MUMBAI: Adlabs Imagica, India’s largest theme park destination is all set to host Imagica By Night on 17 November 2018 - a night of DJ concert and DJ competition. One of the highlights of Imagica By Night would be All India Djane- a female DJ. The competition will be judged by two of the icons of DJing in India - DJ Akbar Sami and DJ Akhtar.

On being asked, what is the jury looking at while selecting the best DJ, DJ Akhtar helps us understand, “The quality you are looking at in the best DJ is the same we would look at and there is no difference as such. It is basic technique, skill, the body language, presence , how well and comfortable she is with the DJ Console and off course the whole lot of other technical criteria whether she uses the players and the mixers to the maximum your looping your sampling and whether she does all this live-in front of us in the time allotted to them.”

DJ Akbar adds, “First and foremost she should have the soul of a DJane. Which means that she should be a Djane by heart and not just by an appearance, she should be absolutely confident and a powerhouse at the console. Her mixes should flow in as smooth as her confidence and style.  What she says on the mic should be loud and clear and appropriate in the limits of rhythm and groove.  She should be using more of new lines while on the mic other than ‘put your hands up in the Air’ at the end of it a bow to the judges is always a sign of good manners and humble person with respect.”

There are certain factors that differentiate between good, average and excellent DJ, and Akbar Sami agrees, “It is all about the presence, how confident you are at the DJ Console, how good you are at what you do from choosing tracks, mixing tracks, sampling tracks, how you know we are not here to listen to nonstop one hour of music or something like that in the given time how much you maximise your skill can be shown will differentiate the mediocre, good and amazing DJane.”

 “We both have been judges and have judged competitions for many years now. So, for us, it’s very easy to differentiate between mediocre, average or whatever.  Just in the first few seconds of a performance of any DJ or djane, I don’t think I should be giving all the points out here before the competition. You either have it natural in you or you don’t.  The best ones always stand out,” DJ Akbar continues.

A unique event conceptualised by Adlabs Imagica, both the DJs appreciate the initiative taken by the theme park. DJ Akbar says, “I definitely would like to thank Adlabs Imagica for hosting this mega event. I think it’s a great idea from Mr Chand Seth for making this happen and selecting this amazing venue. Only he can come up with such great concepts. I’m personally very excited to be there because Imagica is one of its kind events in the country and places like Adlabs Imagica brings together families and happiness under one roof.”

DJ Akhtar thinks it’s a fantastic idea, “I think this is a fantastic concept, a brilliant idea because the queen of mashups is like a global phenomenon now. If you Google it, it's the most googled contest. My last experience left me completely thrilled and entertained. We had almost 12,000 people and it was amazing to see like a sea of people dancing jumping enjoying themselves at night in a theme park as exclusive as this. It is so exciting and you have all these characters of various Bollywood films and different fairy tales and all dressed up, and all entertaining the kids, it’s an overall package for youngsters, for teenagers who love music, for families, grownups and kids. So, I think this is a brilliant combo, SOS nightlife, and Imagica coming together and giving this brilliant concoction on 17 November. I think everybody is looking forward to this.”

The current status of DJing in India is constantly updating and surging towards becoming a liked option for many youngsters, but now things have changed, “Well the current status of DJing in India is really commendable because now we are finally getting recognized as artists not only locally, domestically, but also internationally. A lot of our DJs and artists have been performing at various festivals and that's not only in India and Asia, but abroad as well. In most recognized festivals, we are finally getting the credit for all our hard work.

DJ Akbar and DJ Akhtar have been ruling the roost for a long time and started when DJing was not really considered a favourable option, “As this profession doesn’t belong to India, it was very hard for people to accept or understand, I’ve travelled city to city around India performing as a DJ and showing and teaching the art of DJ from the last 30 years or more.”

Akhtar agrees, “When we started off, almost three decades ago, there was nothing, we didn't have any exposure, in fact, we had to explain ourselves to many of our friends about what we actually did.  And since then, there has been a whole lot of development. We are talking about the days of black and white television sets, no MTV or Channel V, only two channels DD1 DD2. And we used to play on Vinyl and audio cassettes. Since then, there has been a whole breakthrough in technology, which is constantly changing and we are embracing that. We are trying to live up to the expectation of our fans and crowds and giving a tough fight to all our contemporaries. So there has been changing but all positive.”

Speaking of the change, Akhtar continues, “We DJs are also recognized as producers now. We are producing music. A lot of DJs are producing their own music, originals as well as remakes of many Bollywood films. So there is a lot more structure, a lot more to this sacred profession of ours to offer right now in the current scenario.”

DJ Akbar, however, feels there is a need of formalising this profession more, “The other side of it is that We in India don’t have the right schools or institutions except for a few that teaches the art of Djing and so whoever wants to become a DJ puts a “DJ” before their names.  It will take another 15 to 20 years for people to understand what the DJ is all about until then we will keep seeing a rollercoaster ride in this industry cause of lack of information, Knowledge and education in music.

The musical and lit up Imagica By Night is sure to enthral all guests with enrapturing late night rides, dance performances, acrobatic acts and an ecstatic night parade. The event also offers Array of Food and spirits options, tent camping, 5 star stay at Novotel Imagica and much more. 

Day, Date Saturday, 17 November 2018
Venue: Imagica, Khopoli
Cost for one : INR 1499 onwards
Entry Tickets available at adlabsimagica.com