7 News Belize

DJ’s Go To School
posted (July 31, 2020)
When the nightclubs close, and the music stops, where do the DJ's go?

Well, they've been going to DJ school!

It's the brainchild of Evolution Sound's DJ Pinky, a touring music fest for DJs that last week hit a stride.

And while it may look like a house party it could be the rise of a platform that gives a boost to yet another industry that's been sidelined by the global pandemic. Here's a glimpse of the afternoon I spent at Sound Check Sunday.

It took place at what would have been a quiet street in Lake-I. It's called Sound Check Sundays and it's the answer to the question of where the DJs have gone since social distancing shut down the clubs.

DJ Chris
"We're figuring that through this every gets to meet together everybody shares knowledge, shares gigs, I've gotten gigs through this. I've given people gigs through this so it's been a very, very positive thing."

Kenrick Gabourel DJ Shark, participant
"We have a whatsapp group chat all the DJs are in so every Sunday we go different destinations this week is City next week could be San Pedro, Caye Caulker, Griga, anywhere. Usually when we're on the live we set the destination or where we at so people could know. Music is what we love. All of the DJ's have their own style, some like hip-hop some like pop, some like Reggae, you know Dancehall so when you come out you'll hear all kinds of music, and all genres of music."

And Variety is what makes the Sound Check stand out, the music keeps changing, with each DJ being given no more than 20 min to play.

It's a guarantee that there will be something for everyone, you might even learn a little something about current events

DJ Chris
"One of the problems so to speak in the DJ industry music and the entertainment industry in Belize is the repetitiveness one set of music is playing, one style of DJing and this way we could all teach each other different ways because I play different from everybody, not everybody likes it but I've had a bunch of DJ's come up to me and say you know I would like for you to teach me to DJ like that, likewise I learn from them."

And it's not just learning from their peers but from some of the legends

Stafford Young DJ Poyo, participant
"My first one was great because then when I got there then all the older DJs that we grew up knowing about Lindy D, DJ Bush, Father Church was there so it's like one big group coming together and enjoying themselves, having fun. Well, we go into different neighborhoods get more different fan bases from in the different neighborhoods so if they hear the sound play that, when it happens and they hear the sounds on a ticket they can say oh well they gave us a good show at soundcheck so we already know that we will get a good show when we go to the event."

The man behind the Sound Check is DJ Pinky, on Sunday he told me how it all came together and how DJ's can use the event to bring up their skills.

Floyd Flowers DJ Pinky
"When creating the group we strung up the sound and we started to play other DJs came around and asked why they couldn't be involved or they couldn't get invited so I just added more DJ's and more Dj's and more DJ's and this is where we are now. It's alot of different DJs not just in terms of selection of music but the actual skill, some DJ's are here who can scratch, some DJs who know foundation music, some DJs are here who are very good on the mic, you know they have a lot of upcoming not only DJs there are MC's. Apart from DJs benefiting financially from the craft. We also love what we do that's playing music so when we link up and play music together you will hear a certain song that you don't have that another DJ plays and vice versa and then that's how it goes."

Look out for Sound Check Sunday this weekend when you'll be able to experience it firsthand either live on Facebook or in person.

Again, You can check out Evolution Sound's Facebook page for the live stream and the location of the next Soundcheck Sunday.

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