DJ Roop aka Kaushik Das performing at Tomorrowland Belgium 2024. Photo: Vision X Studio/Courtesy of the artist
On Dec. 26, 2023, Kaushik Das was feeling a bit low. He didn’t have a New Year’s Eve gig yet – the one night DJs are certainly highest in demand. “Getting booked for a 31st December gig is a big deal for DJs,” says Das, who performs under the moniker DJ Roop.
It wasn’t all bad, though – Das, who has been a DJ-producer since 2014, had a DJing teacher gig at the Tomorrowland Foundation Music & Arts School in Ek Tara in Kolkata. Through that connection, he’d got to not only help kids pick up DJing but also interact with the likes of EDM stars Martin Garrix, Armin Van Buuren and more when they visited the school. “There have been many occasions where the Tomorrowland Foundation team visited our school for various reasons and I had a very nice time interacting with them,” he says.
While in office, he received an offer from the electronic music festival Tomorrowland Belgium 2024 instead. Das says, “I got an Instagram text from one of the Tomorrowland employees, whom I had met during Martin Garrix’s visit to our school Ek Tara, asking if I was available on July 27, 2024. I just said yes without any hesitation. That is when he had revealed to me that they wanted to have me perform at Tomorrowland Belgium 2024 in the V Sessions hosting stage. After seeing this text I was almost jumping inside my office! All my sadness was gone and I instantly called my parents and informed them.”
Familiar with Tomorrowland much before he joined their school, Das says he’s spent years watching sets from one of the largest music festival gatherings in the world. Das performed last month at Tomorrowland and he was “very nervous” about his international debut. “It took me some time to cope with the surroundings once I landed in Belgium. Also once I got up on the stage it took me 5-10 minutes to judge the crowd, because you know the cultural difference in Europe compared to us. But once I got the pace, after that my performance went really well,” he says. Das says he was particularly encouraged by all the Indians who attended. I got a lot of confidence once I saw a good number of Indian flags in the front row. And by the end it was absolutely smashing,” the DJ adds.
While Das did have a lot on his side in terms of a previously established connection with the Tomorrowland team, he says it takes a lot more as an artist to stand out. “I think one needs to look around their surroundings first. Then, based on what is booming, one needs to think of something very unique [and] liked by a major audience. Where others may aim for high-end clubs and hotels and festivals around India, Das was aiding a “social cause with my art form” by working with a non-profit that teaches DJing to underprivileged girls. “Usually DJing is quite an expensive art form in India, I was lucky that I got a full 100 percent scholarship on Partymap courses. But I always wanted to make DJing affordable to lower and middle-class people as well. Women empowerment is a top priority thing now,” he says.
While at Tomorrowland in Belgium, Das says his favorite memory was hanging out and networking at the artist village. Within the media village, he was interviewed by DJ Mag as well as One World Radio and Coke Studio. “That’s where Armin Van Buuren just came and surprised me all of a sudden. All of this was planned by the Tomorrowland team, thanks to whatever they have done for me,” Das adds.
Among his favorite sets at the festival include David Guetta and Swedish House Mafia. Up next, Das will release more music as DJ Roop and is aiming for “big record labels” and “big artists” to support the new music. He adds, “I want to do some good amount of gigs all around India. This is something I have been lacking since the inception. I am also trying to think about some brand collaborations that help both the brand and me grow together.”
