How a simple Toronto party transformed into a massive outdoor music festival
What started as a university party for a few hundred students eight years ago is set to become one of Toronto's biggest South Asian electronic music events this summer: Soundwave Festival.
But according to co-founder Rahul Tomar, none of it was part of the original plan.
"It started at Carleton [University]," Tomar tells blogTO. As a Computer Science student, he began organizing parties simply because one built around Bollywood fusion music "didn't exist."
After graduating, Tomar took the idea beyond campus, and Desi Troop was born in 2020 as a Canada-wide platform dedicated to curating events for people who love South Asian nightlife.
"Our first events were capped at twenty-five people," he says. "We organized events in restaurant basements in Ottawa…we'd sell out and still barely break even." Those early events took place during the height of COVID-19 restrictions, but as limitations eased, opportunities grew.
Twenty-five attendees became 50, then 100, before eventually expanding into sold-out nightclub events, boat parties and concert hall shows. Today, Desi Troop hosts events across Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
But despite selling out venues like one of Toronto's best music venues, Annabel's Music Hall, it was those smaller, more intimate spaces that revealed something pivotal. "Every single week, we watched the same thing happen on our floors in Toronto," Tomar remembers.
"The room went hardest not on the commercial Bollywood records we'd planned the night around, but on the fusion; Bollywood pulled through house, Bollywood pulled through EDM."
Even more surprising, Tomar says, was who was dancing.
"We'd see people who had never bought a ticket to a South Asian night in their life completely gone to it. That's not a trend you plan for. That's a signal."
That realization became the blueprint for Soundwave, which debuted last year as an indoor music event. Its success convinced the team it was time to bring the experience outdoors and create something on a much larger scale.
Finding a venue, however, almost didn't happen.
"This summer, FIFA had taken every outdoor venue in Toronto, and we couldn't find a room," Tomar says. "Ankur, [one of the other founders of Soundwave], half-jokingly suggested we send an inquiry to Downsview Park... They wrote back."
And that's how Soundwave Festival came to life, taking over an open-air venue with a lineup that blends South Asian sounds with genres like EDM and house. Although the price tag was the largest the team had ever faced, Tomar says they knew it was "a once-in-a-lifetime shot."
Unlike many South Asian festivals that combine live entertainment with broader cultural programming, Soundwave Festival is focused exclusively on electronic music stemming from South Asian sounds.
"This is a South Asian electronic festival, not a South Asian cultural festival with a DJ stage attached," Tomar reiterates. "It's built for the dance floor from the ground up."
Festivalgoers can expect a full day of Bollywood anthems, house music and electronic sets on a single festival stage, backed by large-scale production designed specifically for an outdoor venue.
This year's lineup includes international artists alongside a roster of local DJs, all helping shape Toronto's growing South Asian electronic music scene. But the experience does extend beyond the music.
Organizers are planning a South Asian food village on site, featuring regional Indian cuisine alongside Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi vendors, with vegetarian, vegan and Jain options available throughout the day.
"A lot of us grew up going to festivals in this country where the food was the one part of the day that had nothing to do with us," Tomar notes, perhaps alluding to the fact that festivals around the city have been diluted to showcase less cultural foods and more of what's popular amongst the masses. "Here it's the opposite."
Soundwave Festival will feature immersive festival production that includes a custom-built stage overlooking the open grounds of Downsview Park's Festival Terrace, a venue that has hosted some of Toronto's biggest outdoor concerts over the years.
The open-air festival takes place on Sept. 12 from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m., bringing together Bollywood, EDM and house music for a full day of performances. Organizers expect up to 5,000 attendees at the 19+ event, marking the biggest production yet for Desi Troop, the Ottawa-founded nightlife brand that has grown into a six-city operation and sold more than 70,000 tickets since 2021.
General admission and VIP tickets are now on sale, with prices ranging from $49 to $3,500 depending on the experience. You can now purchase tickets directly on the event's website.
While Tomar is careful not to compare Soundwave Festival to Toronto's long-running South Asian cultural festivals, he hopes the event demonstrates something bigger.
"What we want people to take away is that this music can hold a festival ground," he says. "Our community has always had the sound. We just haven't often been given the stage."
Soundwave Festival will take over Downsview Park's Festival Terrace located at 70 Canuck Ave.
Desi Troop
