World-champion DJ sought for Ennis gig

A GROUP of Ennis youths are working towards bringing a world-champion DJ to perform in the town.

The 20 students will organise the event based on the skills they are learning through a Clare Youth Service FETAC accredited music appreciation class.
John Lillis of Clare Youth Services, who is leading the class, confirmed that the group have set the wheels in motion to bring Corona world-champion DJ, DJ Tu-Ki to Ennis.
“He is the most established and popular DJ on the scene at the moment. He is an Irish DJ but is very much sought after worldwide at this stage,” John said.
“We are organising a gig with him in the Hub at the end of the FETAC classes, which will be shortly after Easter. The group are using all the skills they are learning in the class to make this event happen and will do everything for the event, including publicising it, staging it, the PA system and recording,” he added.
He explained that the class has been running for seven weeks. Initially, it started as a small group of boys from the local secondary schools, but there are now 20 in the class and as many girls as boys.
“I am teaching them music appreciation, mainly electronic music, music ICT. Students don’t need to have any level of competency in an instrument, as the class is much more than a music class. We listen to all sorts of music, including older music but also dub-step and urban music,” John said.
The group is also learning how to stage a live event, use technical music equipment and marketing for music events.
Already, the students have had a class with Tricia Hastings, where they were involved in a realtime audio and video recording set-up.
“We also had Stephen Ryan from the band Windings, formerly of Give a Man a Kick, who did a songwriting workshop,” John added. He also gave the group an insight into the reality of the working life of a musician.
Among the students are some “handy” beatboxers, DJs and those who are interested in music composition of various kinds.
As a result of the knowledge they are gaining at the classes, some of the group are also trying to establish a beat-boxing competition in Ennis.
“They are also really enthusiastic about this and have established a committee with this goal,” John said.