DJ Ishani: ‘My Journey as A DJ Has Been Incredibly Blessed and Rewarding’

New Delhi-bred and Mumbai-based artist Ishani Majumdar aka DJ Ishani hails from a music-oriented family and she knew that music was always something she wanted to pursue. She says, “I knew it wasn’t going to be the traditional classical Indian music route that my mother and my grandmother were into but since music was definitely in my blood, it was just a matter of figuring out how to make it a career in a way that suited me.”

The career path that Majumdar chose is that of a DJ and she’s been spinning spellbinding sets across clubs and festivals around India for more than 10 years. We recently caught up with her to talk about what her journey has been like as a DJ, some of her milestones, what she has planned going forward and more. Read below.

When did DJing first pique your interest and do you recall the first time you wanted to be a DJ?

Sometime during my college years as I was clubbing in Bombay, it struck me that this was potentially a path I could pursue, so I decided to learn DJing and never looked back since.

What’s your journey been like for you as a DJ?

My journey as a DJ has been incredibly blessed and rewarding overall. I am lucky to have had people who have stood by me and supported me through the ups and downs. A lot of work associates have been incredibly helpful and have helped me further my career in ways I could never take for granted. The highlights of my career would include landing my residency at Zenzi Bandra and Zenzi Mills back in 2007. Sharing the stage with [American rapper] Wiz Khalifa at Sunburn Arena and more recently with [U.S. artist] Offset (from hip-hop Migos) and also being featured on Mixmag this year and being the first hip-hop DJ out of India to do so which was a huge honor. Collaborating with brands and most recently Def Jam India would also definitely be up there.

But the real highlight will always remain our weekly hip-hop nights – Hip-hop Ain’t Dead – which I started with [rapper/DJ] Bobkat (from Mumbai reggae/hip-hop group Bombay Bassment) in 2014 at Ibar and then continued on at Khar Social with The Grind. The outpouring of love and support I’ve received for nearly nine years, every single week at these nights is phenomenal to say the least. The longest-running hip-hop night in the country and the energy is surreal.

How has the DJ scene changed since you first started?

When I first started DJing there were hardly any female DJs aside from the four or five big names in the industry, half of which were only playing Bollywood music. It wasn’t very common for women working in the nightlife business owing to family and societal pressures. But today we’re in a completely different world and it’s so good to see so many women in this field across all genres. It’s no longer as male-dominated as it once was which is amazing.

What are you currently working on and what’s the plan going forward?

I still aspire to hit many venues and locations across the country and maybe even abroad and to sample hip-hop from many different backgrounds and cultures because hip-hop is now global. When I got into hip hop I realized there was a rich heritage to this culture and listening only to the contemporary stuff would not give a sufficient picture of the beauty that the music and the culture represent. So, I’ve always made it a point to stay abreast with the latest releases as I constantly keep delving back into the past and that is the essence of the sets that I like to play. I’m inspired by artists in the hip-hop space who have had longevity and have stayed relevant over a period of decades. Artists who have been able to also venture into other entrepreneurial spaces have still come back to music and done so successfully.