Female DJs have their say

Traditionally dance music DJs have been men. Traditionally DJs for all music types have been men. Women DJs have been around for years, of course. They have just kept a lower profile than their male contemporaries, remaining on the underground dance scene. It is unknown whether this was by choice or by circumstance. Now, however, the women are ascending and taking their long deserved place beside men in the nightclubs and at the dance parties of the world.

Four of the most successful female DJs in Europe are part of the first DJ-collective in Berlin. The collective is called Femmes with Fatal Breaks and they began in March of ’99. The members come and go as they choose what directions they would like to take their careers in, but they never have any trouble finding talented and dedicated women to fill the gaps. The current members are DJ T-ina, DJ Christine Lang, DJ Spoke, and MC Quio.

In addition to being famous for their vinyl sets that range in style from drum & bass to grime, they also include live vocals by T-ina and rap-ragga-jungle lyrics from Quio. The four members also bring their own established fan bases from their distinguished careers as solo artists.

DJ T-ina has been in the industry for nearly ten years. She came across her style by cutting and mixing the components of diverse electronic beats into an exciting break beat. She doesn’t do drum & bass but has dabbled in most other styles of urban dance music including House, Techno, Swing Jazz, Hip Hop and Ragga. T-ina’s eclectic taste in music and art led to her staging her own events, which attracted large and diverse crowds. She has also established her own record label called NEID, and is well on her way to becoming a dominant force in the dance music industry.

DJ Christine Lang was one of the pioneering women in Germany’s Drum & Bass scene. She began in ’93 and honed her skills by playing to 2000 people every Saturday in one of Bremen’s nightclubs. In ’96 she moved to Berlin where she made a name for herself playing at all the famous clubs and festivals. She started touring abroad, and as she toured her music style grew increasingly rougher. Eventually she began including heavy bass styles such as ukgarage and dubstep in her sets. In ’05 she began working in film and produced Quio’s music video for her song “So Dazed”.

Quio is also know as MC Looney Tunes; one can only assume that she thought it was a good name at the time. She started her music career as a DJ in Bremen and later moved to Berlin where she started a band and became a singer. In ’97 The Berlin Drum & Bass club started the women-party-collective, G-Point and Quio became the Drum & Bass MC. Now her style has extended to include Hip Hop, 2Step, Garage and Grime.

DJ Spoke has only been DJ-ing since 2003. She started with a Hip Hop style and joined the BeatFreaks in Berlin. Together they organised female open mic nights, concerts, workshops and a regular party series. That same year she moved to the UK where her style became more drum & bass orientated. While she was in London she worked with DJ Sexyrubbersole and organised several underground parties with special guests like MC Chickaboo and Miss Pink. It was in London that she also incorporated 2Step, Garage and Dubstep into her set style. DJ Spoke is also focusing more on producing her own tracks; as she wants more artistic control over her own work.

Female DJs are indeed becoming powerhouses in the dance music industry, especially in Europe where the dance music scene is more popular than anywhere else. An encouraging aspect of these rising stars is that they haven’t forgotten how difficult it was to break into the DJ-ing world. They do their best to help other aspirant female DJs reach their dreams and that makes them true role models.

Recommended site:

http://www.femmes-breaks.com/

Sandra wrote this article for the online marketers Dance Music News dance music news one of the leading suppliers of dance music news on the net