CREATIVES EMPOWERED AT DANCE MUSIC INDUSTRY WORKSHOP

MBABANE – Creatives walked away with vast knowledge at the Dance Music Industry (DMI) workshop, which was hosted yesterday at The George Hotel in Manzini.

The workshop was organised by the German Embassy based in Pretoria and it featured legendary industry players such as DJ Christos, Julian Gomes,!Sooks and Ralf GUM, who shared their knowledge about the industry with local creatives. Some of the topics that were covered during the workshop include regulation of the industry, music production, DJ masterclass, globetrotting and songwriting. Local award-winning musician, !Sooks, unpacked the music production, especially Deep House, which is a genre that he specialises in. He demonstrated his expertise using the famous music production software known as Fruity Loops.

He advised musicians about the process of music production citing it is aligned with creativity. “Music production is a process which needs creativity. It is important to feel what you doing, if you do not feel it it’s possible that other people may not feel it,” he said. He further revealed how musicians can come up with new sounds when creating music, citing important tools which they can use on the software. “Delays are one of the keys that can channel music produce to produce unique sounds. It is also wise to look for keys from the Jazz genre, which will also give you unique kicks. There are also organic House keys that can really help when it comes to music production,” he said.

He also shared the inspiration behind his sound, which has captured the likes of Deep House mogul Atjazz from the United Kingdom (UK) and Kid Fonque. “My music is mostly inspired by feelings. For example, when I had a nasty break up I tend to produce something emotional and dark. If I am happy, I also get to produce something mellow and nice,” he said.

Emphasis

Julian Gomes presented about globetrotting, which is defined as the act of travelling to a lot of countries. He made emphasis that this is an important task for the musician, as it enables them to network and grow their fan base across the world. However, he also shared the disadvantages of globetrotting citing it is a demanding exercise. “Touring is tiresome, when one decides to do it they have to look out for their bodies and eat healthy,” he said. Ralf Gum who recently visited the kingdom this year as he was booked at iF’s Lounge Restaurant and Bar alongside Vinny Da Vinci, also shared some words of wisdom to musicians citing they should avoid taking too much alcohol. “I have seen a lot of young musicians taking too much alcohol and drugs. I would like to caution them to avoid that because it’s not healthy for them and it affects their image,” he said.

Spinner

DJs were not left behind as local talented spinner Expo shared a chair with Pretoria-based DJ Shay and discussed challenges faced by female DJs in the industry. They shared that female DJs tend to be put under a lot of pressure and this calls for them to work harder and always give something fresh when performing. They also shared they  are usually slotted early in show programmes, which makes it hard for their talent to be fairly recognised as there are usually fewer patrons available during the early hours of a show. The workshop turned out to be successful, as creatives attended in numbers. The discussions were moderated by talented MC Bello Nkosi, who also allowed creatives to pose questions after each discussion.

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