Djing is an art ! Entertainment & Events management in Sri Lanka

Disc jockey or as commonly abbreviated ( Dj ) is a person who entertains a crowd of people with Recorded music live in a social public gathering or at a club. (As per the Google definition “DJing is the act of playing existing recorded music for a live audience)

Djing is an art of its own. As a dj there are few categories that you can choose from

1.Mobile Dj
2.club or Events Dj
3.Radio Dj

What starts off as a hobby for most of the young enthusiastic school leavers out there, only a few will remain and take it forward as their carrier’s due to various reasons.

Sri lanka is an island nation so its only natural that we are in to music of some sort and trying the vocal chords on and off the mic at a house party is a common sight. Even though djing starts off with a pure love for music it takes a bit more than that to prove it when you play live.

knowledge of music, taste in music and also your judgement of the audience that you play for are the main ingredients that will make a perfect dj behind the console.

It was all about a self studying game back in the day, unlike today where you get many outfits that you can learn and train to be a dj,The Dj Academy & Vinyl Cafe of course is on top of the mind if any one wants to learn the art of djing and not forgetting music production.

It was an uphill task to find the music and record the cds back in the day,I remember it used to cost around 500rs to record a cd sometimes even closer to 1000rs in some shops, but NOW with the internet it has been made so much easier to find music with downloads available freely. ( I personally have spent hours and hours at internet cafes downloading music in the early to mid 2000s.)

Radio was the only avenue we had to get updated with the new music and trends, I recall listening to Efm mix by Dj Ross and Ricky Deen and Red Hot nights by Tom Hart on Yes fm, and writing down the names of the songs when the djs announced them on air( of course this was pre shazam era).we just couldn’t wait till we record them on cds the next day.

As a dj you need to remember that you are an entertainer or a live performer, so you need to play the music your audience wants, not the type of music that you prefer. This is the number one rule where ever you play. some djs prefer just segue of music right through out but the audience wants entertainment, so talk to them, say something on the mic, get them to the dance floor, cheer them, thank them, people like to hear those and be appreciated, so they will be on the dance floor till the end, That’s what you need to achieve as a dj in the end. That's what makes you a versatile Dj in the end.

You need to know your sounds and lighting set up, you need to be able to handle it alone with out an assistant. basically you should be able to fix your sound set up by your self,(of Course you need a person to help with those big heavy speakers) but think, how many of you out there know how to fix a amp to the mixer.

if something acts up you should know where and how to fix it with out passing the blame to the sound assistant. you got to remember, a client pays you with a trust, if its a wedding or a some important gathering, there wont be a second chance to make it right, (remember you may have played for many wedding gigs but its their first and may be the last wedding) so be responsible and be accountable for your actions always.Speaking of which it leads to my next topic, grooming yourself.

see djing is all about public relations. from the clients first call till the moment he pays you the cheque,its a PR Journey, You got to listen to the clients wants and needs and provide them as per the request and of course if you can help them in organising the event with your knowledge and expertise it can go a long way in getting you more bookings in future. Keep in mind You got to dress accordingly, just because you are an entertainer it doesn’t mean that you can dress loosely, you got to project your professionalism in every aspect, you should know how to handle a request from the grooms uncle or aunt (common incident at weddings) even post event actions, such as a courtesy call to find out how they have enjoyed the event. This will help you improve yourself more in future. Ask them to write a honest review on your page on fb. Hopefully this will help you get more bookings in future.

(These are just few things that you need to keep an eye out for other than that hot girl on the dance floor)

Entertainment industry as a whole bloomed in to the next level In 2009 After the war ended, We started seeing many beach parties and events in and around the country, which paved the way for a new electronic dance music culture among the youth. Pioneered by Tim and offshore life and Colombo house mafia by shiyam and van luup helped create a vibrant sri lankan beach party culture with the party goers in Colombo and down south.

we got more exposed to international music festivals such as tomorrow land, sunburn, electric daisy carnival so on and so forth, our young budding djs wanted to follow their favorite dj from the line ups, they downloaded the exact flow of music and used to play at events, and they started to stick to one genre of music, slowly The true art of djing started to fade away and it became so robotic with the introduction of the new age consoles,(I’m not saying we should not use the new technology, of course we have to, to make our job easier) but it started a trend where everything was electronic and djs were solely depending on the machines to do the art, most of all we forgot that most of them big named djs are music producers unlike us here( although we are starting to see some good productions from our djs here recently)

saying all these as a whole we can be proud to say that we have a good talented pool of djs and producers in this island nation.

THIS IS THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE SERIES

Ill be touching more on djing, events and Entertainment industry in the future episodes, do comment and share it with your friends!!!

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Minol Dee