Right from Scratch

Majumdar has since cemented her mark on the music scene by opening for DJ Mark Da Spot,who was Justin Timberlake’s official DJ in 2011,and DJ Doc,the official DJ for Akon and Kardinal Official in 2012. “When I played the opening set for these DJs,I stuck to old-school hip hop. I also played come popular contemporary tracks but not the chart-topping ones because I wanted to leave that for the main act,” recalls Majumdar. This apart,she has also performed at several festivals and gigs across India and abroad.

Her first break came at a club in Mumbai seven years ago. After college,she pursued a DJing course and started performing to small audiences. Soon,she bagged an offer to perform for a crowd of over 300 guests in Hyderabad. That experience taught her that DJing is like learning to play a musical instrument or like singing. “You can master the art of it by yourself,but the real test is when you have to perform for an audience. The bigger the audience,the greater the nervousness. But the satisfaction you get after a job well done is the best feeling in the world,” she says.

An advocate of old-school genres of music and techniques,Majumdar carries a bag of 300 CDs for every performance. She doesn’t use a laptop or other digital technology while performing and mixes tracks using CD players and CDs.

“Actual DJing is done by mixing vinyl. Digital technology makes everything so easy,where is the scope to actually perform the art of DJing? I choose not to join the digital bandwagon and thus keep my art alive,” she says.

She has no regrets about picking DJing,but her vocation does have its flip side,she says. Working late nights takes a toll on the body,as does the extensive travelling. “You can’t be a DJ if you are not a traveller. Our motive is to take our music to the people and this can be done only with extensive travelling,” she says.

Ishani Majumdar will perform at What The Funk party today at One Lounge,Koregaon Park