“(…) At around 4:30 Prince gets up off the couch and walks floats right over to me. He looks me in the eye, starts shaking my hand and says in a deep Prince voice:

“Thank you. That was very enjoyable.”

“Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.”

In my mind it was that smooth but there’s no doubt I was speaking gibberish.

And just like that he left the room with his date. He didn’t put any moves on her in the bar, but I like to think I helped him out by setting the mood for whatever happened next. I stopped the music and the lights went on.

And that was the best night of DJing I ever had or ever will have.”

Here’s what was served that night and it’s beautiful!

***Don’t be lazy and read DJ @wallywaves​’s full crazy and amazing story here:

“I was home watching TV and cutting up a steak when I got the call at 8PM. A friend of mine worked at a famous hotel in LA and one of the guests made a last minute request for a DJ to play the hotel bar. Someone that could get there and start playing in an hour. The bar frequently had live bands play, but never a DJ. So with little to no time, my wise and generous friend thought to throw a gig my way.

“Yeah, I can get there in an hour. Am I getting paid?”

“Yes, you’ll get paid.”

“What kind of party is it? What am I playing?”

“Someone’s renting out the bar for a private party. And that someone is… The Artist… formerly… known… as… Prince.”

That sentence was not real to me. Still not real. I had no time to really think or say anything but, “What? You serious? Yes. Be there as soon as I can.” Got off the phone and my stomach turned. Only a handful of people in the world have imprinted their music that much in my brain. And couldn’t he just call up any of the best DJ’s in LA to come play for him? Why’s he gonna trust someone who is by all means an unknown? I’d been DJing parties and bars for years but going from that to Prince is an Olympic leap.

The next half hour felt like a panic attack. I made a list of songs to play for Prince and his private Prince party. Ok, no Prince songs. He doesn’t want to hear himself. No MJ. I don’t want to insult him or anything. Didn’t they have beef in the 80’s? No hip hop. Can’t picture him rocking out to Kendrick. I thought of who he was influenced by and dragged some James Brown and Stevie songs into the playlist. Isley Brothers, Curtis. Great. 8:20PM. I still have to get ready even though I could spend the next month picking songs. I quickly close my laptop and get dressed. Pack up my turntables, mixer, cables and run them all to the car as I’m sweating through this black suit.

I get to the hotel with about five minutes to set up. The bar is completely empty aside from a couple of servers and my friend who made the call. And the room is almost lit exclusively by candlelight. I’m told to set up my turntables on the grand piano, which is also covered with candles, making me feel like hip hop Liberace. A waitress tells me there’s like an 80% chance Prince doesn’t show up. He just likes to rent out the bar in case he and his friends wander through the hotel and feel like stopping in. “But you should start playing music anyway in case he comes in. Who knows.” So I start playing songs to the very empty bar. The anticipation is a killer. My friend gives me a much needed glass of whiskey before taking off.

A giant spread of appetizers is covering the bar and getting sweaty. Spring rolls, cheese, orange juice. An hour goes by. Then another hour. A no-show. I’m kind of bummed out but also very relieved. I don’t know how I’m going to react if he walks in that door. So I’m just playing the set of my life to nobody. It’s like I’m getting paid to practice and listen to whatever I want on the bar’s sound system.

At 12AM the door opens and some guy walks over to me and without a greeting he says,

“Hey man. He’ll be here in 15 minutes. What are you gonna play when he walks in?”

“Oh I got some stuff lined up. Some older Stevie Wonder, the JB’s.”

“Yeah. Yeah, he likes that. Anything like that, Earth Wind & Fire, Chic.”

“Yeah I got Chic! I’ll play that.”

“And he wants to hear Janelle Monáe when he walks in. You got that?”

“Yup. Yup. Janelle Monáe.”

“Cool, he’ll be here in 15 minutes.”

I didn’t have any Janelle Monáe. I ran out to the concierge desk in the lobby to get the wifi password, ran back and started downloading a bunch of Janelle Monáe off of iTunes. Right on time as I cue up the track, the door opens and I catch a quick glimpse. Full on afro, turtleneck and a gold chain. I want to say he had a cane, but I was trying not to look directly at him. I didn’t want to throw him off or maybe infuriate him by making eye contact. Prince was in the room. I was just musical wallpaper. He and a friend sat down at a couch about fifteen feet away from me.

The grand entrance song blended straight into James Brown’s Talking Loud and Saying Nothing. I played Ike & Tina Turner, Charles Wright, Omar’s The Man, and Gust of Wind by Pharrell. My head was pretty much glued to the turntables, sticking to my no look philosophy, but I could hear bits of conversation. Hearing that Prince voice in person was something strange. It just belongs on record or on microphone. I start dishing out some other favorite tracks of mine, Think Twice by Jay Dee and Alicia Myers I Want to Thank You. There’s zero reaction to the songs I play. I’m still worried I’m not playing what he wants to hear. Is he gonna throw a spring roll at me?

