Teaching DJing in Mumbai

DJ KD is teaching how to mix. Next to him is his student, Harsh, wearing headphones. Right in front of them are two record players, a mixer, speakers and a booster.

DJ KD, whose real name is Kedar Sakekar, does not only teach. He is also a professional DJ -- mixing for clubbers in Mumbai’s trendiest establishments. He set up his DJ academy to share his skills with other interested music fans and clubbers:

"We have a test that we put them through in the beginning. So both of us know how feasible and viable is it for the kid as well as for me to take him and for him to pay that kind of fees. But the rhythm has to be in you. And I can polish it and edge you out of it. But if you don't have it I can't help you. Even if you pay me like ten times the money I charge."

A luxurious job

The 19-year-old Harsh Vasudeva has been taking classes with Kedar for about a year now. Six sessions cost 20,000 rupees, roughly 300 euros. DJ training is a luxury but Harsh is from a well-off family.

Although Harsh is studying insurance economics, he also wants to be a professional DJ. It is not uncommon to have a daytime office job and to DJ at night or at the weekends in Mumbai. Harsh says he chose DJ KD's academy for one particular reason:

"You know usually, in a DJ Academy it is more like a tuition class that you have. That you’ll have 5-6 students and they’ll be taught together. I think personally you don't learn too much then. And plus, they teach you on CD decks. So they don’t teach you DJing originally, how it is meant to be. That's one of the main reasons why I came here."

Imported techniques

Although Kedar first started mixing on cassette players, today the 28-year-old insists on using record players only:

"There is nothing beyond it in technology. You know what I am saying, it is just buttons, new functions and new people getting in new technology and you just press the buttons and it's done. But at the end where do I lie? I don't know the real thing. This is the real thing, you know, turntables."

Until the late 80s, turntables were expensive imported goods in India and they remain rare even today, considering CDs practically sent records into oblivion in the 1990s.

KD's business is doing very well and he can make a living from his art. He has a weekly DJing slot at a club in Mumbai’s hip Bandra district and has had several gigs in Europe. He even had the honour of performing at Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai's wedding ceremony.

Taboos persist

However, he knows that his profession is not really respected in India:

"Family members are not all that open to business or work that is nocturnal. And lot of people especially in India have an impression that being a DJ is all about sex, drugs and money," says Kedar.

But Kedar’s own family has accepted his alternative profession, despite being quite traditional. Perhaps this is because he graduated in commerce before becoming a professional DJ and could always get a “real” job if things went wrong in the music business.

Author: Priya Palsule-Desai
Editor: Anne Thomas