Rishikesh Helped Diplo Discover Rhythm Beyond Music

Photo: Instagram

India-West News Desk

NEW DELHI – Before becoming a global music icon, Thomas Wesley Pentz was an anthropology dropout exploring India on a second-hand motorcycle. In a recent retrospective, the 47-year-old producer detailed how a shoestring journey through the subcontinent at age 20 served as the primary catalyst for his musical identity.

Diplo admitted that his start in music was born from experimentation and a lack of traditional skill. He noted that he originally wanted to make hip-hop but realized he was “not good at it.” To move forward, he explained, “I shoplifted a few drum machines, rudimentary samplers, and Gemini turntables, started to loop samples and make beats.” This search for sound eventually led him from Philadelphia and New Jersey to a “back-alley junk shop in New Delhi.”

The producer described DJing as a journey intended to evoke curiosity rather than just a performance. “When you hear a good set, it should make you happy, make you love…but also should make you wonder…make you curious and teach you things you may not have known before,” he stated. He realized that his musical sources were not just grooves on vinyl, but the places where those rhythms originally came alive. He described India as a place where “the attitude of a city in a foreign place” and “the spirit still lingers.”

During his travels, Pentz navigated a used Enfield through regions including Gujarat, West Bengal, and Ladakh. He spent this time collecting records and listening to traditional performances of the tabla and sitar. After a month on the road, he arrived in Rishikesh feeling “broke and hungry,” with only his bike and a yoga studio floor for shelter.

Writing about his stay in the Himalayan foothills, Diplo noted that he arrived decades after the Beatles had established their ashram there. He clarified that while thousands of yogis had come to study in Rishikesh, he was not one of them. He described himself as an “adventure seeker” who was “into records and could afford cheap beer.” He noted that at the time, he could not even touch his toes without bending his knees and was more interested in working for National Geographic than practicing yoga.

One of the most significant memories from his stay involved a dangerous attempt to swim in the Ganges River. After a friend suggested they float down the river, Diplo decided to wear hiking boots to protect his feet from rocks. He quickly realized that “the river takes you wherever it wants” and discovered that “the boots drag you down to the bottom.”

Diplo concluded his post with a video of himself playing a set on the banks of the river, leaving the outcome of the swim as a cliffhanger for a future update.