier as most DJs in India do by completely catering to the client and playing all genres of music at private gigs. From hip hop to house and from Bollywood to rock. Right after winning the National Championship, he started moving towards EDM, his first love when it comes to music genres. He loves spinning funky house, electro house and progressive house tunes. He finds tracks with fat basslines very orgasmic. A flawless tight house set with a beautiful journey is his forte.
1.1 Times Music War Of The DJs 2002
Times Music was the only music company that used to provide a platform for upcoming DJ talent in India. This year, June brought with it the biggest DJ Event in the country, the “Times Music War of the DJs 2002”.
On the 7th of June, Club Mikanos, Mumbai, an expectant crowd, Mumbai’s eight best DJs took the stage in the Regional round of “Times Music War of the DJs 2002”. The city with the wildest nightlife put its best to the test! One after the other, these DJs showed their skills, but only ONE would make it through to the next level. And…Yes! Raúl’s hard work finally paid off. He was deemed Mumbai’s Number One Dj. But that was not enough, he wanted more, the real battle was still ahead, the Times Music War of the DJs 2002 took him to the next level, the National Finals.
The 14th of June, a packed Mikanos, and electrifying atmosphere, as India’s top eight DJs, winners from various cities, prepared to rock the block and win the prestigious title of India’s Number One DJ. Raúl knew that this was his only chance to go out there and make a mark for himself. His 10-minute act packed with “adorable” antics, garnished with humour, and his blend of Summer of ’69 with Groovy Bhangrabeats stole the show!
Yeah! Raúl was the winner! Raúl was now, India’s Number One Dj, officially!
He always says he will never forget his good friend DJ Suketu Radia’s help & guidance in winning this competition. DJ Suketu Radia & Raúl were batch mates in the Professional DJ Mixing & Remixing Course at Azaredo Acoustics. Winning this prestigious competition not only helped him to perform and entertain music lovers in most tier one and tier two cities in India but also in many countries abroad.
1.2 MTV Headstart
January 2003 onwards Raúl was featured on TV Headstart for two months as one of the youngest achievers alongside Sabir Bhatia founder of Hotmail, Bollywood actor Farhan Akhtar & Leander Peas the tennis legend.
1.3 Provogue Lounge
Provogue Lounge was the first club Raúl got as a resident DJ. Raúl collaborated with his friend DJ Praveen Nair and under their residency; it had become the Number 1 club in Mumbai city. Provogue Lounge’s success is very well known across the country. Raúl & DJ Praveen Nair used to play only on Wednesdays, Fridays & Saturdays. At times, their friend DJ Shiva used to join them as well and often they used to end their set at 5 am, the next morning. Provogue Lounge was one of the only clubs which used to play EDM tunes, Raúl’s first love, back to back the whole night. It was the first time in the history of night clubs in Mumbai when Bollywood music was restricted to one or two tracks maximum in a night. You ask anyone in the party circuit who partied hard from early 2003 to 2004 end in Mumbai, will vouch for their hardcore banging sets. Raúl created a cult usually rock stars have. Provogue Lounge became also famous for gorgeous women dancing on the bar to awesomely toxic tunes. A shout out to DJ Abhishek & DJ YT who used to open every night, seven days a week. In December 2004, Raúl with his team left the club because of some issues with the club owners.
1.4 Red FM 93.5
Raúl played and hosted Club Nights which used to be live every Saturday night for three hours on Red FM 93.5 in 2003. DJ Praveen Nair was also part of these live acts.
1.5 Other Clubs & Bars
Raúl also had a company that took residency contracts of multiple clubs and bars and employed his DJs to run the show on a monthly basis. On some special nights, Raúl used to perform here as well.
Ten Downing Street (TDS), Pune’s contract was with his company for 2 complete years. DJ Vaibhav used to spin there on regular nights.
Amnesia at Hotel Leela’s, Mumbai which used to be known as Zaha earlier was with his company as well for a long period. This place was notoriously famous for shutting at 5 am the next morning. DJ Ryan use to spin there on regular nights.
Fashion Café, Mumbai which used to be known as Tantra earlier was with his company as well for some period. DJ Mani use to spin there on regular nights.
Taxi a famous bar at Colaba, famous hotelier Prashant Chowdhary’s pet project was with his company as well for a long period.
1.6 Milan Festival, Netherlands
Milan is an intercultural festival, the biggest event in the Netherlands, and also one of the biggest in Europe. It is attended by approximately 80,000 people from across Europe. This year (the 19th year) Milan began on the 24th of July and continued up to the 27th of July. It was held at Zuiderpark, The Hague in the Netherlands.
Raúl was invited to play to crowds on three days of the Festival. This was the first time any Indian DJ has been invited to perform for such a large audience at an international level. Raúl was the DJ for the entire event. His ‘Summer of ’69 Bhangra Mix’ was eagerly awaited there. His skill in mixing, and the creativity he brings in while mixing across genres is famed, and the reason why he was invited for this event. Miss Netherland 2001, who is of Indian origin was very interested in DJing, and loves the Indian way of DJing. She hung out with him. Playing to an audience of 80,000 was a momentous event. Raúl played to audiences the like of which true masters like Tiesto, Paul van Dyk and Paul Oakenfold play to.
1.7 Jugni Jukebox & Remix Albums
Raúl came out with his first solo Hindi remix album in 2006 called Jugni Jukebox with Times Music. Times Music at that time was only doing remixes and not originals. Jugni the video track was featured on channel [V] as the next big thing. The video was directed by Bilal Khan. The album also had famous numbers like Sholay Theme, Chunari Chunari & Jana O Meri Jana. These tracks were also featured in other compilations like
- Elle 18 Remix Trendz
- Non Stop Party Shots 2
- Non Stop Party Shots 3
- Jalwa III
- Jalwa IV
- War of the DJs III
- Bollywood’s Dream Themes
- Bollywood’s Party Themes
- Bindaas Hits
- Zoom Pick of the Celebs
- Club Shots
Raúl also recreated a very famous old Hindi track Takbeer for India’s first girl band Viva. It was beautifully sung by Viva girls and had a very bouncy hip hop feel to it. It was released on Viva Reloaded.
Raúl is now working on releasing an EDM single followed by his first solo album of EDM tunes only.
