Profile

DJ BUNTY: A.K.A. Big Daddy B/ The Bear
Real Name; Rumuz Noordeen.

Contact details

Telephone: +94771678666

Email: buntynoordeen@gmail.com

Hello, and welcome to my life for those of u who know me I don’t need to tell u but if u don’t its time u got to know it all. I was born and raised in the city of Colombo by my folks of whom i would not call strict in the sense of being liberal. Born in the month of April in 1961,i was educated in Green lands Collage which is now called Isipathana collage located in Havelock Town. School was probably the best time in of my life, I played that mans game called rugby in the late 70’s and early 80’s and we did play it with gusto (ask any one who has played against us).

Now as most of us who grew up in that era we were not blessed to the limitless avenues of multi media as we have now, at least not me any way. My exposure to music came with the influence i had at home with my dad’s (GOD BLESS HIS SOUL) records. I was introduced to the world of rock and roll, big bands and jazz in a very accidental way. One day i had just happened to put a record on when my folks were away and some of my friends started tapping their toes and wanted to hear more and the rest my dear friends is history. By the time i was 16 i was hooked on music, and it was a powerful element in my growing up though adolescence. By the time i had just turned 18, I had the opportunity of joining the national carries Air Lanka as a flight steward. At the time i never realized how that opportunity was going to change my life for ever. During my 7 year stint of traveling around the word enabled me to fulfill my passion of my all time ambitions, I was able to listen to a vast spectrum of music and it was every teenager’s dream-come-true. I amassed a massive and must add a very impressive library of records from the 60’s,70’s,and early 80’s.which eventually led me to become one of Sri Lanka’s top Djs.

At this juncture just let me tell u that when i started collecting music, I never had the intention of becoming a DJ. It was as a hobby and i listened to all kinds of music and let me also tell u that it was a exiting time for all of us, as the trends of music was changing as well, with bands breaking out of main stream to come out and experiment with electronics and all that to reach out to audience’s in the pop, dance and various other chart’s that were being created. During that era there were not a lot of DJs who were doing gigs in town were. If my memory serves me correct, there were just a hand full of us; DJ Jerry Jayasinghe, DJ Harpo, DJ Eugene just to name a few who were doing it professionally.

So on a dare one day my friends told me to do a road show, as i had all the latest music and a bit of semi pro equipment. So with a little bit of help from my friends namely Roshan Rupasinghe & Zaheem Mohideen Disk Wagon, was born. At that time i had no clue on what i had to do or say but just play music and boy was i hooked on this started off a chain of events that i will never forget. One day while i was on a flight to Dubai we the crew went to our favorite club at the hotel we were staying where i was known to the DJ a massive popular DJ from a British company called Juliana’s one that faithful day some thing had come up with this DJ and this guy asked me if i could Handel the console for about 2 hours as he also knew me as some sort of a DJ in Sri Lanka. This was the first time ever i was handling professional equipment and no one had actually taught me about beat mixing and BPMs and so forth but that day i must have known what to do as i handled those SL 1200 with ease and i knew what i had to do i just knew that i had to increase or decrease on the pitch controller and even did a bit of talking on the microphone. When this guy came back he was impressed as i had not let him down as the crowd had not left the club. That started of a great relationship with my friend DJ John Rob,who later on in life became a farmer back in England.

This episode got the ball rolling and i had on my mind was getting my hand on a couple of 1200mk’2s,which i eventually brought a bit later on with what i properly kick started disk wagon. Well let me tell u about Disc wagon, every one thinks a DJ’s life is a glamorous one, wrong, at least at the start of my carrier it was pure hell we actually had to carry bulky equipment, records all up the stairs as most of the hotels where we used to have shows did not allow us to use the elevators as the equipment always was more heavy than the stipulated load, my god it used to break our backs. And there were only a very few establishments that used to hire out their halls to have “disco’s”. It used to be a whole load of fun as we used to do our own bit of advertising putting up posters and banners. We did the Colombo circuit and were quite popular with the crowds as i used to have all the latest music along with me at the time .some of the most memorable gigs that i did was the break dance competition in 85 at the Vihara Maha Devi Park to a sell out crowd at the open amphitheater. Doing road shows is the only way for a DJ to gain experience and i got quite a lot of it as i was quick to look and learn as i had the opportunity to watch and hear international DJs perform there was this one incident that i would like to mention while again in Dubai i was at a massive club that just opened and they were featuring a top DJ from England he was top stuff and was a good rapper as well. While he was rapping at show i thought to my self if he can do this so can i, and after i came back home it was a case of me practicing a bit of rap which i perfected to the best of my ability. Now those of u who have heard me rap know what i am talking about. The most horrible thing that happened was while going to N’eliya one season we skidded off the road with all our equipment and we all thought that that day we were all goners. But as u know the friendly people of the hill country came to our rescue and we had a good couple of nights there. There are so many memories and great moments that it would be humanly impossible to remember all the stuff that went on.

