Nico DiMarco of Washington, D.C., grew up listening to music. But being born deaf, DiMarco was attracted more to the bass than the actual words.
He is a member of a fourth-generation deaf family, which include his twin, Nyle, an actor and deaf community activist.
However, DiMarco said he was still exposed to music.
“It was coming from a car when it’s a long road trip, I can’t stand being without music in the car,” he wrote in an interview through Facebook Messenger.
In 2007, DiMarco graduated from the Maryland School for the Deaf. He went on to explore his love of music by becoming a DJ. For about a decade, DiMarco, who is known as DJ Nico DiMarco, has been making the club rounds by exposing everyone to music.
As a way to celebrate music for both the deaf and hearing communities and at the same time give back to to his alma mater, DiMarco is hosting Deaf Jams Friday at Flying Dog Brewery. This is DiMarco’s second appearance DJing at Flying Dog. Tickets cost $15 at the door, a portion of which will go to MSD.
“This event is a fundraising event for Maryland School for the Deaf’s Foundation,” he said. “It’s hitting two birds with one stone by enjoying the music, beer and doing the donation. And it’s nice to support a local business in Frederick.”
DiMarco is hoping to break some stereotypes when it comes to music and the deaf community.
“A lot of deaf people enjoy the music. We have variety of hearing in the deaf community,” he said. “Most of [the] time, we would want to have an upbeat song to dance. Most hearing DJs wouldn’t understand because they would blend in from lyrics. So, that’s why I became a DJ and making things easier for the deaf community.”
When it comes to song selection, DiMarco said he likes to mix it up.
He said he usually tries to play a lot of different ranges of music, like hip-hop, rap, reggae, Latin, pop, oldies rock, and some house music.
