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This is an archive article published on February 21, 2012
Spinning Wild
Mumbai-based Manoj Parmar started DJing some eight years ago.
Written by Shruti Nambiar
Pune | February 21, 2012 01:46 AM IST
4 min read
4 min read
Many local DJs have taken to unusual professional names to make people notice them,and their music,better
Mumbai-based Manoj Parmar started DJing some eight years ago. Apart from his collection of hip hop dance numbers,his antics have kept crowds entertained at every event he has played at. When the crowd is in,I go mad. I stand on the console sometimes and give regular shout outs to the crowd. I go on a different trip altogether, he says. Many a member of the crowd would mention how shameless he is as a DJ. No wonder then that DJ Manoj in time has morphed into ‘DJ Shameless Mani’. Whenever an assignment would come to me,even from friends,I would always want to know what the deal with the money was. So they thought ‘money’ should be a part of my name, he recalls. ‘Money’ ultimately became ‘Mani’,but the idea behind the moniker still holds good,and has given him a good fan following in Mumbai-Pune and more cities. In the overcrowded DJ world,and with a limited number of music genres,it takes an ingenuous mind to survive. But if your professional name can inspire a recall,then you have hit a jackpot. When I started,there were way too many DJ Manoj(s) around, Shameless Mani laughs today.
Case in point are the various interesting,and some seriously absurd,DJ names that fill party event listings in the city. Lookout for DJ Vickypedia,DJ Shameless Mani,DJ Sassy,DJ Baggio Lady,DJ Rackish,DJ Proggy Vabby,and more uniquely named individuals. The professional name should be different from the name you carry in your normal life, explains DJ Cee,a.k.a,Janardhan Sabne. His nickname for near and dear ones is ‘Chintu’ and from that source came the title,’Cee’. It ensures good recall among the people. In fact,shorter the name,better the recall, he says.
But irrespective of the fact whether they pick colourful names as suffixes or not,DJs are still defined by the music they play and produce. For us,the popularity of the DJ is most important,he/she should have some sort of following, says Chef Shailendra Kakade of Stone Water Grill in Koregaon Park,a regular party haunt with two in-house DJs and many visiting DJs. I think when DJ Dushyant wants to call himself DJ Dash,it is to give a funky touch to his name. It does ensure a lot of recall. But the importance of what strand of music he plays is paramount in the mind of 27-year-old Vaibhav Kharat,who becomes DJ Proggy Vabby behind the console. It is a combination of my name and the progressive music I play, he says. I feel a DJ’s name shoud be flashy,it gives you an identity. Now DJ Vaibhav would sound so normal, he laughs.
In the relatively smaller music and party circle of Pune,having an interesting name is a sure advantage. DJ Vaggy,DJ Rackish (aka,Rakesh),DJ Sukhi and more have built a good following by smartly tweaking their names. I have come across many funny DJ names,like DJ Big J, chuckles Piyush Deshmukh of Kue Bar at The Westin Hotel. It helps them to an extent no doubt. But for the people who come to party and enjoy,the name hardly matters. They may get a bit curious about it,but at the end of the day,music is what matters.
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