Mad Decent, the American record label helmed by Grammy-nominated & AMA winning producer Diplo (producer to Madonna, Usher, M.I.A, Justin Bieber amongst others) will be bringing their wildly popular concert the Mad Decent Block Party to India this February.

The label has been responsible for kickstarting the careers of many up and coming electronic producers including Dillon Francis, Baauer (of Harlem Shake fame) and TroyBoi to name a few.

Mad Decent has been a pioneer in introducing eclectic and fantastic regional sounds from Brazil, Angola and famously Jamaica amongst many other countries into clubs and dancefloors across the world with the very first Mad Decent Block Party taking place in a street in Philadelphia, USA back in 2008.

Keeping in line with Mad Decent’s aim of presenting the best of global pop and dance music to new audiences, the Indian edition of Mad Decent Block Party will feature Major Lazer (known for their 2015 hit single, Lean On) as the headline act, British house-music duo Gorgon City, Big Gigantic whose sets are tinged with live electronica, hip hop and jazz, as well as American producer Giraffage amongst a host of local artists yet to be announced.

Commenting on bringing the Mad Decent Block Party to India, Diplo of Major Lazer said, “The Mad Decent Block party is when the whole neighborhood comes together to meet up outside and get loose. At Mad Decent we treat the whole city like one scene and we bring everyone out for music, food and just good energy all around. Being able to bring Mad Decent Block Party to India is a huge accomplishment, and all of us in Major Lazer are excited to be back in India bringing carnival to the fans”.

States Karan Singh, CEO, Sunburn, "This is our 10th anniversary year which is a matter of celebration in itself as an Intellectual property. This season we intend to deliver differentiated products for our loyal dance music patrons.  Sunburn would never be where we are without them. This association with Mad Decent Block Party is the first step towards our mega celebrations."

Major Lazer is the dancehall-inspired project of Diplo, Jillionaire and Walshy Fire fronted by fictional Jamaican ex-commando, Major Lazer. Peace Is The Mission follows the group’s previous two LPs, Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do and Free The Universe, both released to widespread critical acclaim. Founded in 2008 by Diplo and U.K. producer Switch, the group has toured worldwide and collaborated with Pharrell Williams, Bruno Mars and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend along with dancehall legends like Busy Signal, Vybz Kartel and Elephant Man.

Over the last few years, Major Lazer has become a staple at all big music festivals around the world – Coachella, Lollapalooza, Pitchfork and has gained notoriety as a fun-filled stage act. As of 2016, the video for their smash hit single Lean On which was filmed in India and featured Danish singer MØ, crossed 1 billion views on Youtube and now holds the record for most streamed song on Spotify of all time - an achievement only a handful of artists can boast of.

Perhaps the most prominent name from Major Lazer, Thomas Wesley Pentz better known by his stage name ‘Diplo’ said of his association with India, “When I was 20 I traveled to India after a big earthquake on the Pakistani border in the state of Gujarat to help relief workers and working locally to rebuild areas and document the process with the Red Cross and other peacekeepers. I had time to travel around and while this was 15 years ago, India was just starting to explode into an industrial powerhouse and it felt like cities were literally growing out of the ground. Giant Tata trucks clogged up the highways and sometimes I would sleep on my bike on a tea stand at 7 am when there were too many cars clogging up the highway. Between all this I traveled with a small keyboard and speaker to play and make music. I listened to albums under a mosquito net at night and dreamed of coming back again. I never did until 15 years later on stage as Major Lazer and couldn’t be more excited to return this year” .

A Major Lazer show is party central, whether at a concert or a festival. Expect confetti guns that shoot colourful confetti into the crowd, inflatable animals that bounce around, constant blowing of vuvuzelas and dancers twerking and shimmying their way across the stage to the sounds of moombahton, reggae, trap hip-hop and even pop. Diplo zorbing across the crowd is a classic sight at any big Major Lazer show.

Mad Decent have recruited the ever popular UK house and garage duo, Gorgon City for the Indian edition of the Block Party. Gorgon City who are signed to Black Butter Records (the record label that gave us Rudimental) have gone from strength to strength releasing tracks featuring Clean Bandit and Grammy nominated singer MNEK as well as remixing legends such as Basement Jaxx.

Joining the lineup is American outfit, Big Gigantic who have amassed fans as they craftily and beautifully combine lush electronic beats with live saxophone and drums.

Charlie Yin, known to most as Giraffage is an American electronic music producer who has gained ample recognition for remixing the likes of Porter Robinson will be making his highly anticipated India debut at the Mad Decent Block Party in February too.

The champion of Indian drum ‘n’ bass and dubstep, Udyan Sagar a.k.a Nucleya will bringing his eclectic style and big tunes to the Mad Decent Block Party this February- expect punchy basslines and a high energy performance. Naezy vs Divine are also joining the lineup providing a healthy dose of beats and homegrown hip-hop.

The dates:

Date: 19 February 2016

City: Bangalore

Tickets: http://maddecentblockparty.com / http://sunburn.in / http://in.bookmyshow.com

Date: 20 February 2016

City: New Delhi

Tickets: http://maddecentblockparty.com / http://sunburn.in / http://in.bookmyshow.com

Date: 21 February 2016

City: Mumbai

Tickets: http://maddecentblockparty.com / http://sunburn.in / http://in.bookmyshow.com