Youngsters dance to a track played by DJ Ravi. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, July 4: People danced to his tunes even when he used just cassettes and CD players to mix music. Today, disc jockey Ravi Raj or DJ Ravi, as he is popularly known, is the most famous mixer in the capital.

As the first professional DJ in the state, Ravi has taught people of the city nuances of rocking the dance floor to his music in his decade-old career.

It was in the Irish pub, Baron and Baroness, that he started his career. “When in college, I had watched a video of a DJ mixing songs and found it interesting. That was all I had for training,” says Ravi. “There were no clubs or pubs then. Baron and Baroness was the first one and they were looking for people with a sense of music. I had oly seven discs then and still people liked my work,” he adds.

His performance at the pub drew the attention of party-goers of the city. He soon got offers to perform at private events like weddings and get-togethers. “It was really different then. People would ask you to play a Bollywood number and that’s it. They even didn’t like the music loud. Moreover, the pay was really poor,” Ravi says. “I used to travel to Jamshedpur, Varanasi, and Vizag to earn a decent living. Playing for big hotels there made me learn a lot. It was indeed tough going during that phase,” he reminisces.

But soon the quiet city of Bhubaneswar turned into a hub of youngsters and corporates. With hundreds of engineering colleges cropping up and companies like Infosys and Wipro opening sites in the city, parties, college functions and other events started becoming regular. “As the love for rock, jazz and metal grew among youngsters, I received more freedom to play house music or hip hop and other varieties,” he says.

DJ Ravi at a night club in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Now, Ravi has brought an equipment called sequencer from Calcutta and he carries at least 1,500 discs with him while performing.

“Even the money in the profession has become big. I get nearly six times than what I used to get earlier,” he says with a smile.

In fact, many college-goers have approached him to learn the technique of disc jockeying over the past few years. “Usually DJs are connected to style, booze and addiction. But I keep telling my students it’s all about a good sense of music and lots of discipline,” says Ravi, who has trained more than 10 students.

Currently, Ravi is at the Underground Nightclub and is glad to see a mix of boys and girls turning up to groove to his tunes. “It’s good to see the culture of the city changing — it’s becoming more like a metro. Girls were hardly present at pubs even a couple of years back. Today, there are so many,” he says.