From Westwood to Tokyo, Sylas Umoren’s sets can amp up any crowd.

Performing as a DJ since 2024, the fourth-year global studies and Japanese language and culture student brings his eclectic, jazz-inspired EDM mixes to Westwood’s rager scene. Umoren, who plays at and organizes on-campus music events with UCLA’s Campus Events Commission, added that he recently DJed at the 2026 Hammer Arts Party under the duo name wemogura, consisting of Umoren and his girlfriend, fourth-year environmental science student Tia Payne. With experience DJing both on campus and abroad in Japan, Umoren said he hopes to build a personal connection with audiences through music and provide a space for those who share his Black and Asian biracial identity.

“I like to pull from many different influences, and most of them have to do with various different cultures,” Umoren said.

Umoren’s first experience DJing started with his uncle, who was a DJ in Japan during the late ’90s to the mid-2010s, he said. After buying his first DJ deck in the second grade, Umoren said he didn’t fully pursue the art until he began organizing events for UCLA’s Japanese Student Association. He joined the organization to connect more with his Japanese heritage and said DJing for an audience familiar with Japanese culture helped him read the room more effectively, despite his lack of DJ experience at the time.

[Related: First-year student Nori Kai releases second studio album ‘Wish You Had’]

With his past sets consisting of a myriad of musical moods catered to the event, Umoren said the heart of his recent mixes stems from the EDM genre of Detroit techno. The genre’s analog drum sound and unique character serve as a foundation for many of the other genres he enjoys, such as jazzy house and deep house, he said. Umoren said he enjoys the spontaneous aspect of creating a DJ set on the spot, adding that he hopes those who attend his performances will leave with a new favorite song.

“It feels like a game, and whenever it matches up – you know how some games have the achievement notification? That’s what it feels like,” Umoren said. “My favorite part would be just unlocking a new sound – just the mixing and how satisfying it is when I do it right.”

Justin Paul, a faculty member at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and creator of “The Disc Jockey as Performer” course, said Umoren’s greatest strength as a performer is his expansive knowledge of music, which allows him to match the energy and themes of various crowds. He added that Umoren’s music is unique and carries a soulful jazz influence that remains consistent even as he speeds up or slows down his music’s tempo.

Taking “The DJ as Performer” course when it launched in 2024 gave Umoren access to better equipment, knowledge about DJ history and experience DJing in a collaborative environment for the first time, he said. Umoren is currently an apprentice for the course and returns to give demos for the class.

“Sylas has really shown me he’s committed to the art form, and he’s willing to put the time in, and that is another thing that separates Sylas from the other students,” Paul said.

Fourth-year neuroscience student Daniel Leal, who works with Umoren to plan events at CEC, attended wemogura’s performance at the Hammer Arts Party and said he had never seen Umoren perform on such a large scale. He added that he enjoyed the hyperpop moments of Umoren’s set.

“I hope (people) leave having a fun time, take away, ‘Oh, wow, this is a fun set’ or ‘I didn’t know who this was,’” Leal said. “It’s really cool to see somebody start off as a small artist and see them grow and be there from the start.”

[Related: Student collaboration brings Shivali Pathak’s LA love song ‘You and I’ to life]

Leal said Umoren has planned several successful concert events during his time at UCLA, the biggest of which was 2025’s Matsuri with R&B and neo-soul singer-songwriter UMI as the headliner. With the entire lineup of that event consisting of biracial Black and Asian artists, Umoren said creating a space for those who share that identity is an important aspect of his event curation. He said he threw the “BLAGER” as his birthday party, playing music that appealed to both sides of his Black and Asian background.

Approaching graduation, Umoren said he hopes to branch out and continue DJing, not just at UCLA but beyond. He added that a long-term goal of his is to have a permanent event space for both DJing and other social events.

But above all, Umoren’s biggest goal is fostering connection through his sets.

“I hope people feel connected more with the people around them, whether that’s their friends or just some random person,” Umoren said. “I just hope everyone has fun.”