DJs: the good and the great
Art lovers, disk jockeying is serious business.
Save for their funny names—Pink Panther, Dude the Smasher, Mbuzi, Ng’awuuu—the souls on the decks mean serious business.
Apart from bringing fun to our worn-out souls, their reach is boundless. You will encounter them on radio, in clubs and during live shows. Quite a spinning species they are!
It is with great admiration I salute the esteemed crew which brightened the Carlsberg Chill DJ Contest in Blantyre last Friday. It was amazing witnessing veteran Ken Klips, youthful Mbuzi and company turning up a simple competition into a great battle for honours. >From the start, the selectors ensured the beats and pieces from the turntables were thrillingly different from what we often get on CDs and tape cassettes.
Surely, DJs are not your everyday minds. Only that the overzealous many spoil the show. They cannot do things right.
The bad hands largely constitute a hell lot who mar live shows when they jump on stage to scream: “Laaaaadies and gentlemeeen, welcome on stage Sir…Luuuucius Bandaaaaa!”
It may be maddening to lord over the raised ground where the stars strut their stuff, but cluelessness can be annoying to those who pay their hard-earned earnings to satisfy their yearning for fun. Not everybody has Cashgate funds to waste!
Inwardly, how does it feel to step on stage and scream ‘raise your hands for the Blaaaaack Missiooooonaries!” when the performers actually need more time to go on show? Why jolt the crowd into a thunderous uproar knowing the next thing on stage is a moment of silence? The interludes of quietness could be likened to broadcasting silence—an abominable confession of ineptitude.
Yet there is the remedy: Always check with the artists before exploding into uproarious announcements. The visibly overjoyed, blundering DJs should also thoroughly research about the acts on offer for something to say when duty calls or caught unawares.
Besides, one only needs to watch professionally choreographed international shows to appreciate that every serious artist needs serious announcer on the mic. The breaks the DJs mishandle provide a thread of continuity, glimpses of oncoming acts and relevant facts people take for granted.
This is business in action.
