DJ Qbert is in the house

MANILA, Philippines - DJ Qbert, dubbed as “Jimi Hendrix of the Turntables”may have performed all over the world as “one of the Top 11 most influential DJs in history.”

But until he performed at the plush LAX Nightclub by the Bay last Jan. 15, the guy also known as the “most successful Filipino scratch DJ of all time” had yet to show his talents before Pinoys in a 1,000 seating capacity venue.

When he did, DJ Qbert brought the fully-packed house down with his upbeat sound and turntable skills. After his three encore numbers, DJ Qbert made the audience go even wilder when he went down on stage and signed autographs.

“It was our first time to feature a Filipino performer,” says LAX owner Donn Elvis Yu. And he’s so happy with the results he promises to bring in more Pinoy acts, along with the club’s usual roster of international performers.

The outpouring of praise hardly affects the humble DJ.

He remembers the simple life he saw back in his father’s hometown in Vigan and sees no reason why he should think himself better than others.

“Back in Vigan, I saw children making small wooden carts by fastening rubber bands around the wheels and other parts of the toy. Their creativity is amazing!” he says.

Such creativity, he adds, extends to other things, like inventing the yoyo and making music.

It is this simplicity that DJ Qbert wants to keep. During the interview at LAX, he was in a pair of maong pants and T-shirt — no tattoos or fancy bling-blings.

He may have DJ-ed all over the US, Australia and Italy for the past 10 years, but DJ Qbert doesn’t have the swagger of a hotshot international artist.

“I still have a long way to go to become even half of what Jimi Hendrix is,” he pooh-poohs comparisons with the American singer-songwriter. (DJ Qbert would rather talk about his craft, which he loves so much, adulation has become secondary.)

“When you love what you’re doing, you experience God. You communicate with Him. You are one with Him,” he explains.

Thus, he doesn’t feel the need to self-aggrandize, no matter how deafening the applause in his shows becomes. If anything, he thinks his job is to please, not to be pleased.

“I want to make people happy. I’m here to help,” he says.

DJ Qbert agreed to donate half of the ticket sales from his LAX show to ABS-CBN’s Sagip Kapamilya.

The need to reach out also prompted the top DJ to put up an on-line DJ school, the first of its kind around the world.

“I started QBert Scratch University, last year,” he reveals. “It now has 1,000 students.”

The school is the perfect venue for DJ Qbert (real name: Richard Quitevis) to apply what he learned at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he took up Music Education.

“Music is my life,” he states. “I play a lot of musical instruments.”

This solid musical background will again come in handy when DJ Qbert creates the dance music for Nonito Donaire’s fight against Gerson “El Nene” Guerrero next month in Las Vegas.

Qbert’s music will help power the boxing champ’s punches, the way partygoers storm the dance floor each time the Filipino’s pride in the DJ scene takes over the turntables.

Along the way, DJ Qbert can’t help but feel more energized, more driven. It’s in pleasing others that DJ Qbert pleases himself.