More Indian artistes should top global music charts

From pointing out the wave of Indian music seeping into the global music world to calling Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman "cool", the Australian DJ duo of twin sisters Miriam and Olivia Nervo is not oblivious to the success story of Indian music on foreign shores. With Indian tunes and rhythms streaming abroad, Miriam says she hopes to see more Indian artistes climbing up the music charts.

"You know we keep seeing Indian artistes come through in the top 100s. We met him (A.R. Rahman) a few years ago when we were in India and we felt he is very cool. Hopefully, we would see more of Indian artistes making it to the top charts," Miriam, who was in India for a music festival in Goa, said.

Ask her about any plans to give a Bollywood twist to their edgy electronic music, she exclaimed: "Never say never." "There is always a chance of collaboration. We just need to find the time," said the DJ, who had also toured in India with her sister in 2013. The duo, best known for its collaboration with David Guetta on his Grammy-winning track "When love takes over", plugged in the chord of their chunky and sassy electro-house music at Vh1 Supersonic 2015 in Goa last month.

The duo has been paving the way for itself in the world of electronic music dance (EDM) by pushing past all the conventional sounds by mixing non-conventional beats with euphoric electro house with a dash of glamour. Miriam and Olivia catapulted to fame in 2009 when they co-wrote and produced the global hit "When love takes over" for Guetta and Kelly Rowland.

The sisters swirled their way to success after churning out hits like "We're all no one", "The way we see the world", and "Reason". According to their official website, the duo embarked on their journey through festival fields of their native Australia, where as teenagers they went to see electronic acts of The Prodigy, Basement Jaxx and Fatboy Slim.

They cemented their place by working with names like Kesha, Kylie Minogue and Armin van Buuren. Their debut album "Collateral" was released last year. When we talk about EDM scene, names of male DJs crop up, but it is a blank slate when it comes to jotting down names of female DJs.

Miriam felt the dearth of female DJs across the world is a "cultural" thing, adding that change is on its way. "I think it is a cultural thing in the music business that women never get behind programming. That's changing a lot now, especially with programmes that are a lot more cheaper and easier to run. So, we are seeing a lot more girls record their own material and a lot more producers coming up actually," she said.

"More and more women" are venturing into the field, she added. Giving an insight to their ride into showbiz, she said they have been very lucky with male brigade of EDM backing their music. "We have come from a different background. We have worked for many years for a lot of the male DJs, so we built that rapport with them. We came from the studio, so we built and made our path that way.

So when we decided to step out from behind the screen and become Nervo, they really supported us. We were very lucky like that," Miriam said. The twins began their careers as models before pursuing their own career as artistes, by writing and producing their own songs under their stage name Nervo.

For 2016, the duo is packing a "lot of new music" for their second album. She said "We are planning album two, or probably an EP two. We are not yet sure how we are going to structure it. We are working on it right now."