Contest unveils talent

By Rosewitta Gewa
DJing professionally is a new phenomenon not restricted to Radio DJs or announcers which we hear on the radio every day.
Today we have Club DJs, those talented men and women who keep the party going with the latest dance tunes.
From humble beginnings, the rise of the club DJ has been unprecedented.
These days, many nightclubs host a variety of DJs who specialise in a particular genre to give their customers a variety of music to enjoy.
In its effort to promote the growing number of DJs and offer them something to enhance their skills and talents, Heineken has partnered with a nightclub in Port Moresby to host a DJ competition to find the country’s best talent in DJing.
The competition ran for 7 weeks, with a total of 24 contestants vying for the title, with 12 in the Premier and 12 in the Reserve.
Heineken Brand Manager Lawrence Acanufa Jr said the Heineken vision was for people to enjoy live music by establishing their passion for live music, enabling listeners to interact with the music and most importantly, celebrating their passion for live music.
The Heineken Live Your Music DJ contest is one of the eight campaigns that Heineken head office sends to countries where there is an operating company, which in PNG is the SP Brewery.
Acanufa Jr said the DJ contest was an annual event that Lamana hosted and this was the first time Heineken has stepped in as sponsor.
He said that the DJ contest was to identify and reward raw talent in those that could mix music in the profession of disc jockeying.
“We’ve come on board to sponsor this event in 2016 onwards which in 2015 was sponsored by Ice Beer.
“Our long term goal is to grow the industry to increase the professionalism that global DJs have, and to one day have a Papua New Guinean in that position.”
The winners were announced last Thursday, which saw freelancer Brendan Chan aka DJ DirtyFingerz winning in the Premier category and Philip Yagro aka DJ Fix taking out the B-Grade title.
Chan won a LYM DJ console and a one week trip to Sydney to train under the Ministry of Sound Australia and will play a set at a Heineken venue.
On his return, he will be a mentor to other DJs and will be the Heineken PNG’s resident DJ at all Heineken sponsored events.
Yagro won a LYM console and the chance to contest next year.
Acanufa Jr said previous talent shows offered prize money but nothing else to show for it. “For us, we want to develop and grow the talent we have and that’s what Heineken is all about, the experience not the money.”
He said the talent since day one was awesome in the A Grade and very impressive in B Grade, who were slow as they only had a month prior to practice.
He said this sets the expectation for the next Heineken Live Your Music DJ contest and called for females to participate.
“We want this to grow of course. Seeing what the prizes are, we are hopeful it will inspire more people to enter.”