Schema Magazine

Photo credit: Jesse Winter Heading

When I get together with DJ Lajit for chai and a bite at East is East on Main Street, I am expecting 'a man of few words', as his website describes him. However, the polite and gentlemanly DJ is hardly shy. Instead, he approves my choice of meetup spot (he has been meaning to bring his girlfriend-recently-turned-fiancé-there), and after ordering a roti roll, launches right into the story of how he came to spin.

DJ Lajit was once simply Amar Jitla, who grew up in Nairobi, and after a brief stint with his family in the UK, came over to Canada at the age of 13. His music tastes had already developed under a heavy British influence.

The self-described 'geek of all geeks' wore fitted jeans and a dress shirt buttoned up to his neck and listened to UK-manufactured bhangra and Bollywood beats. Uniforms at his Kenyan boarding school had not prepared him for Vancouver. Unlike his classmates, he was new to gangster rappers having 'beef' with each other and exchanging threats in their music. Not even his cousins would hang out with him.

But Jitla adapted quickly. His first gig as a DJ was at his high school, where he had joined the audiovisual club.

"Back in the 90s," says 31-year-old DJ Lajit, "our school dances were done by big companies that wanted to promote themselves. Much Music was trying to make a name for itself. One year a company got caught in a winter storm back east and they couldn't make it, but we had already announced the dance for the school. The audiovisual club was called to bail them out. We set up speakers and brought whatever music we had. I, being new here, brought my stuff from the UK."

DJ Lajit's high school had a large Indo-Canadian population, so his urban desi tunes were a fitting counterpoint to the more mainstream stuff his friends brought.

Photo credit: Jesse Winter Heading

"It went so well that I kinda looked at it from a broader perspective and went 'I wanna do this.'"

But DJ Lajit, then simply Amar, was mostly pushing play for his school's bhangra dance team. That's when a friend of his suggested he call himself DJ Lajit.

'It's like L-E-G-I-T, except spelt L-A-J-I-T. Flip your last name, Jitla, and you get Lajit.' She patiently explained to the perplexed Amar.

Two years later this christening came in use. He walked into an opening act gig his high school audiovisual teacher had gotten him, at a club called Wild Coyote. He was 17. When asked what he'd like to be called, all that came to mind was his friend's suggestion.

"And there I was, playing at a club I wasn't even legally allowed to drink at. When I played, the club was empty. By the time the main guy came on, the club was packed. You gotta start at the bottom of the barrel and climb your way out."

While he grew as an artist, DJ Lajit realized he didn't want to be spinning mainstream pop and R&B. He wanted to play Indian music.

That's when he began to spin at Indian weddings. They payed well. He went from entertaining audiences of 200 people to packed halls of over 1200.

DJ Lajit developed an interest in producing his own songs. He opened a studio at a friend's house and started calling anyone who had anything to do with production in his phone book.

One day, a friend of his brought over a man called Aman Panesar. The two got to talking and realized they had met before when Panesar, who now goes by DJ Reminisce, had brought a mixed tape over to the music store DJ Lajit worked at, but never came back to hear the store release it.

Photo credit: Jesse Winter Heading

What's more, Panesar turned out to be the man who had remixed a song called Jugni to Michael Jackson's Billy Jean, a track that had caused DJ Lajit and his bhangra club friends to engage in a futile search for its artist. Here was a face to the anonymous DJ the young Amar had worshipped.

"He had retired, but I said, 'I'll pull you out of retirement.'" Says DJ Lajit.

From then on, anytime either one got a gig, he'd call the other. DJ Reminisce began playing at High Society nights organized by A-town Productions in the early 2000s, and DJ Lajit became his unofficial invitee, 'a sidekick', in his own words.

"Aman and I became a DJ duo. Two for the price of one." He laughs.

The twain went on to dominate the DJ circuit with their urban desi beats.

"Some say we still dominate it. But we've got humble personalities. A lot of kids that are doing new stuff these days are, in all honesty, doing really well. So we're saying, 'Here's the torch. Take it.' On the other hand, we get kids who'll do it a couple of times and then we never see them again. Some people come into it for fame or money. If you're not true to your art, you're not going to go very far."

DJ Lajit has been doing his 'thing' for one and a half decades, but he doesn't live off of his art. In fact, that's probably why the daytime engineer is able to remain authentic to his passion.

"I've let my name build itself. I know I'm a DJ but anyone that knows me knows I hate attention. Leave me behind a desk and I do my thing."

While his parents showed little enthusiasm at first for his love of DJ-ing, they came round when they saw his name on TV and in magazines.

"They finally said, 'Oh, he's doing something right.' DJ-ing is not viewed in our community as a female or even a male thing. It's important for everyone to realize: This is not just being in clubs. It's an art form. Respect it." Says DJ Lajit.

And what has the reception of his work been like across Canada? DJ Lajit claims Vancouver crowds are some of the hardest to play to. He says Calgary and Edmonton audiences don't get enough Bhangra music, so they clamour for it. Toronto crowds, on the other hand, give him a lot of leeway. They're open to dubstep and reggaeton mashups of desi tunes. He loves the freedom to mix it up.

Photo credit: Jesse Winter Heading

In Vancouver, his audiences prefer house beats. DJ Lajit's theory is that the twenty-something Indo-Canadian girls and boys who come to his gigs are not appropriately dressed for dubstep.

"Dubstep is very animated, depending on whether it's on a low or a high. They're used to pulling bhangra moves or moving back and forth to a club beat." He says, affectionately.

But Ginger 62 being situated where it is, High Society has had a mix of people from the hotel above in attendance. And DJ Lajit is very satisfied with how his music has impressed people from ethnic groups across the board who thought bhangra was all about the 'light bulb' move, or the 'lawn mower'. Instead they've discovered Indo-Canadians busting out complex moves to music that DJ Lajit endeavours to keep constantly fresh.

The UK has been leading the international desi music scene for over thirty years, but DJ Lajit sees Vancouver as poised to catch up very quickly. He mentions big names that Vancouver produced and points out that they are all playing internationally or in the UK.

However, Vancouver, which is growing exponentially in the area of Indo-Canadian beats, is also experiencing a bit of a British invasion. And DJ Lajit is open to the culture of experimentation foreign DJs bring, being, himself, an innovator.

"It's our job to educate the audience, introduce new lyrics and rhythms to them. You bring your audience on board and then the other DJs follow."

So what does DJ Lajit have in store for this month's High Society night?

"I'm probably going to try more playful Hindi music like "Chikni Chameli". Desi Bollywood stuff. I'm going to play the original versions. Songs like "Dhinka Chika Dhinka Chika": it's just a beat and the lyrics carry you. The first time I played something like this, the crowd looked like 'What the hell is this?' But the girls usually know their music a lot better than the guys do. So when they get into it, everyone does."

DJ Lajit doesn't prepare which songs he's going to play in advance anymore. If his collection's getting a little stale, he updates it. But otherwise, with 15 years of DJ-ing behind him, the former bhangra club button-pusher plays his full Granville club by ear, just the way he likes it.

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Follow @amarjitla on Twitter!

Carnival meets Bollywood at this month's High Society Mardi Gras: tonight at Ginger 62!