Biography: dj Rakesh aka Black jack
Introduction
My name is Rakesh Thielemans aka dj Rakesh or Black Jack. Why the strange name? I’m originally from India where I was born in 1973. Adoption in 1977 brought me to Belgium where I still am today.
I started fooling around with music at a very young age. While learning piano and battery I was very busy discovering a wild range in music and making tapes.
I listened to Prince, Michael Jackson, Wham and James Brown, loving the funk and the genuine eighty tunes such as Grand Master Flash, Breakmachine and many more…
When I was fifteen I officially started out as dj. Always very involved in the music scene through investing in records for parties and organising performances with Elmer Food Beat, Yellowman, Urban Dance Squad and many more.
Anyway, today I am a full-grown dj with a great love for the profession. I have seen and been in a lot of places and my style is eclectic just like my experiences. Alow me to give you an oversight of my achievements.
Resume
In the late nineties I started mixing in a small pub in Ghent. I came there with about fifty records and stayed three years. That’s really where my name got picked up by people and soon I played during the annual ‘Gentse Feesten’, one of the most notorious streetevents in Belgium, where I still entertain people through the wee hours of the morning.
I participated in a play called Kung Fu and toured Europe with them. We went to Paris, Londen, Amsterdam, Stockholm… Just to name a few. The play had a fixed afterparty where I stood behind the turntables with 2ManyDj’s and Mo en Benoeilieâ€The Glimmers â€.
Things started booming and I found myself on the festival Ten Days Off, the infamous Eskimo-events, the even more infamous afters and in Culture Club, which is recommended by the inflight magazines upon visiting Belgium.
I started off a new century exploring the city of Antwerp and played numerous styles on numerous occasions such as ‘Free Vibes’ in Café d’Anvers.
When I got back to Ghent the Charlatan became my resident venue and that’s where I still kick it. In coöperation with a friend I opened ‘Sweet16’, a pretty select club in the centre of the city and I was also an actor in the Royal Flemish Theatre “KVS†in Brussels when the organisation asked me to lead the production of their annual parties. I accepted and got together with great names such as Prince Thomas, Pete Herbert,Buscemi,The Glimmers, Tlp,and many more That’s when my name changed to dj Black Jack. By then I had seen about every major nightlife scene Belgium had to offer.
My recent tour with dj Jah Zulu went through Egypt where we spiced up the Latex Club in Caïro, the beach in Alexandria, Pacha in Sharm el Sheikh and Simbad in Hurghada.
As you can see I can make people from all over the world party like there were no tomorrow.