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At all of 23 years old, Kunal Singh Chhabra dons many hats. The New Delhi based creative has been an active part of the music industry since the age of 16 as a DJ and has since dived into creative pursuits as an artist manager and has also founded his own music community and record label, All Star Sauce. His journey as a Gen-Z creative further extends into being a creative consultant for apparel brands as he guides their creative narratives as well as a freelance journalist in entertainment media where he loves to talk about music and subcultures that intrigue him.
In my conversation with him, he tells me that at a personal level he is trying to do as many things as possible. For him exploration is key and it is what he personally wishes to achieve as a creative. Talking about his love for the culture, he tells me, he wishes to amplify subcultures that haven’t been talked about enough.
According to Kunal, “Subcultures in India whether it is hip-hop, apparel or streetwear, exists but I just want to dig deeper into so many cooler subcultures and amplify them by giving them a platform, putting the word out.”
The Sounds Of Dilli 48 And What It All Means
“Sounds of our subculture.”
— Kunal Singh Chhabra on what defines Sounds Of Dilli 48.
It is in this vein that we happen to talk about his latest project Sounds Of Dilli 48 which sonically dabbles into UK Garage, UK Punjabi, and Grime.
“Basically Dilli 48 is where I stay- South Delhi and here is where primarily a lot of gigs happen and these are the sounds that people vibe to,” explains Kunal. “It’s like a fusion of hip-hop and a lot of UK Punjabi–which is really coming up in the scene right now and that’s something that I have been personally promoting as well along with people from my music community.”
“It is basically UK-Punjabi fusion along with garage and other sounds of hip-hop and it’s something that I resonate with. I would love for people of Delhi, India and even globally to listen in, because these are cool and upcoming sounds and more than that these sounds that have existed well into our culture and it’s just not been amplified enough.”
For him, Sounds Of Dilli 48 are the ‘sounds of our subculture’.
“I’ve always been a big fan of what comes out from the UK.”
— Kunal Singh Chhabra
Elaborating on how the project came about, he says “Lush Lata who is a friend from the industry reached out to me. She works with this record label owned by Pawan – who is one of the best grime artists that I’ve ever heard. He is a part of this rapper’s trio called Foreign Beggars and he happened to start this record label and music community called 4NC¥ (4NCurrency) where it’s primarily garage and all genres over 140 BPM and super hard experimental music which is his vibe and it’s something that is too new.”
“Coming to the project I had been following this record label for a while but my sound was a little different from the sound of the record label and I did end up asking as to what genre do I stick to. They were like all sauce. So this is basically my take on 4NCurrency. Usually, the shows that I play are a bit milder in terms of the genres that I play, whether it’s alt RnB or future bass but whenever I do get a chance to bang some rager tunes out I do in my style. So the inspiration behind it is again UK Punjabi and grime. I’ve always been a big fan of what comes out from the UK.”
Deep Dive Into 2022
On a parting note, I ask him what he’s looking forward to in 2022 and what his projects for the upcoming year look like. Being rather optimistic he says, “I’m excited about festivals coming back to life. Post this wave, hopefully we don’t get to see another wave. Because you have to understand that especially in the entertainment culture and specifically the one we belong to, it’s super related to live shows. So I hope in 2022, festivals come back.”
He further adds that at a personal level he’s been working with publications both in India and internationally to amplify subcultures. “I’ve also shot a pilot that will hopefully come in February that’s about promoting the subcultures. So hopefully, doing more of that.”
You can checkout Sounds Of Dilli 48 here.
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