Occupation: DJ
It’s New Year Eve and its one of the biggest nights of the year for me. I have got a huge gig tonight in Kovalam. I’ll probably spend the next few hours getting into the mood and prepping for the party. It’s not my style to pre-plan the tracks that I will be playing, though. I’m just going to go with the flow, going by instinct on what tracks to play. It would probably depend on the bounce and texture of the audience, in other words the pulse of the audience – how they play the floor, what kind of music gets them rocking, and so on. I’m planning a judicious mix of several genres of music such as electronic dance music, club anthems, club music, house anthems, hip-hop, progressive music and, of course, some Bollywood too. No party is nowadays complete without Bollywood! I believe in making the audience dance till they drop and that’s the mood I want to sustain throughout the night. The key to keeping them on the dance floor for hours on end is to gradually pick up the bounce, bring it down, pick it up again…the cycle continues. I count a gig as successful when my audience is happy, when they are dancing to the beat and they are flowing with my music.
I’ve been a DJ for eight years now. After my schooling [Christ Nagar and St. Joseph’s] I completed my graduation in hospitality management in Singapore but turned to DJing because of my interest in music. I’m 31 now and it’s music that keeps me going all day, every day. I returned home to the city because I simply love it here, the sights, the sounds, the people... Back when I started out a lot of the genres in music were like rocket science for the audience. Now, though, the party scene has changed completely. The city has quite a number of true, knowledgeable music lovers, which makes it interesting for me because it gives me a chance to explore various genres, knowing that they will in turn appreciate it on the dance floor.
I’m actually busy all year round with corporate gigs, parties, college shows, weddings and the like. As the city, or rather Kovalam, is a hot destination for destination weddings I get to DJ for a lot of high profile parties too. Plus, every Saturday I play at the hotel in Kovalam where I’m the resident DJ. On that note, I must say that this Christmas-New Year-tourist season has not been as rocking as in the previous years and I’ve noticed a definite lull in the number of parties and destination weddings organised here. I’m hoping it will pick up in the New Year.
I’m in a happy state with my career right now and all’s well on the home front too, where there’s just myself and my wife, Sinta, who is a TV anchor.
Now, are you ready to party? I am!
(A weekly column on the men and women who make Thiruvananthapuram what it is)
