Entertainment of Monday, 13 January 2014

Source: Ama Larbie

Other DJs should be given the opportunity to display

Too much of everything, they say is bad which practically nobody disagrees. So is a career without the contributions and support of other knowledgeable persons, will be a one-man business and only develop to his or her favor which exactly is going on in with the DJs in Ghana.

Talk of DJs/Turntablers in Ghana, there is quite a huge number of them but how many of them do we see billed to play on big shows except for DJ Black aka Tumtum who is always made the headlined DJ on such shows.

One may conclude that ‘wo ton wo yare a, na wo nya ho eduro’ (when you discuss your problem with people, you are likely to gain solutions to them) but in the case of our DJs, we always hear them play on Radio and in Nite Clubs; do we say they are not good and marketable enough to play on such shows?

Indeed DJ Black has worked tirelessly to create a niche for himself onto the DJ Maps across Africa and beyond therefore gains more gigs to play on but then again, what happens to DJs the public, media and event organizers know are very good as well yet never gets to be billed to play such on such shows except for our one and only DJ Black?

Undergoing a thorough ‘ground-works’ in some Nite Clubs, Radio as well as Mobile DJs in the industry, it revealed quite an interesting number of Turntablers names who can very well be compared to DJ Black in terms of mixes although they all have their specialties which included Killa Fingers, DJ Perfekt, DJ Minor, DJ Advicer, DJ Mic Smith, DJ Slim, DJ Yellow man, DJ Wobeti, DJ Master J, DJ Mensah, DJ Champagne, DJ Abrantie, DJ Vision and DJ Kess. And Oh! DJ Lalu, a few to mention.

Yet all these DJs never get the chance to display their in-depth talent on major events organized in the country. Well, one may conclude that the rest are not putting in much efforts to complete their ‘home works’ nonetheless we sit back and appraise them for playing good mixes at their respective stations and further ask for their names.

If not for God’s intervention that Mercury Republic, organizers of Ghana DJ Awards came up with such a brilliant concept to reward DJs for their ‘highlight contributions they have made to the music distribution & promotion by playing on radio, endorsing & putting songs out to be enjoyed by the masses’, who would have made it a point to reward them although the award ceremony had its own hitches during its maiden edition?

DJ Black is undoubtedly Ghana’s finest DJ and the Top role model to most DJs but will he have done this without some of these DJs finding interest in pursuing Disc Jockey (DJ) as a career or a hobby? It is high time these DJs also come out of their shells and market their brands so as to enable event organizers bill them on their shows.