Firoz Abdul aka DJ Fizo is the resident DJ at Red Rocks Tourist Campsite in Nyakinama village, Musanze district, He talked to Sunday Magazine’s Moses Opobo about his love for the profession.

What drew you into disc jockeying?

I’m lucky I had a brother who taught me everything about DJ-ing. It was as if I was in school, the only difference being that I was not paying school fees. I learnt many things from him apart from playing of music, things like how to connect speakers, cross over, base etc.

At red rocks I’m the resident DJ, but I do lots of other things. I’m the one in charge of making sure this place is green at all times.

I joined as an assistant manager a year ago, but ended up a DJ because music is something that I loved since I was a child. I have played music in different clubs around Musanze. I have a brother who stays in Kampala, called Najib. He had music equipment and everything, so since I was studying in Kampala I used to take time off to learn to play music.

Being a DJ is interesting if you really love the work. You first love something before it becomes interesting to you.

Although I’m a DJ, I still wish to become even more professional, that’s why I’m encouraging my boss to support me so that I become the best DJ.

Are you ever held back by the negative opinion society holds toward DJs?

I think what is most important is whether you love something. It’s like football, if a kid loves football, he should be encouraged, not stopped. Maybe he will never be a doctor or a lawyer as you want, but maybe if you left him to follow his passion for football, he may play in the big clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, and then you will get the benefit from that. 

So my advice is that people should give DJs the freedom to follow their passion and support them. Today a professional DJ can play for RW F 300,000 per night which is good money.

Challenges:

When you’re a DJ you get a lot of challenges when playing music. Sometimes it’s difficult to cater for everyone’s music tastes, and sometimes people you are playing music for can disrespect you. 

Someone can come in front of the DJ booth and order you to play for them a certain song, and if you say no, I don’t have it, he can even pour a glass of alcohol in your face. Sometimes DJs get humiliated like that, which is not good. DJs deserve more respect from revelers.

Word to young aspiring DJs:

The advice that I can give them is that they should first know what they want to do. Not to come abruptly because I’m using a computer so I’m a DJ. So what if they bring a Turn Table will you play it? it’s good to first know what you want to do. They should also love the job because machines are very difficult to learn, because there is a difference between playing music on a computer and playing music on a turn table or manual mixer. 

I want to improve my knowledge of using the turntable as well.