(25 July 2005 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Zoom's on ground music initiative The War of the DJ's which is being done in association with sister company Times Music is going from strength to strength.

On Friday night Mumbai's discotheque Velocity rocked with non-stop grooving and jiving by youngsters to the sounds of music creations by young DJs, who are trying to make a mark for themselves in the world of music.

The event had earlier visited Hyderabad, New Delhi and Kolkata. The five city tour will now take Bangalore by storm on 29 July. At the Mumbai event, out of 35 participants, 8 were finally short listed, three being women, to perform in the evening.

It was Rohan who came out on top. He will compete against the winners from other cities in the final round on 6 August in Mumbai. A thrilled DJ Rohan says, " I am the best and I will rock at the firing final and make Mumbai proud".

Music director Rajeeta Hemwani and DJ Sunny Sarid judged the Mumbai leg of the competition. Mumbaiites were treated to a music jamboree with popular artists such as DJ A-Myth and Earl, V Super Singer- Ravindra and Vijay of Athma fame amongst others who spun their magic until the wee hours of the morning with their extraordinary performances.

The contestants compete using Vinyl's or CDs or both. Vinyl allows the DJ to touch the record being played thereby permitting him to feel the music and add soul to it. CD mixing, more popular in the country, produces the effect by usage of state of the art technology and techniques like on line sampling, pitch control and alterations of BPM (beats per minute).

Contestants are judged on the basis of the quality of mixes, tracks selected, showmanship and crowd reaction, the use of props and technical efficiency

Technical prowess, creation of break beats, running mixes originality and judges decide the victors. The winner of the final next month will receive a recording contract with Times Music and other prizes.

Times Music established the War of the DJs contest in 1998 to recognise talent in the area of re-mixing. The contest brought focus on the Indian DJ and his contribution to the music and remixes. Founded with the objective of establishing the most credible platform for the DJ fraternity and encourage this unique profession in the country, the War of the DJs has become the destination for all musically inclined people.

Zoom and Times Music state that in the last few years the War of the DJ's has become the ideal platforms for gifted young DJs to showcase their talent. It has recognised and acknowledged names like DJ Nasha, DJ Russell and DJ Suketu.