It’s DGTL week in India and we cannot contain our excitement. After that stunning debut edition in Bengaluru in 2020, one of the best music festivals in the world returns to India for a 2-city showdown. DGTL Delhi will take place on the 9th and 10th of December and the Mumbai leg will take place on the 10th and 11th of December 2022.
The DGTL lineup features some of the biggest names in dance music and one of them is Toto Chiavetta. Hailing from Catania, Sicily, Toto Chiavetta productions and playful approach to DJing reflects the island’s rebel spirit. The Italian maestro has been bubbling away for a number of years now having first emerged with releases on genre defining labels such as Diynamic, Innervisions, Defected and Yoruba. In 2019 he launched his own Borders of Light label, a space for him to further refine his own sound and act as an incubator for emerging artists deserving of a platform to share their creations.
We invited Toto to have a quick chat with us ahead of his sets at DGTL Festival this weekend. Here’s what he had to say.
Hello Toto, you’re back in India this week for DGTL Festival. How are you feeling about the coming weekend?
Hi Guys, I’m obviously truly excited to be back in India, a country which I love and I got to know quite well since 2017 thanks to the good folks at sLick! I can’t really wait to perform this weekend at DGTL Festival.
In the last 15+ years you have evolved as an artist. What are some of the most notable changes you have seen in yourself over the years?
At the beginning it was all about pure instinct and passion for the music. You can say that I was doing whatever I felt at the moment. After a while I realized that music has naturally become my job so I started to have a more rational approach and started to question my choices. I started to think more about a given market. I also had this voice inside my head that kept telling me to follow my instinct because I was well aware that it was the key for my breakthrough. Soon enough I started to gain more experience as a DJ and that helped me set certain rules and goals for myself. My music and its development is a reflection of the above healthy tension.
Quality over Quantity, is that the motto at the Borders Of Light HQ? How do you pick the tracks that will release on the label?
I have always believed in Quality Over Quantity but from time to time one begins to think that everything in life needs to be treated as a business, and that nowadays the quantity determine the quality. How do I put it…one can have the most beautiful and precious hair but if they don’t have many they will still be considered bald in relation to a head with many hair. Even if each of them is ugly – does this example work?
I learnt that this approach doesn’t work for me in the long term. I can say that we don’t have a predetermined idea on how many releases per year we would like to have. We simply have to like them a lot musically and technically, bearing in mind that an imperfect Haute Couture is the essence for us. Recently the music we decide to release has to carry a clear statement either emotional or merely “I want you to sweat your t-shirt dancing!”.
A lot of up and coming producers find it difficult to get their music across to the right people. What advice would you give to them about demo submissions?
The answer is complex and I will try to simplify it. Most importantly the new music demo has to be somehow truly outstanding. In addition, if one tries to send music to a label that receives between 20/30 demos a days then it will be honestly useful to have a respected channel through which the label selector attention will be pointed towards a given demo.
The respect issue opens up a dilemma for the producer on which channel to trust as a carrier for their music. Anyway, my personal experience is that if a producer has an outstanding, true and pure music, sooner or later their music will be heard, played and released.
When you’re on the road or taking a much needed break, what genre of music do you listen to?
To be honest, None 🙂 Maybe some experimental music of any genre at times.
Three breakthrough producers to watch for in 2023?
I really cannot answer to this because I don’t know. I could tell you who my favorite are but at the moment I have more than 3.
Make sure you do not miss Toto’s set at DGTL Mumbai and Delhi this weekend. You can get your tickets from the below links. Only a handful tickets are left so hurry up!
