BARELY a teenager, all it took was listening to a friend’s walkman on the way back from school to be hooked. Since then music has continued to be a primary focus in the life of DJ Emenes, a Vancouver producer and DJ, also commonly known as Mandeep Sandhu. Having made music his career, Emenes has often looked back and examined his journey into music and wanted to help inspire other young musical minds with the same belief in music he holds.

Being primarily self-taught, he recognized that many young families may not always know where to go or have the funds available to nurture various interests, such as music, in their youth. That is where the idea for Music is Believing – the MiB Project rose from. The first initiative of the MiB Project is to bring music mentorship opportunities to local underprivileged youth.

“Music is a universal language and has the ability to make us feel and do so many things. To me, music is believing, believing in yourself, in others, in the world,” says Emenes. “Imagine a network of professional musicians and talented artists coming together to volunteer their time to provide mentorship for underprivileged youth that have a passion for music. That’s what Music is Believing is all about.”

Throughout his career, music has been a driving factor and inspiration for Emenes. Starting early on he played in local clubs and bars, crafting his skills and was able to uniquely highlight his South Asian roots through his range of musical selection and mixing. His first remix CD became so successful that it propelled him into touring the UK and India, after which he returned to Vancouver and founded the MiB Roadshow, which to date is one of the longest running South Asian DJ outfits in the Lower Mainland. His first remix CD was also recognized by the Museum of Vancouver for kicking off the remix wave in Western Canada.

To introduce this project, Emenes has entered Music is Believing into the Storyhive web series contest (www.storyhive.com). “Although I’ve had this idea for many years, I kept feeling I was too busy and was waiting for the right time. When I was introduced to Storyhive, I saw a great opportunity to not only kickstart the project but also gain exposure for the cause through the series by sharing these inspiring stories of mentorship.” said Emenes. Music is Believing now has the opportunity to be awarded a $10,000 grant to pilot their web series but must hit the Top 15 based on votes.

In the long term Emenes hopes that Music is Believing (#themibproject) will bring together a local music community as a collective to support opportunities to give back. His goal is to have a roster of mentors and a team that is passionate about this cause and want to give back in their own backyard. He also states that he could see the website becoming directory of active and socially conscious local artists where the mentors can then network or collaborate among themselves for projects that they are working on, share ideas, or garner help or resources from one another.

Support Music is Believing by visiting www.storyhive.com and voting for Music is Believing. Each vote will help bring this project to light and help aid in kick starting their first initiative.

More details about Music is Believing, visit www.themibproject.com or follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/themibproject