DJ duo Major Lazer will perform in Barton Hall on March 11, the Cornell Concert Commission will announce Wednesday. Opening acts for the group have not been determined.
The electronic dance collaborative was formed in 2009 when DJ-producers Diplo and Switch were introduced while collaborating on M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes.”
A shared passion for the Jamaican dancehall genre and for churning out dance-floor-killing tunes brought the group together to produce club favorites “Pon de Floor,” “Hold the Line” and “Keep it Goin’ Louder” for their debut album, “Guns Don’t Kill People … Lazers Do.”
Since attaining fame in the modern music industry, the duo has had a nonstop touring schedule, spinning tracks for flush-faced audiences across the globe, including performances at some of the summer’s hottest music festivals. Last summer the group hit Coachella, Pitchfork and Outside Lands.
According to CCC President Dave Rodriguez ’13, the organization decided to pursue Major Lazer after students “heavily requested” DJs and electronic dance music in campus-wide surveys conducted by CCC.
“Major Lazer is an artist that had been commonly suggested for a few semesters now, so they seemed to be the right choice,” Rodriguez wrote in an email.
Rodriguez added that hosting Major Lazer on campus reflects an attempt to offer a more diverse array of concerts to the Cornell community.
“We haven’t had a DJ that doesn’t solely do mash-ups in quite some time.” Rodriguez said. “Since part of our mission is to make sure diverse music styles are represented at Cornell, CCC thought now would be a good time to look into DJs.”
CCC has previously brought mash-up artists White Panda and Super Mash Bros to Cornell.
Rodriguez said that CCC is “super excited for Major Lazer” and is expecting a high turnout at the concert.
“[Major Lazer] is personally one of my favorite artists, so I’m pretty pumped.” Rodriguez said. “I know that our executive board is very satisfied with our decision to book them, and we hope that the student body is as excited as we are about the concert.”
Original Author: Liz Camuti