Pitchfork

Urban Typhoon is a workshop that took place March 16-22 in the Koliwada neighborhood of the Dharavi district of Mumbai, India. The workshop gathered a cross-section of artists, thinkers, activists, and business people to brainstorm ideas for improving the future of life in the notorious slum area. Add to that list of participants Mad Decent DJ and Diplo buddy Paul Devro, who made the trip in the spirit of the label's recent string of good deeds.

Mad Decent threw a party for the locals and Urban Typhoon attendees on the last day of the workshop, but if Devro's blog posts are any indication, most of his time was spent recording Koliwada residents. As he tells it himself, "When I first got to Koliwada, I was trying to explain that I wanted to write some new songs with the locals and work together and make some tracks. They didn't really understand what I meant. I think it's because they mostly listen to Akon, Sean Paul, [and] Hindi film scores, or they just sing local songs that have been there for generations. So after four days I realized that I'd have to just do it to give them the idea. So we set up a speaker on the roof of the gym, and I played a bunch of beats and instruments to my friends. Then we started getting somewhere."

Devro's posts feature plenty of pictures, a promise of video in the future, and a story about the first "Koliwada Idol". There are four of them right now, and you can check them out here: #1, #2, #3, #4.