Pooja B / ikigai (AE)

Pooja B has had an ongoing affair with the DJ booth since 2009. She started her musical journey in Chennai (India) but temporarily gave it up when her passport began to beg for immigration stamps & she took up a cabin crew job in Dubai. After a two-year hiatus, she got back behind the decks in 2011 & has continued her musical prowess, recently venturing into production & sound design. After travelling the world & delving a bit deeper into music, she found that she resonates most with techno. Her sets are filled with deep, hard-hitting basslines with an industrial touch but she’s equally capable of playing stripped down or deep melodic grooves. Her production alias 'ikigai' (生き甲斐, pronounced [ikiɡai]) is a Japanese concept that means "a reason for being." ... The word translated to English roughly means "thing that you live for" or "the reason for which you wake up in the morning". Her reason for being is to make people dance. Pooja has co-founded ‘The EQ way’, a collective for women & female-identifying persons working in the electronic music industry in India. She also curates The EQ Way Show on Sound of Berlin, Flux.fm which is a platform for female artists from across the world to showcase their sounds to the world. Named as one of the “Top 9 Female Djs in India”, Pooja B has played her share of clubs and festivals all over the world. Currently, she is a resident at Analog Room which is the only ongoing weekly underground party in Dubai for 6 yrs now. In the past, she was a resident with ‘Be Massive Records - Budapest’, ‘Electric Vibes - Dubai’ & ‘Warped’ the longest running techno night in Dubai. She also makes regular appearances on the Shanghai nightlife circuit. Some highlights in her gig calendar were playing at Womb (Tokyo), Clubs Celia & Dada (Shanghai), headlining the Be Massive label night at Bloom Bar (Kesztheley, Hungary) as well as Morning Rise at Corvin Club (Budapest, Hungary). She has also performed in India and the Middle East for parties like Decibel (Dubai), Plus Minus (Dubai), Electric days/Electric Vibes (Dubai) & played at Eden (Dubai), Industrial Avenue (Dubai), GQ (Dubai), Trilogy (Dubai), Tamanya Terrace (Dubai), Story Rooftop Lounge (Dubai), Sho Cho (Dubai), Zoe (Bahrain), Kitty Ko (Bangalore), Tao Terraces(Bangalore), Warehouse (Bangalore), Euriska (Pune), Leather Bar (Chennai), Chipstead (Chennai) & Q-Bar (Chennai) among many others. Having played to many international audiences at festivals like Sonar (Spain), Magnetic Fields (India), Groove On The Grass (Dubai), Go:Madras -The Electronic Music Festival (India), Lord Davenport's Mansion (London), 81115 (Sri Lanka), TGIT-Thank God Its Techno (India) & Holi Buzz Music Festival (India) she has a growing number of avid followers around the world who love to dance with her. She has featured on lineups alongside the likes of Dave Clarke, Tobias, Rebekah, Monoloc, Etapp Kyle, Alan Fitzpatrick, Sam Paganini, Klaudia Gawlas, Marco Bailey, Gunnar Haslam, Kate Simko, Anastasia Kristensen, Skober, Scarlett Etienne, Bob Moses, Clarian, Her (Him & Her) to name a few. You can hear her across the global airwaves on radio stations such as Egothermia Radio (Hungary), Fever.fm (Ireland), Fluxfm.de (Berlin), Deeper Sounds Global (UK), Ibiza Global Radio, Innerversions Radio, Zurich radio. Even though she has a full time job that keeps her on the road for extended periods of time, she has always found the time to fulfill her passion for music. Constantly evolving & increasing her technical skills, Pooja is hoping to share her own productions with the world soon. It is her love of music, her constant hard work & remaining true to the sound that she believes in that keeps her going, & has brought her praises from many within the industry.