DJ Wazzza and Hemant have won the student vote to open for Big Gigantic and Cults at St. Lawrence University’s 2018 Springfest. Dubbed ‘The Battle of the Openers,’ the event on March 28 presented eight student musical groups, both DJs and bands, with a chance to perform and possibly open for Springfest. The competition, put together by the Association for Campus Entertainment (ACE), and hosted by the Java Barn, was widely successful and will likely continue as a tradition for years to come.

“To me, it’s a privilege. I have the opportunity to go out there and give the people what they want, a spice of my own style of music,” said Moemedi Wazza Rakhudu. Rakhudu, together with Hemant Yogendra, make up DJ Wazzza and Hemant. Rakhudu said he has been attracted to music from a young age, mentioning how he first learned to play guitar. “From there on, I started experimenting with different kinds of music technology and DJing came along on the way,” he stated.

“It builds a different level of excitement in the student body around Springfest,” said John Robert O’Connor, director of student activities and the ACE advisor. O’Connor also mentioned the collaboration that went on between ACE and the Java Barn, which, through school wide voting, generated student engagement before Springfest. “At St. Lawrence, the best way to market events is by word of mouth,” he said.

“We always thought it would be a cool idea to have some student involvement in Springfest, since there are so many good musicians on campus,” said Olivia Greenleaf ‘20, the co-concert chair for ACE. Greenleaf stated that the student voice is vital when it comes to campus entertainment, also mentioning ACE’s hopes to continue the competition for years to come. “It’s really awesome that they were able to do it, since Java does a ton for this campus. They did a great job,” she said.

“If this is something to continue to happen, I think it would be a great opportunity to give campus bands something to work for,” said Bjarne Nielsen ‘19. Nielson has worked at The Java Barn for four semesters and plays guitar, bass, drums, and sings for multiple music groups on campus. He described the tasks that are necessary to put on a Java show, such as promotion, food, social host, clean up, and more. “For the battle of the bands, ACE did us a huge favor in taking over a lot of those jobs,” Nielsen stated.