Delhi's Teddy Boy Kill set to conquer China

In June this year, Ashhar Farooqui, and Samrat Bee, aka Teddy Boy Kill (TBK), went to Reunion Island for a music conference called IOMMA, facilitated by Indiearth.

In June this year, Ashhar Farooqui, and Samrat Bee, aka Teddy Boy Kill (TBK), went to Reunion Island for a music conference called IOMMA, facilitated by Indiearth. After one of the gigs, a French Beijing-based promoter approached Rana Ghose, founder/director of REProduce, and expressed interest in booking the band for a festival, DongDong, in China. And now, TBK is all set for their upcoming China tour starting November 11.

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It will be the first time that an Indian EDM duo will be performing in China. Hailing from Delhi, the two-piece assault contingent of TBK, for the past five years, has toured widely in India and more recently, selected dates in Sweden and Germany. The band combines Samrat’s aggressive beats and Ashhar’s heavily processed vocals.

“For us, this tour is important as there is no short-term state sponsored exotica peddling going on; no ‘India’ showcases, no expectations of cliched Indian tropes, and no rich government tax funded coffers spent on ‘cultural exchange’. This is all about music and people believing in it, regardless of where it comes from, which is where it should be: people investing because they feel it, not because it’s a luxury,” says TBK.

And the best part? It’s China! “To my knowledge, no Indian booker has cracked that market yet, let alone for EDM. If we do this right, I’m to take more Indian acts to China,” says Ghose.