DJs from all over the country will battle it out at the War of DJs contest - the Metamorphose 2010 in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 6: Disc jockeys, better known as DJs, from all over the country have gathered in the city to battle it out in the War of DJs contest — the Metamorphose 2010. From psychedelic house music, groovy hip-hop tunes to peppy Bollywood tunes, the DJs are set to rock with the sound of their music.

Organised by Green Monkeys productions in association with The Telegraph, the preliminary rounds of the contest began on Wednesday evening.

Around 30 DJs will perform to reach the grand finale to be held on October 9. “Our contestants come from all over the country including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta and Pune,” said organiser Anshuman, better known as DJ Ansh.

In the contest, fun seemed to hold sway rather than the spirit of competition, as the participants, mostly in their early twenties, appeared in a playful mood.

“Listeners here are still very conservative and prefer regular music. But thankfully, the interest towards house, hip-hop, rock and Bollywood music is growing slowly,” says DJ Santosh from Bhubaneswar.

“My friends and I are looking forward to learning more about mixing. As some of the best producers are judging the show, we hope gain a lot of knowledge from this experience,” he added.

“I’m loving Bhubaneswar. It feels wonderful to be part of a contest where talented people from different places come together It’s wonderful to see them make people dance to their tunes,” says DJ Herk from Chennai.

Navendu from Delhi known for his performances in M TV feels it is all about enjoying the music. “I’ll play to some extent for the judges and mostly for myself. But of course I have to keep the crowd in mind too. I’ll play for them of course,” says the house music jockey.

Well-known producers and DJs like Jazzy Joe, Carlota, DJ Vik and Bani J of the Roadies fame; Plus91, Mazzr and many others will judge the young jockeys.

Renowned producer from the UK, Dale Anderson will be one of the judges for the finale. The performances will be judged on various parameters starting from the opening, skills like beats, time and harmonics, levels and control, selection of track and scale, rap, voice over and so on. While each jockey will get 15 minutes to play in the prelims, the finalists will play in front of a crowd of more than thousand.

While the initial rounds are being held at Xstacy, the finale will be held at Mayfair Convention. The idea behind the concept is to create awareness towards electronic music, says DJ Ansh. “Five years ago people here hardly liked groovy numbers. But with the party culture growing in the city, people sure have become more music conscious. Both electronic dance music as well as intelligent dance music is catching up in the city,” he says.