It all began with an exploratory trip to India in '97. That was when Sean Dinsmore (AKA DJ Cavo) first discovered the east-meets-west world of Bollywood, and Hindi film music. Prior to that Sean had been a leading figure on the downtown New York music scene as front man of the seminal ska outfit The Toasters, and then with Untity 2 - a reggae/hip hop group that had hit singles and MTV videos for Warner Bros. Around '92 Unity 2 broke up, and Sean immersed himself in producing hip hop tracks and searching the East Village record bins for old Sixties psychedelia - in particular anything with a sitar on it. By the mid-nineties he had resurfaced with a new group, Supercuz (a five piece with sitar), and a new deal with RCA. The resulting EP "Judy Get Down" was released in '95, to much underground acclaim.
Fast forward: By '97 Sean had formed a NYC based record label called Grooovy Sounds Un/Ltd, and was putting the finishing touches on a new Supercuz album when he decided to go to the source - India - and see what it was all about. While traveling there he became fascinated with Bollywood music, and brought back over a hundred old vinyl records. The result was a scrapping of the Supercuz album and the start of a new project that had no name. After a hectic two week stint in the studio with collaborators Jason Goodrow (bass, guitar, sitar) and engineer/percussionist Phil Painson, they had finished an album, but still didn't have a name. Finally, they took a name from the bottom of the old records: Dum Dum - Calcutta, where the Gramaphone Co. of India record pressing plant was.
That first album, DESI VIBES, was an underground cult classic in the States, and received massive college and indy airplay, as well as being a favorite of leftfield club DJ's. At the same time DJ's in Europe and Ibiza had discovered the record, and the track Air India became a chillout anthem in Ibiza that summer. By 2001 the second album, EXPORT QUALITY was ready to drop, and the group had signed with x2 Records in London. The album featured Indian vocalist Asha Puthli, holyman Bhagavan Das, and tabla virtuoso and Miles davis collaborator Badal Roy. In the 2001/2 they released the singles HEY DIWANI, HEY DIWANA and JAANI JAAN, both of which had videos, and toured all over Europe. Sean also DJ'd everywhere from Bangkok to Moscow to San Francisco, spreading the Dum Dum vibes to the four corners! The addition of MC's the1shanti (NYC) and Earl J (Jamaica/London) began to add a new dimension to the sound, and the NY hip hop flavors really began to flourish on the road.
In 2002 Sean began to collaborate with like-minded soul Niraj Chag, noted for his excellent contribution to the Outcaste New Breeds compilation and his own scoring work. Soon the three began working on Shanti's solo album and Niraj became a full time member of DDP. Since the release of EXPORT QUALITY DDP has had tracks licensed to Ministry of Sound's Karma Collection 2&3, Buddha Bar, Maxim's de Paris, Stoned Asia, and many more. The new sound of DDP can only be described as Urban Asian with a NY sensibility, and their latest single PUNJABI 5-0 spent 6 weeks at .1 on the Bobby Friction and Nihal BBC Radio 1 show. As a white label it became a summer anthem, with it's bhangra hip hop party vibes. The track was liscenced out to Outcaste's ESSENTIAL ASIAN FLAVAS, MOS's URBAN UNDERGROUND, and The BOOM soundtrack with Xlantic Music / Sony India.
Recently DDP have been touring extensively in Asia, setting up residencies in Bangkok and Jakarta, as well as continuing to play with UK collectives SWARAJ, SHAANTI, and STONED ASIA. Previously DDP have enjoyed residencies at RAIN in Bombay and have played at FIRE n ICE and RAZBERRY RHINO. DDP's last album was also released to the Indian market on the Times Music label.
DDP is currently holding down DJ residencies in NYC, London, Shanghai and Bangkok. With hits such as "Punjabie Five 0" and "Supafly Bindi" still travelling through Asia and Europe, the collective has taken a break to work on solo efforts. Niraj Chag and THE1SHANTI have released their solo efforts in the UK and US respectively.
Peace. Check my debut, This Iz, featuring the smash "Maintain" with Pacewon. Features production from Lord Jamar of the legendary Brand Nubian, DJ Uvex, and appearances by Skyzoo and Paradox. Support Real Hip Hop Since 1981. Click the Icons Below. ....
