Electronic artiste Nucleya is headlining the NH7 Weekender music festival on its first day this Saturday in the city, and he says he can’t wait for the gig. “I’ve always had a great time performing in Hyderabad, be it a club show or an outdoor event — the energy is amazing,” says Nucleya, whose real name is Udyan Sagar.
Refusing to define his music under one sub-genre, Nucleya says his interests in electronic music began when he was in school. He says, “After passing Class X, my father promised me a computer and I had full plans of downloading and playing cool video games. A friend ended up downloading FruityLoops (an audio editing software) and we ended up cooking up a random bunch of beats.”
While he began his career in 1998 with a group called Bandish Projekt, he soon began experimenting with dubstep and other genres on the side and began creating music and performing under the moniker Nucleya. But even then, it wasn’t until 2012 that he really found success. “Bandish Projekt was successful in its own way... we were making ground-breaking music at a time when the industry barely existed and we managed to do a pretty good job of it. Honestly speaking, nobody knew about Nucleya for the first four years; it’s not just about the kind of music you make. My management played a huge role in ensuring that my music reaches the right kind of people at the right time. Collectively, we made this work.”
His team’s efforts paid off last year, when he made one of the country’s most memorable and epic album launches — on the back of a truck! “Last year, we launched my debut album Bass Rani on the back of a truck at Ganesh Visarjan. I think that’s my most favourite gig so far purely because of the fact that I never imagined doing that ever,” explains Nucleya.
The 36-year-old adds that the indie music scene is only getting bigger in India, with festivals such as these helping local talent grow. Nucleya says, “Local artistes are the ones that play to the audiences most often. They play a very important role in educating the masses when it comes to music... they are the real influencers.”
