This blog post is part of a series of student reflections on the Gender Amplified Music Festival from September 2013.
Titled “Turtablism 101” the Gender Amplified program, this workshop at last month’s day-long music festival filled quickly. DJ Reborn, a versatile artist who has spun for the likes of Lauryn Hill, Common, and The Roots, used her equally impressive background as an educator to engage nearly every participant in the session. Introducing herself, she explained that as a child, music represented for her a means of escape, and she soon became drawn to its powerful capacity to change the energy among a crowd of people. “I’m like a sonic practitioner,” she stated in a tone serious enough to reveal the dedication with which she approaches her work. The fact of being a woman in the male-dominated field of DJing only motivated DJ Reborn to pursue her craft more strictly; when she moved to New York, she explained, she began to work at DJing with the same systematic rigor as a worker in a nine-to-five job.
Before asking participants to introduce themselves, DJ Reborn concluded, “I was a really shy person, and DJing is a way for me to communicate without saying anything.” As a black woman, she said, she feels her music selections are doubly significant. Making conscious choices about which songs to include in a set and which to leave out, she remains creative throughout this process. She offered an example: if the lyrics of a song are misogynistic but the track is otherwise appealing, DJ Reborn will use the instrumental version.
This aspect of the discussion seemed to resonate well with the participants in the room, many of whom were young women of color. Some individuals who hailed from Black Girls Rock had already learned the basics of DJing and others sought to connect with more female DJs. DJ Reborn facilitated that process in a hands-on manner by inviting everyone to take turns DJing behind the booth at the front of the room. After a group-wide pledge in which everyone raised their dominant hand and repeated in unison, “I do solemnly swear to be the best DJ that I can be…until 1 o’clock or however long this session is,” participants filed to the front. One after another, they stated their DJ name–if they had chosen one–and, after selecting a song, tentatively scratched the standard four beats per measure before releasing the vinyl record with the help of DJ Reborn.
Speaking to the larger theme of the music festival, Reborn addressed some of the gender dynamics at play in the music industry. She also shared her belief that unlike men, who tend to spin for their own enjoyment, women DJs can better intuitively read a crowd. Succinctly, she imparted sound advice to the workshop attendees: “Don’t just play the hits.”Here is a recap of the Gender Amplified Music Festival:
Emilie Segura is a senior at Barnard majoring in sociology and is a BCRW Research Assistant.Related: