F I v/s Insomnia v/s Enigma &their DJ's. Review on Fire N Ice, Lower Parel, Mumbai

Fire and Ice is the best ,maybe one of the best in the whole country.It is on par with any international standards.But it pales in comparison with the new ones on the block like the just opened Insomnia at Taj and Enigma(WOW!) at JW Marriot.Still you can have a great time at F&I on any given night .

But the DJ's in Mumbai are a big big letdown.They convert the hip places into Chandni Bar with their kind of music .The DJ's are atleast a decade behind when it comes to club music.The resident DJ at Enigma is Aqeel and on the night I went he was promoting one of his albums of remixed old Hindi numbers.And nowadays there are lots of big promotional parties by Times music in all the leading nightclubs and I must say it really sucks.All the records by Times music are remixed old Hindi numbers by leading Mumbai DJ's.Why cant these DJ's cut their own album rather than relying on the popularity of old Hindi numbers and particularly RD Burman/Kishore Kumar /Amitabh/Asha songs.Give me old original songs anyday, than the remixed cover verions,which is really jarring and is a real pain to hear such melodious numbers being virtually ripped and plagarised by meaningless english rap ,beats inserted in between .DJ's here have virtually no talent in them to come out with their own albums like in the west .And these DJ's are incharge of the music in all the leading nightclubs and they shamelessly along with record labels like Times Music promote their junk plagarised music.

In Enigma I heard Aqeel telling the crowd that Indian music is happening all round the world and we here dont realise the value of it.True, Asian fusion Music is a rage in west ,and all leading clubs have special Asian parties every month and artists like Talveen Singh and Asian Dub Foundation are creating waves in UK and other European countries,but what is the contribution to it from the DJ's back home .Punjabi MC's are burning up the airwaves across Europe and are on top of almost all the dance charts,but they are not relying on old Hindi remixed numbers of RD Burman ,they are coming out with their own blend of fusion music and they are quite talented unlike cheap DJ's here backed by record labels like Times ,Tips for making some quick buck.Ironcially the mantle of Asian club music is in London,UK and its time DJ's back home innovate and bring it back to India.

Now coming back to the topic ,the places are quite hep and the crowd happening ,the sound effects simply out of this world ,all in place to compete with any nightclubs out in London or elsewhere,except the DJ's who spoil the whole show.

The latest newly unvailed Insomnia at Taj has the worst outdated ''club music'' compared to its international standards ,and decades behind ,else its sizzling hot -sound effects,lighting(they even have a light jockey),ambience,split lounges(some lounges are open to access only for elite members),private areas,cigar bars and glam crowd all diverts the attention from the music .Crowd in Insomnia is too upscale full of celebreties ,but the crowd at Enigma is the trendiest,yuppie kind,energetic and the best and next comes F&I.Music wise Enigma is way better than F&I and the worse is Insomnia(I mean the outdated club music ) .Food , who cares ,who goes to discs for that?

Final verdict,go for Enigma if you have a choice.

But one advice, never attend these clubs on the big party nights by Times Music.