Breaking the language barrier

I've agreed to help out another DJ this coming weekend and do a kids party for them on Sunday. What they didn't tell me (until now) is that the party is for an Indian family and they have no idea who's birthday it is or what age the child is - or even if anyone at the party is going to be able to speak anything more than broken English.

I have zero experience in providing parties for Indian families - just because I've never had the opportunity. I'm going to assume that the birthday child is < 11yrs for now and that the children I'll be entertaining will understand what I'm saying (otherwise an interactive show is going to be a little tricky....)

Has anyone got any pointers on music to play or not play? Or on anything I should or should not do? It turns out the DJ I'm helping out was going to wing it and also has no useful advice!

Julian

Be prepared to work through an interpreter. I did one for an Asian family, it seemed only one person was fluent in English, and without her as interpreter, it was hard work.

As to advice, all I can give you is to try to find someone who's bi-lingual, and hang on to them. On the plus side, I bet the buffet is absolutely stunning. The one I was at would have put many restaurants to shame.

Nothing better than good planning is there. :eek:

I can't believe someone would take a booking without getting any information about who they are catering for and what music / formalities they want. I assume this is a budget DJ and the client has gone for a cheap deal.

Also - surely Indian kids used english as a main language? Most indian families have lived in the country for 50 years after all. :)
Apart from the language barrier I assume the DJ has zero knowledge of indian music outside of Punjabi MC and Jai Ho?

Make sure you have lots of bollywood and bhangra / punjabi and get an indian DJ to do it. I refuse to go out of my comfort zone especially for something like this as it may be a very important social occasion and something the child will want to remember for life, so the last thing they want is for someone to play the wrong music and possibly even ruin the function.

This looks like a car crash waiting to happen and you are better off staying out of it!
Having said that they may just want international chart like "shake it off" all night?

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Originally Posted by yourdj

Nothing better than good planning is there. :eek:

I can't believe someone would take a booking without getting any information about who they are catering for and what music / formalities they want. I assume this is a budget DJ and the client has gone for a cheap deal.

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Ironically they're charging more than I normally would for a 2hr kids party (still at the budget end of the market), but yes, I would normally gather far more information from the client before accepting the booking.

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Originally Posted by yourdj

Make sure you have lots of bollywood and bhangra / punjabi and get an indian DJ to do it.

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Punjabi MC it is then.... It's pretty much too late to pass this on to someone with a stronger background.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yourdj

This looks like a car crash waiting to happen and you are better off staying out of it!
Having said that they may just want international chart like "shake it off" all night?

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It may be me overthinking the issues here, but the lack of information and what the client has already said have just rung alarm bells for me, so I'm trying to go in as prepared as I can. I've checked out the website for the company that they've booked through and they state very clearly on the front page what the kids will get as part of the package so I'd be very surprised if a "specialist DJ" is required for the function - unless the customer really didn't pay any attention at all to the website.

Any stories of relevant experience would be appreciated...?

Julian

Give this guy a call - https://www.facebook.com/tony.patti.75?fref=ts

He is an indian DJ and qualified Toastmaster. :)

I have a massive list of indian tunes but no idea what they would like or not, so someone who knows what they are talking about would be the best bet. Having a good look on youtube for "indian kids disco" or something would also be great, or get the DJ to phone the client and get a list of tracks, ages, numbers and names, which he should have done in the first place ;)

I know Indians take their families and family functions very seriously, so worth going in prepared especially if its not too badly paid.

I've done a few Indian kids parties. Very interesting, however pretty much every time I'm given cds, iPod or something to play Indian music and then I play a few Chart tracks.

The ones I've done they do sort of assume the DJ will not have their music and therefore always offered an iPod.

Bit of research goes a long way, I managed to find a track which somebody had Played at their wedding and they were truly baffled at how I came to acquire it... Truth is I just went through some old bollywood titles and found some soundtrack classics!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yourdj

Nothing better than good planning is there. :eek:

I can't believe someone would take a booking without getting any information about who they are catering for and what music / formalities they want. I assume this is a budget DJ and the client has gone for a cheap deal.

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Toby, you always seem to be assuming and mentioning budget DJ's. It sounds very snobby to me mate.