Times Of Swaziland: CREATIVES EMPOWERED AT DANCE MUSIC INDUSTRY WORKSHOP

CREATIVES EMPOWERED AT DANCE MUSIC INDUSTRY WORKSHOP
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Mxolisi Dlamini on 14/10/2024 13:47:00


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.