By Olivia Turner | Arts & Life Editor, Gracie Savage | LTVN Reporter
Baylor has its fair share of musically talented students: those who play in the jazz band, sing in the choir and even those who may have their own band. However, there is one group of artists who are often overlooked: DJs.
LTVN’s Gracie Savage tells all about campus celebrity, Ani Nair.
Houston senior Anirudh “Ani” Nair said he started off like most other blooming musicians.
“My whole life I’ve loved music,” Nair said. “I played the guitar, like classical guitar. [When] I was younger, I was in band, and I also just loved dissecting music, like listening to albums and dissecting like certain stuff about production or lyrics and just kind of understanding it.”
He switched over to DJing his sophomore year. He said he wasn’t in a good headspace and wanted something to occupy himself with other than school and his fraternity, Sigma Chi. To occupy himself, Nair bought a board and started picking it up.
“People always liked my aux. Like, at parties or in the car, people would be like, ‘Alright Ani, you got music,’” Nair said. “So I was like, well, if I can cue up some songs, why don’t I just learn how to mix?”
The DJ enjoys doing mainly house and EDM, though he admitted to not being a fan of house at first.
“I was like, God, I don’t understand how people like this,” Nair said.
However, on a spring break trip to Port Aransas with some friends, he recalled the music being played on the beach, which established his enjoyment of the genre.
Nair looks up to Frank Ocean and fellow DJ John Summit for meaning in his tracks. He said he had a special admiration for Summit, though, because he’s tried to be like him his whole life.
“Just seeing his story — he was just a normal guy; he was middle class like me,” Nair said. “He went to college, studied accounting, got his CPA, but he started DJing in college for his frat and some local bars and then worked nine-to-five and was still producing and making music.”
Nair said he also wants to work full time and focus on his education unless his music blows up. He said his plan is to start off in EDM before he works on R&B and rap albums for big-name artists.
For now, though, Nair said he is working his way to the top. On Sept. 6, he will be DJing at the Backyard. Nair said the last time he performed there, he had one of his best DJing experiences yet. After headlining in front of 1300 attendees, he’s eager to return.
This time, Nair will be opening for Lost Kings, an EDM group from Los Angeles — the biggest artist Nair said he’s ever opened for.
Andrew Schneider, Ani’s former Sigma Chi fraternity brother, said he was the one to put Ani and the Backyard in touch. He said the Backyard had a stigma of “attracting an older crowd,” and that they wanted to change that by bringing in more student artists. He said Lost Kings were looking for local artists as well and thought Ani would be the perfect match.
“It’s really more of an event geared toward the younger crowd, like Baylor students in particular,” Schneider said. “It’s not really focused on a specific sorority or fraternity or club, nothing like that. Just more of an everyone’s welcome type of thing.”
Schneider said that getting Ani’s name out there is one of his main focuses. He admires Nair’s desire to include others in his successes, referencing his collaborations with other Baylor DJs and student clothing business Fino St.
In the meantime, Nair can be found on Soundcloud and Spotify.
Nair will be opening for Lost Kings at The Backyard with doors opening at 6 p.m. on Friday night. Get tickets for the show here.