A little later that guy from earlier comes back into the bar and walks straight over to me.

“Hey man. Just want to let you know, they love your music.”

“Oh really? Thanks. Do they want to hear anything in particular?”

“Nope. Just keep playing what your playing.”

Oh it’s on now. I can finally breathe and I’m getting props from the man himself, or from the middleman himself. And then it hits me. There’s only two people in there. Prince and a girl. I’m not there to DJ a private party. I’m there to DJ a date. Prince is on a date and I’m the entertainment.

I saved my set list from that night and I don’t remember playing half the songs on it. All I know is I was in deep concentration, mixing out of my mind. Messenger man came in one more time and said Prince might try to play the piano. When it was time, he would pop his head in the door and give me the cue to stop DJing. I had never seen Prince perform, so a private piano ballad to his woman and myself sounded alright. I stayed looking at that door for a while until Prince’s date walked over to me.

“Hey, so what’s the name of this song? He likes it and wants to know.”

“It’s a Smith’s cover. This Charming Man by Stars.”

She sat back down and relayed the info, to which he nodded his head. Now I’m stumping Prince with cool music. I play another track. She comes over to me again and asks, “What’s this one? He wants this on repeat.” Blacker 4 The Good Times by Ballistic Brothers. So I play that song a couple more times in a row. It’s now 4AM and I’m just a little delirious from being on my feet DJing for 7 hours. And I’m running out of music. My song selections are all over the map at this point. Esperanza Spalding, ESG, Broken Bells.

At around 4:30 Prince gets up off the couch and walks  floats right over to me. He looks me in the eye, starts shaking my hand and says in a deep Prince voice,

“Thank you. That was very enjoyable.”

“Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.”

In my mind it was that smooth but there’s no doubt I was speaking gibberish.

And just like that he left the room with his date. He didn’t put any moves on her in the bar, but I like to think I helped him out by setting the mood for whatever happened next. I stopped the music and the lights went on.

And that was the best night of DJing I ever had or ever will have.”

Source: Purple Tuesday

filhasdofogo:

No início de fevereiro, entrevistava um produtor de um evento em que se apresentariam uma dupla de homens e uma mulher, solo. Perguntei a ele por que razões ele tinha chamado a dupla de homens pra tocar, e ele me deu uma resposta longa e florida, explicando-me sobre a linguagem proposta e a trajetória musical do duo. Após perguntar por que escolheu o projeto solo para o evento, porém, a resposta foi curta: “ah, porque eu queria chamar uma mulher”.

Em meios teoricamente progressistas, como o da música e da arte tida como “experimental” ou “de vanguarda”, há uma abordagem que pretende destacar quando algo é feito por mulheres. No primeiro anúncio do line-up do goiano Festival Bananada, por exemplo, as faixas do quarteto Teto Preto (cuja vocalista e única mulher é Laura Diaz) foram apontadas por trazer “uma temática fortemente feminina”. As letras são abertas a interpretações, mas o apontamento me parece equivocado: as duas faixas lançadas pelo Teto Preto (sendo uma delas um cover de “Já Deu pra Sentir”, do Arrigo Barnabé e Itamar Assumpção) parecem tratar de complexidades políticas e culturais que não podem ser precisamente resumidas em “temáticas femininas”.

A banda paulistana Rakta, na mesma postagem, foi rotulada como um “trio de mulheres”. Na entrevista com Carla Boregas para o filhas do fogo, a baixista destaca que não é incomum que se referissem ao grupo dessa maneira, e supõe alguns motivos para que essa setorização aconteça: “Eu vejo isso como um claro reflexo da opressão da criatividade feminina; por que parece tão incomum a produção musical feita por mulheres que existe a necessidade de que isso seja assinalado?”, comentou.

Com a popularização do movimento feminista, a questão de inclusão da mulher na música têm se tornado uma cota, um nicho, ou uma reserva de mercado. Na mídia (mesmo “independente” e “alternativa”), a pergunta “como é ser uma mulher na música?” se tornou quase inescapável, assim como textos e chamadas que colocam o sexo e outras opressões vividas por essas mulheres em evidência (“Na música eletrônica, a coisa também está cada vez mais feminina”, “Como uma funkeira ‘negra e gorda’ virou símbolo de beleza e voz da favela”). Em debates e palestras, não é incomum que mulheres só sejam convocadas a falar sobre como é “ser mulher” em determinada área.

