Tumwiine and Switch on the Pioneer decks. Photo By Abubaker Lubowa
Tumwiine Ivan met Switch at his resident club, Amnesia on Kampala road, and they spun turntables.
Whats up Switch?
I’m Easy how are you boss?
By the way when did you start Deejaying?
I started way back, I think just after I had joined high school at Makerere College and it was simply for fun. However I became seriously taken up by it in 2005 during my S.4, then is when I realised it was a calling of mine.
What are you doing if you’re not spinning discs?
That would be during the day because I am always working at night, and I’m always with my family. I have a one and a half-year-old baby that I spend most of my time with, or I may be selecting songs or looking up new ones. My family actually doesn’t even mind that I have to go and work in the night as well as be away for most of the day because they trust it’s purely my way of earning a living.
Did your parents support your career choice?
Actually my mum has been supportive since day one. I remember she would give me transport money when I had a gig somewhere like during the days I was at Punchline in 2007 and would also sponsor me for any deejaying competition that happened during those days. My family never had a problem with it and I think it helped emotionally.
How do you find this job? Do you wish there was anything else you did?
It’s fun, totally fun because you earn money out of having a good time. It’s like having a hobby turning into a career. I think now anyone can have a successful career as a deejay because there are so many internationally successful deejays to look up to. As long as you know what you want and as long as you’re focused and you don’t take the whole affair lightly or as simply fun, the sky is the limit. It’s all about hardwork and love for the music.
How did you make it, to become so prominent?
Like I said it’s hardwork and lots of dedication. Like I told you, I started out while still in school. Luckily, my boss then understood and allowed me time to balance the two because he saw I loved what I was doing. I spend a lot of time working around music, listening and doing remixes, I take what I do so seriously.
How hard is it for someone like me to join and become quite as prominent as you or better?
It’s not even hard these days because there is a lot of leakages and open sites, everything enabled by technology. Today you can get anything easily even turntrables, before, you would hardly could find turntables anywhere which is the absolute opposite today. As long as you know what to do.
