KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — The Covid-19 pandemic and movement restrictions left an enormous impact on certain industries and professions.
The financial blow was perhaps felt more among those working in the entertainment and nightlife sector as that industry went into a total hiatus for a prolonged period.
The deejays who often work on gig-based income were caught by surprise when entertainment events and shows were not allowed as part of the standard operating procedures for almost two years since 2020.
Although most of the Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted in Malaysia, there seems to be certain confusion clouding the nightlife sectors that do not benefit professional DJs.
Malay Mail spoke to some of the DJs to better understand the effect of the pandemic on their profession.
Two years of struggle
Mohamed Ariff Mohamed Sultan, better known as DJ RF, has been a disc jockey for 35 years. He has gone through the ups and downs of the entertainment industry over the years since the 1980s.
However, the past two years were nothing but a struggle for the 55-year-old father-of-three.
“It was very tough.
“I had to use up all my savings and I survived just on that,” he lamented.
The situation for Ariff got even worse when he lost his wife due to cancer 18 months ago.
Ariff started his career as a DJ in 1985 before ending up at Tin Mine for his longest stint.
Nowadays, Ariff provides consultancy services for the entertainment and hospitality industry, while also taking up gigs as a DJ.
However, he said the scenario for DJs is not very clear after the government lifted the Covid-19 restrictions.
“They (the government) did not say yes or no to DJs and live bands.
“We are re-entering the market but I’m taking it slowly because there is no black and white [from the government] to state that DJs can resume work.”
According to Ariff, nightclubs are still not allowed to operate and only those restaurants and bars with food and beverage licenses were given the green light to operate.
Ariff said the two years of the pandemic brought immense difficulties for many of his DJ friends who had to sell off their personal equipment just to survive.
Speaking about the clubbing scene, Ariff said things have evolved tremendously since the disco era.
However, he said there is still a huge potential for retro and disco-style clubbing.
“I want to open up a club serving good food and playing retro music.”
Ariff said what he has in mind is a small club that takes people back to the retro days in a classy environment.
“You must have the class if you want to attract classy people.”
From DJ to lorry driver
The sudden announcement of the movement control order (MCO) in March 2020 caught Jamal Abdullah, known as DJ JD, off-guard as his only income came from DJ gigs.
For him, MCO meant zero income with no safety net to fall back on until things could improve.
However, the trump card for Jamal was his adaptability to such situations.
Jamal kicked off his career as a professional DJ back in 1992 while he also had experience in construction and handy work.
“I had done many other jobs before so it wasn’t a problem for me.
“But then again, even construction work wasn’t allowed during the MCO; so I had to scratch my head to think of other things to do.”
As his savings were running out, Jamal said he had no choice but to do anything he could to put food on the table.
Together with his wife, the duo started cooking chicken rice at home and sold it around their neighbourhood.
“So I became an Indian DJ selling Chinese chicken rice.”
The home cooking business managed to pay the bills for a few months until other people also tried to do the same thing to survive.
As the sales dropped due to new competitors, Jamal said he had to look for new avenues to earn money as he had to look after his newborn daughter, wife and ill mother.
“One day I met my old friend and I was told about the lack of vegetables and foodstuff in the market due to the MCO.
“My friend had an old four-wheel drive and we used it to go to the villages and bring fruits and vegetables to the Selayang market.”
Jamal said things were moving smoothly until the car broke down and the repair cost was almost the same as buying a new car.
Back to the drawing board, Jamal had to think of a new source of income yet again.
He, however, knew the potential in the transportation business which was fuelled by the movement restrictions.
“I decided to sell off my DJ set, equipment and car to buy a second-hand lorry back in 2020.
“I then continued with the transportation business and it opened up new avenues for me.”
Thanks to his commitment, Jamal managed to grow its network to consistently secure clients.
He now has two lorries and is planning to expand his transportation business.
“This business is now paying my bills, putting food on the table and also providing security to my family.
“It’s not so easy to rely on DJ gigs as there are too many undercutting situations in the market now.”
Jamal said he still has a lot of passion for being a DJ but he now chooses to focus on his transportation business.
Slowly but surely
When the MCO started back in 2020, G. Vimal, popularly known as Double D, was quick enough to think of an alternate solution and utilise online platforms to stay afloat.
Vimal said he and a group of his DJ friends managed to survive by playing music on livestream platforms for a while.
“We then faced some issues with platforms like Facebook and Instagram due to copyright rules and the idea didn’t go far.”
Vimal expressed his gratefulness that things are almost back to normal. However, he said the clubbing scene has yet to be how it used to be prior to the pandemic.
He said some of the bars shifted their focus to serving food to survive the pandemic and many of them still prefer to keep them as a restaurant.
“Some of them don’t even need DJs anymore.
“All they need is a curated playlist or Spotify.”
Vimal said one of the bars in Bangsar where he used to play had a visible DJ console facing the crowd, but it has been removed to make space for more tables.
“This is because these bars expanded their menu to survive the pandemic and now their main revenue comes from serving food.”
Thanks to events and weddings, Vimal said he is now able to generate more income through gigs.
“I now take whatever that comes my way.
“When an establishment asks me for a discount, I willingly offer because I know they are still not making as much revenue.”