Its time to talk about the music that we used to play at the time, well what was hip at the time is what u will hear if u were ever at a Flash Back show or what people now call “retro”. There were so many bands that it would be impossible to list them all if u really want to know u could visit a few sites that deals with retro music and u will get a bigger picture. As a DJ it is important to say that most of the music that was produced at the time was of a very high standard and there was depth in what ever that was being released because people expected it.It was a exiting time as there were many bands at the time coming on main stream as well. There was a fair share of Barbie girls & Venga Boys of the time as well but nothing demeaning, explicit, thrash of the likes of some of the music that is being dished out now. I really do feel for the young generation when i see them dance at certain clubs that are more teen oriented half of them don’t know what is being dished out and the fault also lies a great part on the present DJ’S who don’t care about talking on the microphone and telling their audience, what they are playing for the most part all they want to do is get that perfect mix. Well Mr. DJ, let me tell u that any fool can mix 2 songs together as today u can read a book (DJing for dummies) and mix as the present equipment has taken the fun out of the job and made it relatively simple.

As time went along and the city was also developing the Hilton opened its doors to the public and with it came along the very first purpose built discotheque in the city the Blue Elephant. It was a throbbing night pulse as the elite of the city’s folk were introduced to the world of a professional clubbing venue. I Would like to reminisce the chain of events that led me to be the first Lankan resident DJ at the blue elephant.

On one faithful day back in 1986 my good friend Vinod Moolchand, who also was studying in London and was a active part time DJ was to invite me to the newest ‘Brewery” in town that had opened its doors to the public. This happened to be the Blue Elephant and i tell u i was pleasantly surprised to see a purpose built club with a proper DJ booth and a very nice lighting rig installed, not bragging about the place but the decor was as tasteful as the place its self and so came my first night at the blue which i will never forget on the decks was a loud mouth Chinese girl working for a company named Innova from Singapore that had been contracted to design build and run the club the club. My first impression was that it was a fantastic place but lacked the latest music. At the end of the night i happened to go up to the DJ booth and took a peep in when Jojo who was the DJ asked me what i was looking at, “just the equipment i replied” and went on to say that I was a DJ as well, she went on further to tell me that they had interviewed over 50 DJs for the place and no one had even come close to getting the job. After a pleasant exchange of words, I asked her why she did not have the very latest in music which surprised her I guess when I told her that I have all the latest music on 45’s at home well her attitude did changed at once and she was asking me to bring along a few to play at the club. But i told her i will if she will give me a chance to audition for the job, for which she said ok. Now at this juncture i must tell u that being a flight steward is a very rewarding and a responsible job where the life’s of many people are in your hands in case of an emergency but on the other side i had had enough of living my life in a suit case and wanted out of flying. It was a bold decision to make as i am sure u might know some one close to u who is a crew member who will tell u that it is a very addictive job that kind of drags u down and keeps u not wanting to do other things (if i am wrong do make a comment on my blog spot that is bunty@badusure.com)

Young Jojo did not have a choice but to give me a slot to do an audition. My audition was supposed to be at 4 in the evening for which i was there on time but Jojo had misplaced the keys to the DJ booth and it was rescheduled to the evening. Accompanying me on the audition was my good friend Zaheem Mohideen (who was my right hand man with disk wagon as i was lost when it came to fixing two wires).Well eventually in the evening that day i auditioned to an empty club except for a few well dressed expatriate gentleman at the bar who did not even look to see as to what i was doing i did my thing mixing and rapping talking on the mike. At this time i got a message from miss Jojo that if i wanted the job it was mine and to go about finalizing things, I just happened to ask her if she had come to this decision on her own when she pointer out to the gentlemen at the bar and said that that was the G.M Mr Hans Houri & the F&B Manager Mr. Doug King who had come to that decision, for me it was actually a point to prove, because when i had come the other night Jojo told me that no Sri Lankan will ever be the resident DJ at the blue and at that moment i knew that i had something special which i could do. I told them i will think about it much to their surprise and went about my daily routine of globe trotting as a flight steward.

Like i told u as much as i liked to fly, my passion was music and when push came to shove, i had to do what my heart told me much to the surprise of my mom, (who had to put up with all the din of loud music and the clutter of equipment when i was at home) i went ahead and negotiated a deal with the Hilton, and so in the mid of 1986 i was successfully employed as the resident DJ at the Blue Elephant.

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