Nanaimo DJ juggles beats at world championships in Europe

A Nanaimo DJ was honoured to represent Canada on the world stage and perform "among the greats" last month.

In early December, Peter Poole, also known as DJ All Good, "scratched and beat-juggled" his way to the IDA World DJ Championships in Kraków, Poland.

The turntablist showed off his skills during a single six-minute round for the live show category championship, which he described as "competing against yourself," landing fourth place.

"I was the only person doing body tricks on that stage that night and it definitely got a reaction out of the crowd," Poole said. "I often make this comparison – there's bartenders that mix drinks and then there's the flair bartenders … So for me, I can make you a piña colada, but I can also chop up a pineapple and throw it in the air and balance it on my nose."

Poole said his placing was a deserved position, acknowledging a few minor mistakes that likely only the judges noticed and not the audience.

"I'm trying not to fixate so much on the mistakes I made and am just overall happy that I was invited," he said.

Poole said the performer who took first place in the show category, DJ Delightfull, was flawless in his execution.

"He's definitely a better scratcher than I am, but I may be a better beat juggler."

The recent competition isn't the first time Poole has performed at the international level, especially since he's been DJ battling since 1998. In 2020, he placed 16th at the DMC World DJ Championships, which was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Kraków, Canada was also represented in the technical category by Deejay T-Jr. from Toronto, who was also a winner at the DMC championships earlier this year.

A turntablist, Poole said, is a musician who uses a turntable in the spirit of an instrument and actively manipulates records to make new sounds. It's a talent he's been honing for most of his life that also makes him want to be a better person.

"I feel like it's definitely what I'm here to do, to share my love for it and just to give love through the turntables," he said. "If I was fixating on 'I want to win, I have to come first place' and making it all about myself, to me that just seems like the wrong head-space."

As a 'hip hop elder,' Poole also hosts a mentoring session called Music Medicine at the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Learning Alternatives school. The sessions are held on Friday nights, from 5-7 p.m., and receives funding from a federal initiative to build youth resilience against gang and gun violence. It is open to all students 13-18 years old.

"I wish that something like this existed when I was 13 … instead of being in that parking lot, there would've been this place where I could just go sit on a couch and listen to some music and get that good buzz of being around friends," he said.

Anyone interested in Music Medicine can e-mail Poole at djallgood.peter@gmail.com for more information.

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