Africa-Press – Mozambique. The first DJ school in Mozambique aims to professionalise the sector, train new talent and reduce social and gender barriers, in a project led by DJ Faya, who has two decades of experience.
“It’s a project where I leave a legacy for young people of all my experience, which I have learned over the years (…), and it’s also an entrepreneurial initiative in which we can also grow and develop more projects for young people,” Fayaz Abdul Hamide, or DJ Faya, as he is known in the artistic world, explains to Lusa.
Founded in Maputo less than six months ago, BPM – Batidas Por Minuto (Beats Per Minute) – has already trained 16 DJs and “four to five trainees have already started playing in the market,” in an effort to try to support professionalisation and curb the stigma and taboo associated with the activity. Meanwhile, a new class of six DJ candidates is already starting training at BPM.
“The idea is to have small classes so that we can work with them better and give them as much attention as possible, because otherwise we end up with 30 students, and we can’t work with all of them,” he says.
The training includes DJing, music production, branding and artistic marketing, spread over nine modules that combine theory and practice.
“In 45 days, they can learn the theory and then the practical side. Always hand in hand so that they don’t forget the DJ concepts, the music, the buttons,” adds the founder.
Fayaz was born on 10 August 1986 and is one of Mozambique’s most popular DJs, with a career that began in 2000 and consolidated from 2004 onwards. Winner of the Blue Xurras DJ contest in 2010 and author of hits such as “Fala” and “Bondoro,” he also stood out as the founder of the Nostalgia festival, which promotes African music from the 1990s and 2000s.
He received the Best DJ 2012 award, released the album “Tá Comprovado vol. 1” and was nominated five times at the Mozambique Music Awards. At the same time, he is involved in philanthropic activities linked to the Mozambican Autism Association and represented the Portuguese-speaking world at the African In Colour festival in Rwanda in 2023.
According to DJ Faya, training takes place three times a week, for up to two hours a day.
The school has sought to integrate different profiles and has made “four scholarships available to young people with autism”.
“One of them was the DJ who closed his school’s dance,” explained Faya, who is also an “ambassador” for people with autism in the country.
“We have students here who have already started to enter the market, and we are helping them with new equipment and equipment to rent,” he said, highlighting the support for social initiatives: “A few weeks ago, I released my new song to the market, which is about socialising against violence against women.”
Despite growing demand, gender inequality persists in access to training in various areas.
“There is still a taboo surrounding women, often imposed by the family environment. We need to demystify this,” argues Faya, revealing that the new class at BPM has one female student and three more women enrolled for January.
Clapton, a DJ for over a decade, invested in training to strengthen his skills on the decks and dance floors.
“It’s an honour to be alongside Faya, it’s a pleasure, and I also came here because, not only as a DJ, it’s always good to come and upgrade, to innovate techniques, to innovate the wisdom of being a good DJ (…).
It’s great to be a DJ, to have the diploma, and to be recognised. And to improve my performances even more,” says Clapton, who is also an event promoter.
BPM also welcomes students with no previous experience, such as Deise Chirindza, a saleswoman who decided to explore the field out of personal interest: “I’ve never been a DJ. I’m just someone who likes music. So this experience here is to bring me new know-how (…) Sometimes we need to have something to hold on to, something that can distract us and so on,” she tells Lusa.
Deise explains that this training also represents a personal challenge: “As women, we sometimes like to challenge our abilities.”
With students aged 8 to 60, the school aims to establish itself as a benchmark in DJ training in the country, based on the idea of its founder, who is also the school’s tutor, that “you have to start young”.
“A DJ is not trained in 10, 15, 20 days. It’s about being a DJ every day, learning new techniques about music, the history of music and much more,” said Faia.
“What is taught here is my experience. If my career serves as an example for many DJs, I believe it will undoubtedly serve as an example for the students who are entering. Because that’s where we come up with new experiences, from what I learned over the years in Mozambique and abroad, and that’s what they will learn,” he concludes.
