We kick things off with a mix from DJ Rasrob, who offers up his musicality for all to hear…….

Rob Mwangi (aka DJ Rasrob) hails from Kenya originally but has been in the emarald isle for some years now. At just 20 years old he has taken his interest in music to new peaks through dj’ing. The longest running member of the academy, Rob has shown a keen eye for many styles of music in the past few years but his reggae roots have taken a firm grip. Rob was in his very early teens when he was exposed to reggae djs and bands in his home town. All his spare time soon became about hanging with them, asking questions, helping out at gigs and most importantly loving the music and seeing the effect it had on people.

Rob carried these experiences with him and it shouts out in his mixing. Having played at many of the Young DJ Academy events in the past as well as most recently performing in meeting house square in Dublin’s Temple Bar as part of the big bang festival. Rob has played at electric picnic and a host of other venues in Dublin and at just 20 years old thats a pretty good cv for any dj.

Technically, DJ Rasrob is working with turntables, cdj’s and serato scratch. This mix was laid down using Pioneer CDJ’s and a Pioneer DJM 600 and features the choicest track selections from his extensive record collection.

So click on the link below where you can either listen online or download DJ Rasrobs homegrown reggae beats mix.

Listen online or download here http://soundcloud.com/tracks/search?q=rasrob

Watch out for the links, available here soon.

DJ Rasrob will be perfroming for a short DJ set during this event. The event is free and is supported by Dublin City Council and run by Irish Percussionists Brian Fleming and Robbie Masterson.

Come along to check out whats going on. See you there

After six weeks of hard work and learning new skills, the groups from Blanchardstown and Donnycarney are making the final preparations for two showcases next week in which they will have the opportunity to perform or have their work on display.

If you would like to attend the event, Here are the details

First showcase event : Donnycarney Community Centre, Wednesday Oct 17th. 8:30 - 9:30pm. Show starts 8:45 sharp

Second showcase event : Corduff Sports Centre, Friday Oct 19th. 6:00 - 7:00pm. Show starts 6:15 sharp

The events run for approx 45 mins and will include a dance performance, a piece of drama, a number of rap performances and graffiti on display. There will be no food provided and please attend on time so performances are not interupted.

For directions to events contact mark@youngdjacademy.com

The festival was made possible through funding provided by each project, local grants and donations.

Despite the weathers best attempt to wash us out from the jam, the group kept going and managed to get a number of really good pieces finished. The majority of this group are newcomers to Graffiti but having seen them work on Saturday its hard to believe.

Photos will be uploaded here soon, in the mean time you can see the photos if you copy this link into your browser

http://picasaweb.google.com/VIRGINIATOGA/GraffitiJam?authkey=TQiQhC5RGIM#

The festival will include up to 60 young people who will participate in Graffiti, Hip Hop ( rap ), Dance and Drama workshops over the eight weeks. The work completed by young people will be showcased in two separate events in Donnycarney and Corduff in late October.

The artists have been carefully selected for their ability to work with young people and the workshops will have a youth participation focus.

Contact us for more info and keep an eye for updates

Beginning this Thursday night at 10:00pm till 2:30 and continuing every Thursday, the open decks night is an opportunity for new dj’s to show off their skills in a live enviroment. The only must is a good demo and a drive to show off your skills to a eager crowd.

We plan to make a very special night with the latest dj talent as well as unique live performances. Check it out weather your a dj or just love music and a good night. DJ’s get in touch with academy djs Neal or Rob on neal@youngdjacademy.com or mark on 0879898930

The event is over 18’s only

Young DJ Academy have been invited to the event and will have Three djs performing on the main stage as well as hosting a music tent on the festival site. Young aspiring dj’s will have the opportunity to try out some equipment in this area at specific times as well as having the opportunity to see other djs from the academy perform.

This is a great opportunity for these young dj’s to perform in Belfast to such a big crowd and we wish them the best of luck.

Admission is free to the event and if your going come over and say hello in the Young DJ Academy tent, and maybe even try out some equipment and see if dj’ing is for you.

Heres a link to the site http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/youthsupport/topevents.asp?menuitem=events

Parallel NRG are a group of five very talented dj’s who have joined forces to bring their unique brand of hard dance, techno and trance to the Irish music scene. The academy first met with this group last year during some dj training in Waterford and Manager ( Mark Finn ) was immediately impressed with the high bpm, pumping grooves these already very skilled young dj’s were playing. A short time later the academy linked up with the group to begin working together on the Parallel NRG project.

These enthusiastic dj’s have a flair for selecting top class tracks from the hard dance scene to fill up their mixes and with all members the music is serious business. They play from the heart which is obvious from these mix sets which you can hear online at the details below.

Anyway whatever happens Parallel NRG have a promising career in music and the young dj academy is backing their journey all the way, check them out online to hear mixes, pass on contact details or leave comments. The academy will be promoting some events with parallel NRG mixing up a storm on the wheels of steel, so keep an eye on their progress on the links below and here at the academy website.

myspace - http://www.myspace.com/parallelnrg

bebo - http://www.bebo.com/parallelNRG

15 young people participated in two hip hop workshops facilatated by Mark Finn and Tim Weedon in which they expressed their ideas about media and democracy. The workshops included brainstorming and discussion around the idea of democracy, some hip hop history, voice and spoken word techniques, lyric writing and ended in a number those young people performing their work in a workshop input to the rest of the conference participants.

Young DJ Academy were happy to be involved in the conference and hope that the groups who participated benefited from the experience.