'A DJ must connect with the crowd'

Popularly known as DJ Helen Swan, Elena Lebedeva, who’s a musician and remixer, loves doing what she’s best at – presenting music to the crowd in a unique way, by understanding their vibe. The artiste, who was in the City recently, talks about her music and career.

Talking about what she feels about the disc jockeying culture in India, she says that the people here are hungry for music. “But one thing that’s sad about the scene is that things close much earlier here. I am used to performing till wee hours and most of the acts that I’ve been a part of start late. Here, everything starts early and finishes early,” she says.

Sharing her experience while performing across the country, Helen says that she noticed that the crowd wanted to continue partying till late.

The experience of a performer is enhanced by how the crowd reacts, feels Helen. “One feels good about the performance according to how the crowd reacts,” she states. How does Helen decide what the kind of crowd she wants? “You just have to feel the vibe and decide accordingly. I don’t know how to explain it but I give total credit to my guru in Ukraine, who taught me to follow the crowd and play accordingly,” she says.

Helen says that she can switch from house to EDM and other music styles easily and it’s not too hard to go with the flow. “A DJ has to feel the pulse of the crowd,” she says. Ask Helen, who plays different styles of music such as funk, commercial, deep house, techno, electro house, progressive, dubstep and trap, what her favourite style is and she picks R ‘n’ B and big room house. “I like different styles and it’s thrilling to mix them,” she says.

Helen says that every country has its own culture of music. When performing in India, she used some Bollywood numbers which could be mixed with other styles. “Technology has played a major role in taking DJing to global scale,” she says.
She adds, “Earlier, one would have to swap through and mix different CDs
but with technology, it’s easier now.”

This DJ is a participant of a project ‘DJ – Duo Hard Candies’ and says that the group wants to explore fashion and music together. “We hope to be a part of the ‘Sunburn
Festival’ and many more renowned festivals soon,” she says.

Known for her work globally, Helen shares that every DJ should have a certain charisma. “One can just stand there and not smile yet perform well on the console. To kick in the mood, one has to be interactive and appealing to the audience. There is also some knowledge of music required for the same,” she says.

   Helen adds, “A DJ must connect with the crowd and be able to deliver what the crowd wants.”