I caught up with Clelia a female DJ who’s making her stand by doing what most people associate with the lads! I found out how she manages being one of the few women brave enough to work in a man’s world and got some insight into being a female DJ.
Clez has been DJing for four years around Sheffield and also plays in other cities such as Bradford, and is soon to play in Barcelona!! She plays all kinds of music such as jazz, hip hop, funk, soul, reggae, dancehall, drum&bass, 50s swing, latin ska, tunes from sountracks, house, blues, dub. Her female influences are singers like Nina Simone, Erikah Badu, and her mum. She says “they feel and love, sometimes fail and fool themselves, but they are never ashamed to stand up as women.”
So you need to be a certain age to become a DJ, right? Nope! It’s never too early or too late to start. Clelia is proof of this as she didn’t start until she was twenty eight.
But you need loads of expensive equipment don’t you? No not really. Clelia started with only her dad’s turntable. Ideally you should work towards getting two decks, a mixer and headphones. You can get all this for a reasonable price second hand. But as Clez says “You can get access to equipment easily if you really want to, it’s access to music that you need to cultivate”.
But isn’t it normally lads that are DJs??! True, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t change that. Clelia came up against a lot of obstacles being female. She says “I have been put on early (nobody there) on gigs and I felt it was because I didn’t have the same respect and bond with the other (male) DJs. I’ve also been mistaken as the following DJ’s girlfriend who was having a go!” This just makes her more determined, “Bottom line is, if you are good you are good and people will know it and recognise it, trust me, you can’t lie or bluff with music.”
*Always
carry a pen and pad so that you can write down anything you hear that
might be
helpful to you.
*Get support from whoever you can.
*Be open minded and listen to all types of music and listen
everywhere - like bars, clubs, radio, films, adverts, music
from people’s
homes and cars, your mates compilations, your dad’s tunes, anywhere!!
*A
love for music!
*To enjoy seeing people having a good time.
*To really want to, not just because your mate is or you think it’s
cool!
*To be brave and try new things, experiment with music.
*Most of all you need determination!!
Clez says….“ If you LOVE it, go for it, bring your passion out on the decks and you’ll get people on your dance floor no problem! When love, courage and honesty are there, everything else fizzles out, people can’t resist that. Have a laugh, play your music and fall in love with it!”
by Alisha Buckle