EDM superstar Armin van Buuren is all set to visit India for the launch of the 17th edition of Sunburn Arena, which kicks off in October 2023. The trance legend is expected to perform across five major metros of India for Asia’s largest music festival, which is expected to attract massive footfalls. The festival will kickstart with Bengaluru on 5th October followed by Mumbai on 6th October and Kolkata on 7th October and will finally culminate in New Delhi on 8th October. In fact, it has been two years since the last time the Dutch DJ and music producer was in India.
Now ahead of his tour, Armin van Buuren, in an exclusive interaction with Outlook India, opened up about his return to India, the country’s ever-evolving music festival scene, and his journey so far. Excerpts from the interview:
1. You are all set to mark your return at the Sunburn Arena this year. How do you feel coming back?
I’m thrilled to be back and look forward to performing and seeing all of my Indian fans again!
2. What do you like about the Indian audience and how it is different from other nations?
I love their unwavering passion for music and how they’re not afraid to show it. It gives me so much energy! The Indian crowd is definitely up there with the best!
3. The tour is back-to-back in four different cities. Are you taking out time to explore India as well?
I’d really like to, but I’ll have to see if my schedule allows it. These tours are amazing of course, but the schedule can be quite hectic. At the very least, I’ll try to taste the local cuisine of every city!
4. India's music festival scene has grown by leaps and bounds in the past couple of years. What do you think has brought about the change, is it more international artists like you that have propelled that by performing here?
The Indian music scene has definitely gotten crazier over the years. As to why that is, I’m not entirely sure. But I think a good guess would be to say that the insane commitment of the Indian audience, and how vocal they are about their support, allowed many to see what a great electronic music hotspot India is.
5. Tell us the process of composing a track, and how do you manage to get it different each time?
Honesty, it differs per track. Sometimes, I have something in my head that sparks inspiration and drives me to the studio. Other times, I just sit down with no starting idea at all and just see where inspiration takes me. My production partner, Benno de Goeij, is a great help in all this, of course. And so are the other artists I’m lucky enough to collaborate with on some tracks.
6. From humble beginnings, you have come a long way to now breaking records. How would you describe your journey so far?
My journey has been very eventful and was born out of passion. I started doing it simply because I wanted to share my love for dance music with others, and I’m incredibly lucky that it turned into all of this!
