Nail technician by day, DJ by night

In 2012, after Peter Karlboro, 23, had completed high school, he got into the habit of listening to music.

In the process, he was intrigued by how music mixes are compiled. He listened to audio mixes by renowned DJs such as DJ Kim, DJ Kalonje and DJ Andie.

A friend introduced him to a virtual deejaying software, and taught him how to use it. He then borrowed laptops to explore and record his own mixes.

In 2014, he left his hometown of Narok and came to Nairobi to take a CPA course. By that time, he had recorded a number of songs fit for indoor parties.

This became his pass time, and it got better when he went to live in the hostel because he became the go-to person whenever there was a party at the hostel, or when his friends just needed some entertainment, which was often.

This earned him some money.

“My friends marvelled at how good I was at recording the mixes and they encouraged me to become a DJ. Deep inside, I also wanted to be a DJ, but I did not have the money to go to school and study,” he says.

NAIL APPLICATION

After two semesters, school fees problems crept up and because he did not have another way of sustaining himself in the city, or any compelling reason to, he planned to go back home.

But a friend who knew his situation introduced him to a nail application place where she frequented as a customer and had noted many of the people working there were Peter’s age.

“At the beauty parlour, I met people who taught me how to fix artificial nails, polish and pattern natural nails as well as do pedicure and manicure. I developed a passion for the job. Working gave me a reason to remain in Nairobi. After one year, I had saved enough to enrol at a deejaying academy,” he says.

It was a friend who recommended the deejaying school to him.

“I remember arriving at the school and seeing the machines for the first time and I was very excited! If I had doubts before about what I wanted to do, seeing the equipment settled me,” he says.

The benefits of the deejaying practice he had been doing shone as soon as he learnt how to use the machines and despite the fact that his cohort was already two weeks ahead, catching up was no problem.

TAUGHT HIS CLASSMATES

After just two weeks at school, Peter could teach his classmates how to record some of the mixes.

“My trainer, recognising my skill and ability, introduced me to people in the deejaying world, who in turn gave me opportunities to play and I grew in terms of experience very fast,” Peter says.

The opportunity to start playing early also helped him learn the crucial additional skill every deejay needs to succeed — the ability to read his crowd.

After the formal attachment, he continued to look for opportunities.

“I would request to go work with them to get the necessary exposure as well as to learn different ways of execution.

“I just called the DJs randomly, some agreed to have me over and even gave me a platform to work, while others turned me down. So I can say my determination to become really good at deejaying is what drove me to look for additional exposure in my field,” he says.

“From Feb to July 2017, I worked as a resident DJ for a club, to further ground my skills. As a resident DJ, I was primarily in charge of music at the establishment,” he says.

But Peter never quit his job as a nail technician, something he attributes partly to the way he was received and helped when he first joined and partly because he has grown to develop real passion in his nail work. So by day, Peter is a nail technician and by night, he is DJ Festa254.

“My deejaying usually happens at night, at the weekends from Friday to Sunday, except for a few corporate gigs that happen during the day. I do my nail work during the day so I have never really had the challenge of balancing my time,” he explains.

Peter says that although he was passionate about accounting and that is what he came to Nairobi to do, he discovered the two other passions which he is excited to pursue further.