[Dedicating this piece to all DJs and music lovers that I have interacted with over the last couple of years]
The Disk Jockeys (DJ) are an intrinsic part of the Indian entertainment industry today and their role in the evolution of this culture cannot be over-emphasized. Their contribution is not only limited to their loyal audience but also extends to the success of the business as a whole.
However, this has been a long journey with interesting events occurring in the lives of the people on either side of the console. What makes this journey worth exploring a little more in detail is the outstanding manner in which Indian’s have understood this new trend and accepted it as their own.
From what I remember, the first form of popular remix music was the introduction of ‘Jhankar Beats’ into movie songs. Most audio cassettes for Hindi films would come in two versions – one: the usual and the other one: with an oval-shaped fluorescent sticker reading ‘with Jhankar Beats’. They were normally priced at a premium and for popular movies such as ‘Phool Aur Kaante’ and ‘Raja Hindustani’ the stocks would dry in no time.
What followed this phase was a period of ‘devotional bhajans’ sung to the tunes of popular film songs. Ruling this business was Gulshan Kumar and family with the T-Series brand. He was leading this culture of devotional albums while his brother Kishan Kumar played the role of a humble devotee in most of these. Many of these tracks are still popular and form a part of ‘bhajan’ evenings and other religious functions across the country even today.
After this, we saw the first glimpse of the kind of remix music as we know of today. There were old tracks which were re-dubbed with new voices and electronic music (DJ Aqeel being one of the popular stars of these times) and even new tracks which were remixed. This was probably the period when the concept of Disk Jockey started to emerge in the country.
As we started accepting this new kind of music, there was long period when little attention paid to understand what the acronym DJ stood for or meant. The DJ was not a person but an entire package. The mixers, console, disks, songs, lights and speakers along with a strange looking person doing something on these machines is what the term DJ meant to most Indians. There were bizarre variations in the language which was used to describe their work often leaving them confused as to what people thought their role was. People would ‘play DJ’, ‘increase and decrease the volume of DJ at parties’, ‘like good DJ beats and hate slow DJ beats’, ‘listen DJ songs’, ‘celebrate DJ nights’ and do everything associated with the term ‘DJ’ without acknowledging their role at all.
Intrigued would be the apt word to describe the sentiment of people when it came to DJs. There was little knowledge as to what these creatures did, why did they dress up the way the dressed up, why did the music they played sound so different, how did they manage to play tracks one after the other without stopping, etc. etc?
The entire mystery that surrounded this innovation and the complete lack of understanding (even with a lot of effort) was one of the reasons which made this new culture popular.
Thankfully for my DJ friends and many others, the scenario is much different today. Nowadays, there are genre specific enthusiasts. On the other side, there are DJs who are comfortable with specific kinds of music as well. The combination of these two factors is what leads to success of this industry.
If we try and study this phase a little more in detail we will find that apart from the hard work and contribution made by the DJs, there are also several interesting insights about Indians which have played a big role towards the creation of the current avatar.
On the face of it, there are certain obvious factors responsible for the growth of this industry. Increase in the availability and popularity of this new genre of music, growth of internet market leading to better collaboration and sharing, the opportunity for the youth to break free and experience an independent life - if only for a couple of hours, technological development and better access to quality equipment, etc. However, if we look a little deeper, there seems to be more than the obvious as stated above.
One such factor is the love for the game of ‘antakshari’ in the country. It is a simple game for two or more teams where one starts with a song and the other follows up with another song, starting with the last letter. The game has been popular amongst people of all ages for years, much before even I was born. Even today, at family get-togethers, marriages and other social functions, schools and colleges, en-route on journeys, etc., it is a common source of entertainment. One aspect about this game which contributed towards its popularity is the element of continuity. Kids, adults and even elders would jump in as soon as one song would get over with the next one to ensure that there is minimal gap between the two songs and game could continue un-interrupted. Another similar form of art is ‘Dandiya’ and ‘Garba’ where people were able to dance continuously for a long period of time to the tunes of traditional songs continuously.
When the DJs began grooving one track after the other, they were able to capture this strong urge within Indian heart to listen to uninterrupted dance music in a setting where one could feel free and not be intimidated by pressures of family/ social environment. The playlists were adapted live on the basis of reactions from the audience. Also common trend has been to play mixes of popular Bollywood tracks. What happened in the process is that the entertainment was not only made continuous and dance-able but also relevant to the audience.
Another insight which I feel is relevant is from the world that Bollywood cinema has created in the minds of millions of Indian’s. With television still at a nascent stage, there were limited means of entertainment - amongst which Cinema was big. Watching a movie was next to celebrating a festival and was eagerly awaited by all. In a value conscious society, not everyone got the opportunity to watch a movie in the theatre regularly and every movie left a strong image in the minds of the viewers.
Popular mainline cinema was all about dramatizing the reality often to obscene extends. One common example is that of how most songs would suddenly transport the hero and the heroine into the snow capped peaks of Switzerland of the lush green plains in Europe. Every song was made unreal with the characters enjoying few moments of limited intimacy and romance in a dream world. Once the song ended, they were back into the reality which existed in their lives and the story would move on.
With the electronic dance music culture which the DJs introduced in the country and the increase in the number of clubs and discotheques, the young adults for the first time saw an easy option of living that same unreal life in a small way. People would dress up, usually take their girl friends or wife’s, get dizzy on alcohol and then dance while imagining themselves as those characters on screen whom they worshipped. This new culture provided them with the opportunity to feel like stars and live the unreal life they always dreamt of.
Another common Indian trait is that of being loud and being impressed by everything that was loud. The quality of sound wasn’t a concern as long as it was loud enough. No wonder we still see music systems and televisions with Bass Boosters and auto-rickshaws with speakers loud enough for a stadium. Even today, if one takes a stroll along the lanes of a colony, one can distinctly hear the sound of the television playing on the second floor from the street.
The period during which clubbing culture started becoming popular coincided with the emergence of better quality sound systems which were sensitive to the lower notes. Most clubs invested money on getting these equipments which not also delivered high quality audio performance but also ensured that the DJs could maintain audio levels which were loud enough to suit the local decibel requirements. The feeling of being in an environment where it was next to impossible to talk to the person sitting on the next seat was an answer to the Indian psyche where people connected best with music that is loud.
As I write, I feel that there would definitely be more than what I have been able to capture here. I guess that inputs from the stalwarts like Ankit, Sanjay Dutta, Dash, Hydra, Nawed, Shireen, Carlotta, Malay, and many others, whom I have tagged here, about instances of how they have been through this journey would be interesting to know. Would await feedback, criticism and LIKES & SHARES (whatever it be) about the rise of this new empire in this country.
Cheers :)
PS: Apologies for using the phrase ‘strange looking people’ more than once to describe the dressing. What is important to note here is that what seemed strange to most people when they saw the DJs would also become the trend later. No wonder people used to flock around them on every possible opportunity.
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