Heroes of the Dance floor

Its past midnight in Delhi. The roads are deserted except for a few proprietorial stray dogs. But a popular nightclub is full to capacity and the action is heating up. The DJ has just spun a saucy number,with a pronounced bass line and a melodious strain. A sea of hands rises on the dance floor,as though in mock worship of the force behind the mixer. The crowd always gets revved up by this number. It has never failed, says DJ Mash,speaking above the din. He flashes a victory sign to the enthusiastic crowd at the F Bar and Lounge at Delhis,The Ashok,as they pump the floor to his remix of Jerome Isma-Aes Tomorrow fused with Nirvanas Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Mash has been the nightclubs resident DJ since it opened in 2008. Six years ago,he was Manish Mendiratta from Gurgaon,an audio engineer from Australia. He metamorphosed into DJ Mash following an amateurish attempt to deejay for a friends party. And has been hooked to the sound system,headphones and disco lights ever since.

But he is only one name in a growing number of DJs. The proliferation of nightclubs across India has made this an attractive profession,one that fetches good money and even some fame. Thirty-year-old Alka Gulati became DJ Alia three years ago,after she quit her job as a freelance photographer. She now mostly guest deejays at clubs and private parties. Music was always at the back of my mind. Becoming a DJ made sense, says Gulati,known mainly for her house music.

Internet and new technology have worked in favour of younger DJs,giving them easy access to music but not always improving the quality. Standards have dipped,as deejaying is now software oriented. We started on vinyl records and carried a single stylus (for the vinyl player),which cost Rs 6,000. Once it broke,we did not have a replacement, says DJ Sunny Sarid,who first started deejaying during the 80s and remains partial to the older systems.

Most upcoming DJs are professionally trained,which they admit gives them an edge. Sarid runs the oldest music academy in the country,Sound of Music,set up in 1995,in Delhi. We teach students the basics of mixing music and familiarise them with conventional DJ equipment. Within three months of learning this,they can play at any club, says Sarid,who churns out 20 DJs from his academy every six months.

Other DJs have mastered the art of using technology to market their music. Kanpur-based DJ Harsh Bhutanis blog lists over 17 international venues where he has played his unique Bollywood remixes. I post my remixes and it allows me to reach a wider audience, says Bhutani,who lives in a posh locality of Kanpur. This 32-year-old from Delhi,who left home at the age of 24 after a 3-month basic DJ course has been playing at the Felix Club at Rave 3 Mall,Kanpur for the past seven years. Besides his residency,his monthly quota comprises 3 to 4 high-profile gigs,which include playing for business families of Kanpur,where he charges Rs 60,000 per night. Such salaries were unthinkable for DJs during the early 90s. Sarid recalls. I started off at a monthly package of Rs 1,000 as resident DJ of Ghungroo,at Maurya Sheraton. Today,packages exceed Rs 70,000.

DJ Aqeel and Nasha deserve special mention for infusing glamour into this profession. Shooting to the top of the charts with his Shake it Daddy Mix,in early 2000,Aqeel opened the popular nightclub,Hype,in Worli,two years ago. Another Mumbai-based Bollywood music DJ Nasha aka Ritesh DSouza,burst onto the scene in 2000,after winning two Indian versions of World DMC DJ Championships in 1999 and 2000. There was this parallel movement running between DJs and Bollywood. For me there is no music as popular as Bollywood, says Nasha.

DJ Rink aka Snehal Shah,27,gets Rs 50,000 upwards for most performances. She left her cushy job as a marketing manager with an MNC to take up deejaying since,she wanted to gain first-hand knowledge of music. Her remix of the original 1971 track,Dum Maro Dum,is popular across Delhi and Mumbai nightclubs,where she performs 6 – 7 gigs a month. Though her parents dont understand what she does,they do not discourage her. In a week packed with gigs,she prefers to pamper herself with retail therapy. I am crazy about Guess accessories, says Rink,who stays with her parents in Mumbai. Last year,she gifted her father,a retired government servant,a Chevrolet UVA hatchback.

But women DJs is not the norm in Indian cities. They are rare and occasionally get treated as token DJs, remarks DJ Alia. People say I can read the character of music well. I play a mix of international house and Bollywood at most of my gigs. And it works, she says. Model-turned-DJ Barkha Kaul 28,understands the crowd just as easily as DJ Alia understands the character of music. Kaul says this is because she was always a party animal. As she is a Bollywood music DJ,it is not hard,she admits,to get the crowd grooving. But one has to be tactful, says Kaul,who has played at high-profile wedding parties,including the Rs 250 crore wedding reception of Congress leader Kanwar Singh Tanwars son in March. At weddings,the crowd prefers Punjabi-Bollywood tracks,while at clubs,we play commercial house music,which has sophisticated western beats, she says.

Heeding the different tastes of different crowds is essential for the success of DJs. DJ Mash has only recently started playing Bollywood music at his club,owing to demands from the crowd. I have a simple strategy. Till the first half,I play popular Bollywood music,the remainder is electronic-trance, he says. While Delhi-based Ashish Nagpal,who plays house-progressive club music,avoids such situations by choosing the kind of audience he plays for. My music only appeals to a certain class of people. I stick to international house music, he says. And it works. Nagpal usually plays 12-15 gigs a month across the country charging Rs 50,000 per gig. Owing to his popularity he recently hired a business manager and an attorney. The latter to ensure all contract dealings were clean, he explains.

With many new clubs having opened in Delhi in the past three years,like Hype,Shiro and Jynxxx,there isnt any dearth of venues. With new venues,new DJs are also coming to the fore. Hype reserves Wednesday and Thursday nights for upcoming DJs and ensures everyone gets to play. We schedule our gigs 45 days in advance and do not exceed a particular budget. We look for DJs who can pull in maximum people and most guys are very eager to play, says Assad Namazi,director,Hype.