Cassim inspired by DJing family

Austin Cassim (20) may be young, but his age never stopped him from dreaming big and striving for his dream of becoming a DJ while balancing studies and enjoying life.

Austin Cassim (20) is a DJ who has been playing music since 2007. His career started off playing at house parties. By the age of 19, he was playing at Ultra SA.

BCT: Tell us about your personal life?

AC: I was born in Benoni and currently live in Morehill.

I am the youngest of three siblings: Kyle and Danielle Cassim.

READ: Benonian on 5FM airwaves

I attended Arbor Primary School (2003 to 2009), St Dunstan’s College (2010) and Benoni High School (2011 to 2014).

Currently I am studying BCom Business Management at the University of Pretoria.

BCT: Was music always your passion?

AC: My father, Zac Cassim, inspired me to love DJing because he was a DJ when he was younger.

My older brother, Kyle, is also a DJ, so naturally I developed the love for DJing and I started DJing at house parties from 2007 to 2012.

The genre I play is house music and electro.

BCT: What have your achievements been in the music world?

AC: I think my big break came when I started playing at the Rage Festivals from 2014 to date.

However, I played at several events which were significant to me, including winning my first DJ competition in Linksfield at the age of 15, Wonderland Festivals (2013 until date, which will be in April), closed for Euphonik at a St Dunstan’s social (2012) and opened for Locnville at a social (2014), H2O (2015) and I played at Ultra South Africa (2016) at the age of 19.

I have also played music in Mozambique with Kyle when we formed our duo called Cinimin (2015) and have been invited on several occasions to return, which we will be doing in March.

In February 2016 I was signed by Flipside Management and I played for Chunda Munki’s birthday at Truth Night Club (2016).

BCT: What are your hobbies?

AC: I love playing indoor soccer and playing PlayStation, especially Fifa.

BCT: People know you as a DJ, but what don’t they know about you?

AC: I have family lunch every Sunday; I still enjoy watching cartoons and cannot wait for Toy Story 4 to be released.

I enjoy arts and design, and often design flyers; and I consider myself a religious person – I pray every night before bed.

BCT: What are your goals?

AC: I have travelled to Durban, Cape Town, Port Shepstone, Nelspruit and Mozambique to DJ, but I would like Cinimin to release our music to radio stations and eventually travel the world.

I also want to complete my degree.