The Cambodia DJ Academy teaches locals and ex-pats the ins and outs of production and DJ-ing. The only prerequisite: a love for music.
A drop of sweat trickles down the side of the face of a dj, who with one hard head bob flings it through the air. He is one of a dozen employed by the Cambodia DJ Academy, an upstart school based in Phnom Penh taking on the challenge of trying to teach the art of DJ-ing.
The term ‘disc jockey’ was coined in 1935, when a radio announcer decided to spin a couple records as his audience was eagerly waiting for updates on the Lindbergh kidnapping. It has evolved into a multi-billion dollar business, spawning new genres of music while becoming its own art form.
“Music is feeling. It makes you feel sad, makes you feel happy. Just in general, it brings out emotion,” says Steve Moskowitz, a 67-year-old Philadelphia native who worked as a DJ for 15 years in a number of countries across the world before settling down and starting the DJ Academy in Phnom Penh near the end of 2014.
With the assistance of 12 DJs, three of whom are Cambodian, the Academy has grown into a full-fledged program, serving more than 85 students in total and now holding 3 to 4 classes a day for students. Forty percent of their students have been women, and that number continues to rise. They cater to aspiring DJs of all ages.
It’s impossible, he added, to mass-produce DJs, so each class is tailored specifically to each student.
“We don’t tell them, ‘you’re gonna learn this music’. We tell them to bring the music that you love, and we will teach you how to mix. We will teach you how to put playlists together, we will teach you how to use equipment and how to make your mix into something special,” he said.
CDJA teaches everything from beat mixing to basic scratching and cutting, while also helping students learn to create playlists and market themselves through social media.
“I’ve gone back into the lab for this one and made it very personal. We have so many different people coming for classes,” he says. “We have a lot of students who just want to learn how to spin or DJ at a party. And then we have others who need this to make a living.”
In recent years, the sheen and prestige associated with DJing has taken somewhat of a hit, due in no small part to the spread of technology, which has allowed any celebrity with an iPod to call themselves a DJ.
But Moskowitz compared training a DJ to training a boxer. Years, he said, are needed until you perfect your ability to move seamlessly between songs, create your own mixes, and most importantly, are able to read a crowd and alter your playlist in congruence with the mood of the room.
“In my day, a DJ got paid $10,000 for a couple hours,” he says. “There weren’t that many DJs. Now, everyone is a DJ. All you need is a laptop.”
His solution to the ubiquitous nature of DJs is to add on an extra set of skills: the ability to create your music.
“Now, a DJ gets paid $50 to spin the whole night playing someone else’s tunes,” he added. “But the way to make money in this industry is to be able to make your own music, to be able to sell it to labels, to sell it to beat ports, to be able to produce your own stuff.”
And that is where Dileepa Aponsu comes in. Aponsu, known to most partygoers as ‘Dilee D’, is helming CDJA’s new beatmaking class, where he teaches the ins and outs of Ableton and other music-making software platforms.
“You have to make and sell your own music. You can’t rely just on DJing anymore,” he said. “When you get old, you can’t DJ anymore. But with your own music, you can always keep making and selling it.”
Aponsu’s class already has 4 students after only a month, and they hope to expand the program if the demand continues to grow.
“Producers came before DJs. Producers had to become DJs so people could hear their music,” Aponsu says. “But now it’s switched. Everyone becomes a DJ first.”
Hailing from Sri Lanka, Aponsu came to Phnom Penh to teach this program and DJ here a few months ago. He has been DJing for 10 years and using Abelton for 6, creating his own brand of deep house, techno and all-around “underground music,” as he calls it.
Despite the reversal in the number of DJs versus producers, Aponsu says it may actually help beatsmiths hone their craft more effectively by DJing, as they will have a better understanding of what crowds generally want to hear.
“There is morning music and there is night music. It depends on the venue, on the crowd, on your mood,” he said. “Everything depends on timing.”
Half of CDJA’s students have been expats, but the number of Cambodians joining the program has grown as more and more people share their positive experiences about the program with others.
For most, the biggest issue is price. Eight lessons cost $350, a meager sum compared to the skyrocketing prices for DJ classes in the West and even in Bangkok, where Moskowitz also has a DJ school. But for many Cambodians that price is out of reach, so CDJA offers a number of payment plans and is trying to be flexible to attract more local talent.
But tougher than the price issue is the cultural understanding of DJing in Cambodia.
“There is a stigma here that a DJ is just above a bar man. They don’t really see this as a specialty. This is a concept we really want to change, by developing homegrown DJs who are able to produce their own music and tour internationally,” Moscowitz says.
“It takes 2 or 3 or 4 years, but once they develop, they’re unstoppable. The more you do something, the more you’re going to love it. And the more you love it, the better you are at it.”
One of these DJs is 27-year-old Phnom Penh native Sarinchankrisna Khat, who is only the third person to make it through all three levels of CDJA’s courses. He has been DJing for 4 months now, and although he hasn’t had any gigs yet, he has nothing but positive things to say about the program.
“They’re not just taking your money. They are giving you real skills to be able to actually make a living as a DJ. I have learned so much from being here,” he said. “I want nothing more now than to be in front of a crowd spinning.”
Khat, who goes by DJ Krisna, says he used to listen to a wide variety of music. But now his music palate has expanded tenfold since he started DJing.
“I love music so much. I listen to it every day. Jazz, Hip-Hop, House,” he said. “I love it all with my soul.”
And that, Moskowitz said, is what they are always looking for. Regardless of age, race, or gender, the core of any good DJ is a passionate love of music.
“We got a comment on Facebook from a woman who said, ‘I’m too ugly to learn, I’m too old’,” Moskowitz said. “I told her if you love music, you love music. It has nothing to do with beauty or age. Its all just feeling.”