Indo Warehouse: “It’s not about just Indian music – it’s Pakistani music, Sri Lankan music, Nepalese music, Bangladeshi music”

by Billy Burgess | Wednesday Jun 12, 2024 | Features

Indo Warehouse's Kunal Merchant, Image supplied

Indo Warehouse founders Kahani and Kunal Merchant bonded over a shared passion for South Asian dance music and an awareness of the music’s global appeal. Formed in New York City in 2022, Indo Warehouse has since toured the US, UK, Europe and India. The event’s founders are bringing the party to Australia for the first time this month.

“Australia was one of the first places people were like, ‘When are you coming here?'” Merchant tells Check Check. Indo Warehouse will host parties in Sydney and Melbourne over the final weekend of June. Partygoers can expect music from across the Indian subcontinent, from India to Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

“Our sound is on the spectrum of house music and touches a bit of techno, but we don’t really pass 128 BPM,” says Merchant, who’d been DJing for more than two decades before connecting with Kahani a couple of years ago.

Check Check speaks to Merchant about the party’s origins, the reaction of audiences around the world, their first Indian tour, and their excitement to touch down in Australia for the first time.

Check Check: Indo Warehouse started in 2022. What are the origins of the concept and your partnership with Kahani?

Kunal Merchant: So Kahani, in 2021, created a playlist on Spotify called Indo Warehouse. At the time, he was living in Tulum and he had this concept of, like, I’m going to all these parties but people aren’t really playing anything of our sound and I think that it would really work. He played something at a party in Mexico and he just saw how it resonated with the crowd, and so he just felt like, hey, this sound is global.

A couple of months before that, he DMed me to come to one of his parties in New York and we met for the first time. Prior to that, I had been DJing for 25 years, experimenting with similar concepts throughout my career, and so when we came together it was like two different people coming together with the same purpose.

My question to him was, “Are you just trying to throw a really cool South Asian party? Because I’m more into the music. I want to make sure that we’re pushing the music.” What I saw from him was that he really deeply cared about the music. He comes from a very strong experience in South Asian music, from dance to various things, and I come from a very strong, rich background in electronic music, in DJing. So we brought different strengths but we had the same goal.

How did it grow from there?

In 2022, [Kahani] threw the first party, which I attended, and it was 200 people. The people did not know anything about the concept. They just saw the name Indo Warehouse and it sold out. After that, every single party doubled in size and people around the city kept on talking about it.

Around July, I officially joined with him and we did our first party together in September. That party had sold 700 tickets and we had 1200 people on the waitlist and I was like, “Do these people care the same way we do? Or are they just coming because they think it’s a cool party?” And what we saw is there are, like, legitimate ravers who happen to be South Asian or care about our culture and just felt like this is something that they’ve never had before.

Tell me more about the enthusiasm you’ve witnessed from people at your parties and where you think that stems from.

As we toured outside of New York, we felt it in every city. People would say, “Hey thank you for doing this because there’s never been a place like this.” So, I think it’s a combination of Kahani and my deep passion to do this the right way, that people get something they’ve never experienced or heard before, sonically, mixed with timing – right now there’s a lot of South Asian artists around the world who are growing.

And then I think it’s just our continued investment in our community; in making sure that people feel safe coming to our parties, they feel comfortable, they feel welcome. It’s not about just Indian music – it’s Pakistani music, Sri Lankan music, Nepalese music, Bangladeshi music. It’s about all of these different people coming together and feeling like someone’s representing our culture but in this unique way.

EPHIMERA Tulum · Kunal Merchant | Live at Indo Warehouse: Year One | By Ephimera Tulum

How comprehensive is the range of music in yours and Kahani’s DJ sets?

Our sound is on the spectrum of house music and touches a bit of techno, but we don’t really pass 128 BPM. We don’t play too much UK garage. So, in today’s world, it’s more comparable to deep house, Afro house kind of grooves, with a little bit of tech house built into that.

Within that, we have a combination of original music from our label; we have our edits, which could include new artists that we are sampling, it could include nostalgia moments that incorporate some Bollywood samples but presented in very modern way; and then we’re always testing new stuff.

You took Indo Warehouse to India in December and January. What was it like taking the party over there?

It was always a dream of ours, but as much as we have urgency to go and do certain things, we try to be as patient as possible. So, last year, our goal was to take Indo Warehouse out of New York, because our first year of building Indo Warehouse, it was just seven shows in New York. So last year we went to Europe, Canada, the UK, and then to close the year in India was awesome.

We worked with Sunburn to do this ten city tour where we kicked off on New Year’s in Goa and then we went to places in India that I myself have never been to. The reception was beyond something I can describe. I think the smallest show we did was 1500 or 2000 people and the energy from the crowds was unreal.

Then to cap it off in front of 8000 people in Mumbai, which is where my family’s from… to play there in front of my relatives, my parents, and to have that show be one of our best shows we’ve ever played to date, there was just this vibe. Even though you had so many people, it felt like a small, intimate show.

How significant does it feel to be bringing Indo Warehouse to Australia?

I think Australia was one of the first places people were like, “When are you coming here?” I personally have never been to Australia, so I am so excited to experience everything. I know the stories of different dance moments that have happened in Australia. I know the culture is so strong when it comes to music.

So, I’m just incredibly excited to embrace the community out there, understand what they care about, see their reaction. I mean, every video I’ve seen of any show in Australia, the energy’s through the roof. I want to drink the water and feel connected to that.