Embora quiçá bem intencionado, o tiro que pretende incluir as mulheres na música eletrônica/experimental por destacá-las acaba muitas vezes saindo pela culatra. No artigo Gender, Genre and Electroacoustic Soundmaking Practices (Gênero [como classificação de homens/mulheres], gênero [musical] e práticas do fazer sonoro eletroacústico), de 2006, a compositora e pesquisadora Andra McCartney escreve sobre como a incorporação da musicista Pauline Oliveros como a única mulher em textos didáticos sobre música eletroacústica contribuiu para que seu trabalho fosse enxergado como uma espécie de essência do que seria o “fazer feminino” nesse tipo de arte.

A separação entre o que acredita-se ser “música” e “música de/para mulheres” se torna clara nesses contornos, e a demarcação de espaços deixa de ser uma questão puramente mercadológica e se torna também patriarcal. A exclusão feminina no fazer artístico passa a acontecer na forma de inclusão subordinada – enquanto o homem é o “eu”, a mulher segue representando a alteridade. Nas palavras de Simone de Beauvoir, “a mulher determina-se e diferencia-se em relação ao homem, e não este em relação a ela; a fêmea é o inessencial perante ao essencial. O homem é o Sujeito, o Absoluto; ela é o Outro.”

Na roda de conversas do festival Novas Frequências 2016 sobre a mulher na música experimental, a compositora Renata Roman (produtora do Dissonantes, série de concertos protagonizados por mulheres) resumiu o espaço delas nesse cenário: “[A colocação das mulheres como nicho] vai acabar quando esse espaço que não temos ainda na cena se naturalizar. Quando os organizadores das cenas, dos festivais, começarem a pensar na presença de mulheres não por constrangimento.”

Este texto não pretende, em momento algum, dar a entender que questões de gênero não influenciam o fazer musical de mulheres, ou suas experiências em meios artísticos. Meu objetivo com ele é apenas salientar as estratégias de empurrar essas mulheres aos subespaços que uma cultura machista acredita que elas deveriam preencher.

Mulheres não são um nicho de mercado.

Scottish singer Mr. Paolo Nutini is coming to Brazil for the first time ever and I got a chance to talk to him about it in a quick, pretty low-quality, phone call for a music website (thank you Nação da Música!) I found a guy that might love music just as much as I do (maybe even a bit more, but I’d never admit that).

“I guess music is one of the things that always absorbs the most in my life. It’s always been one of the things that I’ve been able to communicate through.
It’s like there’s a sponge in my body that soaks music more than anything else, you know?”

Here’s is a transcript of our chat!

We’re very excited about this show, we’ve been waiting for 10 years!
Paolo Nutini: Me too, me too! I’ve been working so much on it…  I have a new concert that I’m working on and I’m only going to have over there, you know, so I’m curious to see that, but I’m excited nonetheless.
I’ve never been to Brazil on other tours, or even been to South America, even other cities there in my life. I hope it’s only the beginning, not the end.

It’s too bad it’s only São Paulo… I hope that you get to come back to visit different cities and all of South America!
PN.: We actually end in Brazil. We got a little short run. We actually begin in Mexico and we go to Chile then… Then Argentina and then we land Brazil.
And the way that I hope to work things out is that can I continue from Brazil and that I can stay maybe one month in South America and do some exploring…

That’s nice…
PN.: That’s my plan, that’s my plan but you know… That’s what I hope to do. Because it’s something that, you know, even before we had confirmation that we could do shows (there) I knew that I wanted to make sure that I came over and and least got a piece of the culture, you know? This is my idea on how to experience it. I can’t wait. I’m very excited!

(In your music) You have different influences from different cultures but also different kinds of music in all of your albums…
PN.: Yeah…

How did that come about…How do you feel that your music has changed throughout the years?
PN.: Hum… You know, I don’t know… I get asked that question quite a lot over course of time. By the last end of the tour people would ask me “why those songs changed so much”, you know?! I don’t think they changed so much… I think… When we come over to do the show… And I’m not sure whether or not you’ll be able to come and watch the show, but I hope you can…

Even the old songs change sometimes…
PN.: A lot of the songs that we do from the Caustic Love - we’ve playing lot… Some of the songs we just learned and the songs we do from the second one (Sunny Side Up), they are quite different to how they appear on the record… I don’t know, I think a song is a song and I think that when other people perform your song or when I perform somebody else’s song you tend to do it in a different way. And I think that’s the main thing…You get 8 years, you know? In 8 years the ideas change… Of course everything, you know, you can hear something and something influence it, that’s, I think that’s the main thing with music… I have conversations with people and it changes how I perform. On anything from, you know, all my relationships and on my approach to different things. So, music, definitely impacts me.
I guess music is one of the things that always absorbs the most in my life. It’s always been one of the things that I’ve been able to communicate through.
It’s like there’s a sponge in my body that soaks music more than anything else, you know?

