Peikestokken desember: DJ Backa

| NYHETER | KULTUR | INTERNATIONAL | SPORT |

THE MAN IN THE BOOTH

DJ Bachka

Taking a look into the life of a man who makes a living with his turntables. Who is DJ Bachka, and what’s he doing in Volda?

Text: Ryan Hamilton

Photo: Mats Hjelmeland

Batjargal Nyamsuren performs under the stage name DJ Bachka and if you’ve gone to Rokken at all this semester, there’s a good chance you’ve danced your heart out to one of DJ Bachka’s sets. What you may not know is that Bachka is a well-known DJ within the Mongolian club scene.

DJ Bachka Begins Batjargal began his journey into the world of DJ’ing at a relatively young age. Growing up, many of his friends became interested in breakdancing. They began dancing more and more

26

DESEMBER 2016

seriously, and while Batjargal decided that the life of a B-Boy wasn’t for him, he realized that he had a knack for putting together playlists for them to dance to. Shortly thereafter, he began working at a club near his home under the resident DJs there. For 5 months, he did nothing but observe what the resident DJs did; trying to memorize all the secrets and tricks that these musicians could teach him.

While he was learning under a DJ one night, opportunity knocked on Batjargal’s door. The DJ on duty was sick and had to excuse himself, leaving Batjargal alone in the booth for several songs. Luckily, Batjargal had soaked up the art of mixing a track like a sponge, and passed this critical test easily. That night, DJ Bachka was born. Shortly after that, Batjargal received a resident position at this club, and as they say: the rest is history.

His Groove When Bachka was starting out, 80-90s dance music was hugely popular in Mongolia. People wanted to get down to familiar pop songs from the previous decades. Disco was all the rage.

Trance music hit the scene a couple of years after that, and that’s when Bachka really came into his own as a full-time DJ. Before too long, the popular focus shifted from trance to EDM and hip-hop music. The popularity of these two genres became the renaissance of DJ Bachka.

As a big fan of hip-hop music himself, he was enthused to be able to play one of his favorite genres in the club. According to Bachka, deep house and electro are the musical movements gripping the hearts of the public currently. He finds himself mixing those and hip-hop most often now.

| INTERNATIONAL | KULTUR |

An Expanding Presence DJ Bachka has made quite a name for himself in the Mongolian club scene. Since he began, he’s been a resident DJ at more than 8 clubs, as well as working countless one-time gigs at weddings, private parties, and festivals. It wouldn’t be uncommon for him to pack up his gear when he ended a shift at one club just to drive over to the next club he’d be performing at that night to get ready for his second show.

– It’s a close community, he told me. Everybody knows each other in the club scene. I’m friendly with all the managers and promoters [in my area].

Batjargal is indeed embedded in the music scene in Mongolia. He’s been helping out at the annual Sunset Festival in Mongolia for the last 12 years. The festival was created by Bachka’s childhood friends-turned colleagues. Bachka

has participated in the planning and logistics of the festival as well as performed at it for more than a decade.

A Place You’ll Never Forget This year, Batjargal is a Norwegian Language and Civilization for International Students (NIS) student. The NIS program is an intensive language course designed to bring foreign students with little or no Norwegian language experience up to a B2 level of language proficiency in just two semesters. The program is a full-time commitment, so Batjargal has put his career aside for the year to focus on improving his language skills as much as possible.

He hopes to live in Norway after this year, so knowing Norwegian is a necessity. As a non-EU citizen, Batjargal needs a concrete reason for any extended stay in the country, so next year

he’d like to study sound engineering in Oslo in order to expand his range of skills.

Show Some Love For now, DJ Bachka’s plan is to be with us in Volda for the remainder of the year. He’s performed at Rokken several times already, and will likely volunteer next semester as well.

Bachka’s been in the business for a while and some of his tricks are rather subtle. However, you may notice him fade the music in order to throw in atmospheric sound effects or to usher in the next song seamlessly. Look out for this musical maestro next time you’re at Rokken and dance extra hard to show him you appreciate his commitment to the art.

DESEMBER 2016

27