DJ J-Deejay in the house
It is not often that a local artist can say that his name is now ranked 69th on the Big Room charts and 18th on the Dutch House charts, but DJ J-Deejay has bragging rights.
POLOKWANE – It is not often that a local artist can say that his name is now ranked 69th on the Big Room charts and 18th on the Dutch House charts, but DJ J-Deejay has bragging rights.
J-Deejay started his DJ career 13 years ago while still attending Tom Naudé Technical high School.
His real name is Jacques Marais, he and his fiancé, Jenny Wiggill and their six year old boy, Juandré, share a love for music.
“Music has always been a passion of mine and when I realised I could not sing or play an instrument myself, I decided to try and work with other people’s music by being a DJ. I immediately fell in love with it and now I do it in my free time,” he says while he sits behind his turntable.
He recently heard that his music was ranked quite high in two top charts and says he was overwhelmed with joy when he heard the good news.
“I’d love to record my own CD and, in time, I will. I try to get radio stations to play my music as well.”
Jacques has his own steel business in the city and he only has time to DJ over weekends.
On Wednesday nights he takes a few hours to practice. He plays every Friday and Saturday night, with other DJ’s at the Six Miles North Saloon. He says he prefers to make up a playlist, but dancers are free to give requests for specific songs.
“I want the dancers to create their own vibe. That gives me more energy and I love it. People have to enjoy the music, they have tot have fun. We call my type of music Electronic Dance. I’ve made two mixes which was published on Mixcloud and on SoundCloud there is a mix that is played in the United States of America.”
Jacques says depending on the quality of a DJ’s work and how in demand they are, they can get paid up to R5 000 an hour. “But I’m not there yet,” he laughs.
His June 2015 set was 18th on the Dutch House charts and 57th on the Big Room charts. His Mixcloud was 11th on the Dutch House charts, 48th in the Big Room charts and 87th on the Club House charts.
“I would like to thank Oom Piet Bergh and Jaco Visagie for giving me the opportunity to live my dream, I really appreciate it.”
