Rising Stars: Meet Dj Dholak of Columbus, Ohio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dj Dholak

Hi DJ, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
DJ Dholak started when one of our dad’s suggested that we should try DJing as I have been playing Indian drums since I was two.. After two months Meki and I were just cooking up one day on the DJ controller and slowly started to realize that we sounded very good together and collaborated well. We both had a passion for music but DJing was uncharted territory for the both of us. After a lot of talking and careful consideration, DJ Dholak the duo of passionate musicians was born. Since I played the Indian drum (the Dholak) since I was like two we decided that the name DJ Dholak would fit us as it was something unique about me and what I loved to play as a kid. The whole purpose of this was to make people experience joy through the music we were mixing. Fast forward a couple months later and we are now playing gigs and posting our content on multiple social media platforms. We already connected as brothers but this made us even closer and enhanced the duo that is DJ Dholak.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road. Collaborating as a successful duo brings the challenges of communication, collaboration and staying on the same page which wasn’t always the case. Despite that we overcame. The other main challenge has been learning all of the DJ techniques to be successful at mixing and putting together successful playlists that will get the crowd going. Learning to DJ is a process, it is certainly not easy but it is worth it.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
So this is something Meki and I do on the side but our job consists of putting playlists together, listening to different genres of music to see what can get mixed well, practicing our sets beforehand to make sure the finished outcome sounds good, booking gigs, creating social media content, playing live at different events, throwing in Indian flair to our sets and most of all perfecting our craft and having fun. We are different from other groups because we use the Indian instrument the Dholak as a way to integrate Indian flair in our sets whether that is through social media content or if we bring it out at a live event. The thing we are most proud of is seeing the joy on people’s faces when we play at gigs and we are proud of how much support we get from people at said events.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
We watch a lot of YouTube whether it is DJing videos, Boiler room or other DJ shows to see how they mix the music that they have. We also connect with lots of other DJ’s at events we go to so we can learn more.

Pricing:

• We charge $100 an hour
• $800 for weddings

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @DJ_Dholak
• Other: Tik Tok: @djdholakandfriends