Do you feel like places you’ve been and people you’ve met have had any influence on your music?
PN.: I definitely see that the people I’ve met influenced me a lot more than the places themselves. But you know, I mean, that can be… Some places, I think, some places can have typical approaches, typical traditions. You can’t generalize anybody, but you can associate certain attitudes to some places and that could be because the weather is very cold or because the weather is very hot, you know? And I think… Obviously, when I say that about the people, maybe that is a reflection of the country and the setting, but, you know, that’s why it’s important getting over there, going over in the country because, you know, from what I know, it’s a place, I’m from Scotland, you know? And being in Brazil is very diverse and very exotic, you know, then again I also feel like you get a lot of grit. You get a lot of passion and grit and it’s very real. It’s not all ahm… I think that that’s the thing, you know, I feel like with a lot of places, I remember the first time I went to a very different place, I went to Jamaica for instance, maybe I didn’t know enough and thought everything would go like bad joints and Pirate Bays and coconuts, you know, whatever, so, and if you go to Jamaica, you have a beautiful Jamaica but that’s certainly no vacation. It’s fucking real, man… And I think that’s what I like, what turns me on about Brazil… What turns me on about Brazil is the fact that it’s got so many angles, so many shapes, so much depth.

Oh yeah! It’s a big country…
PN.:And the music is obviously so intense.
Weirdly when I was in high school I remember that I used to go into the library and you know, for no real reason I used to pick up some records you know, vinyl records, I didn’t know who they were and one of them was Gilberto Gil and I think it was maybe music made in the 70’s, one of the albums was called Refazenda another one Expresso or something like that?

2222?
PN.: Expresso 2222! And I used check them I think, that was one of the 70’s I think when I first started having a smoke, you know… That was the same moment that I would pick up some, like, Sergio Mendes… Started with that.

That’s so cool! I hope you have time to explore a bit when you’re here, there’s so much to see and listen to!
PN.: Well, you know, hopefully I can find (time) when I’m there, hopefully we can find someone who can get me around.
When I go to places, when I’m out, one of the biggest luxuries i’ve been able to do is to wonder, you know. I think I’ll leave it out in the open, it will be nice if someone can give me a hand.

Amy Winehouse was a friend of yours*… Did she leave any influence or mark on you?
PN: Amy, well, yeah… We sang on the same shows, festivals, things like that, we had a few conversations, I was 16 years old and I was a support act for her way before my first album. But she left a left a mark I think on a lot of people, I think everybody, songs like ’Back to Black’ and ’Love is a Losing Game’ are not gonna be expendable. I think she was very important, but people are people for good and bad and that’s just who she was.

(*Paolo opened for Amy in the beginning of his career and she was crazy about Brazilian and latin music in general)

(Our 10 minutes were up and his manager got on the phone to let me know I only had one question left…)

PN: I need to give a shout out to two of my favorite Brazilian people, Moon and Bá, Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, the animators, the artists, you know? I’m a big fan of graphic novels and they are two of my favorites, I know them, I’m mad about their stuff. There was a real kind of influence, a kind of stain on the last album, just in a sense, I was reading it at the time and I don’t know how everything speeds in the end and in a weird way it took away some of the anxiety of the reality of what I was doing you know, and like, ended up calming me and giving me some space in my head. They can push all kinds of buttons, man. You know know… Much love to them.

This is my last one, so I’m gonna throw you a challenge! It’s so cool that you know so much about our culture… Did you ever think about putting some Brazilian spin on your setlist for the show here? Maybe a song or a sound?
PN: Wow, I mean, I don’t know…What do people want to see? Do they want to see me trying something new or me doing what usually I do? I don’t know, that’s a hard one to decide, but yeah, maybe.
I think I might have to now! (laughing)

(Click here to read this in Portuguese)

Paolo plays in Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Brazil in April. His live gigs have been highly praised for ages (The Telegraph called him: the best British male soul singer this century). Don’t miss it if you get a chance.

The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

- Emma Lazarus

THESE ARE LADY LIBERTY’S WORDS MY FRIENDS!!!!!!

Uma foto publicada por laurenjauregui (@laurenjauregui) em Jan 28, 2017 às 2:08 PST

“A gente é construção e não adianta fingir. A gente está aqui neste lugar lindo, com pessoas lindas, incríveis, mas o mundo está todo arrebentado. Aqui, na Europa, na Síria, nos nossos quartos, está tudo difícil. A poesia, a música, uma pintura não salvam o mundo. Mas salvam o minuto. Isso é suficiente. A gente está aqui para dançar um pouquinho sobre os escombros. Não deixar que a poeira dê alergia nos olhos. Cada um faz como pode. O cirurgião vai tentar salvar todas as vidas que puder. A gente vai tentando salvar os segundinhos — da minha vida, da vida de todos meus amigos e de alguém que lê uma estrofe. E já é bom.” - Matilde Campilho

(english, free translation)
“Poetry, music, art won’t save the world, but will save the minute. That’s good enough. We’re here to dance a little on top of the rubble (…)”