Hop Magazine Dinky Interview
Chilean songstress Dinky joins us this Saturday as Familia return with their Easter celebrations. A protege somewhat of the legendary Ricardo Villalobos, it was another legend in Sven Vath who immediately recognised her talent and
Chilean songstress Dinky joins us this Saturday as Familia return with their Easter celebrations. A protege somewhat of the legendary Ricardo Villalobos, it was another legend in Sven Vath who immediately recognised her talent and signed her to his infamous Cocoon imprint. Since then she has gone on to release on the likes of Crosstown Rebels and Minus, as well as DJing at some of the worlds most respected venues including DC10, Amnesia and Panoramabar.
HOP magazine sat down with her to discuss life as a female DJ and what lies ahead for her...
"For Alejandra Iglesias, “it was actually a little accidental, the DJ thing. It was more like a hobby, I didn’t really know that there was a career out of it”. Ten years later, Dinky boasts the kind of musical experience that some would not achieve in a lifetime. From tapping the keys of the piano, to turning dials on turntables, to strumming the guitar as a self-accompaniment to her refined vocals, Dinky’s melodies have meandered around both the acoustic and electronic.
Rhythm and artistic expression has always been party of Dinky’s life, even if DJing may not have been always been the big dream. When she moved to New York from her home in Santiago, Chile, she was training to be a dancer and choreographer. As she took control of the decks in various bars and clubs, the underground house community welcomed her with open arms, “I was going out a lot. There were some amazing house nights going on, so it was great for me to see and experience.” Her influence? “Of course I liked Ricardo (Villalobos) and a lot of Detroit guys at the time, like Carl Craig”. With the support of house heavyweights lifting her high above the crowds, the spotlight began to shine brighter. Nevertheless, “at the end, everyone chooses their own path. I think it’s healthy to be independent as well”.
And independent she was. After being signed and moving to Berlin, Dinky’s sound began to evolve past the steady loops and kicks of house. “I always wanted to explore and evolve and listen to different things. I wanted to learn to play instruments better and learn how to sing. I think it’s good that if you can sing you use it as a tool for your music; it makes it more unique, it’s your own personal voice. I wanted to develop that”.
2013 saw the release of “Dimension D”, a fusion of Dinky’s newly trained dreamy, atmospheric vocals with a folky drum beat and electric guitar. The track, whilst retaining a certain element of electronic trace, leaves behind the syncopation of a high hat and takes flight into, indeed, another dimension. “I think it is more of an evolution or an extension rather than change,” she explained. Was the stylistic shift difficult to illustrate to those with whom her identity as a house DJ had been established? “I had a really good reception but it takes a while for other circles to recognize it. You don’t leave that circle very easily. But I did have a good reaction from magazines like NME”.
The arrival of a baby boy not long after the release however, changed the key, not only of her music, but of her lifestyle. Touring and performing live was no longer a luxury her health could afford, instead leading her back towards DJing and producing once again. Now, it’s about the openings rather than the closing, “Now that I’m a mum I have more energy before 3am and I want to channel that energy. I start getting tired after, and I don’t like people seeing that!”
Among the expected and understandable adjustments, Dinky’s pregnancy led her to discover some less polished aspects of being in the public eye. Indeed, with the overwhelming recent coverage and debate surrounding the underrepresentation of female DJs and producers, many have deemed the industry sexist. Caroline Polachek claims that there is a bias towards male producers over female ones, because of visual objectification and pressure for girls to look good. Tracy Emin adds, “There are good artists that have children. Of course there are. They are called men”. Dinky recounted her experience as gigs were cancelled due promoters fearing ‘the bump’. “I had a couple of problems in some places, but that wasn’t because I was a woman, but because I was pregnant. I thought that was a bit bad and really discriminating.”
However, putting the baby to bed, so to speak, “I’ve never really had so many problems to be honest. I don’t tell myself that I’m a female DJ as such. Of course there is a difference, we are not the same. It’s a different style, but it shouldn’t be because we are women, it should be the difference in music.” Having apologized for the painfully cliché of topic, and categorically falling in line with the wave of female driven questioning, is it perhaps encouraging for young girls to hear these discussions? “Well when I started there were hardly any girls. You might have seen one occasionally. When I started, 20 years ago, I was very young, and everyone loved it! The difference between now and then is huge”. In fact, “It’s full of them!”.
In truth, whilst many adopt an anarchist attitude to representing the minority, a notable number approach the topic in a way that dismisses the ‘female’ categorisation, essentially wanting to “keep it about the music”. On the flipside, with the momentum gained by the ‘female DJ wave’, do promoters target the ladies of the loop when composing line-ups of with a focus on their gender rather than musical ability? “The people that I work with are open minded and are not judging or booking me because I am girl. Even with my name, people don’t know immediately if I’m a boy or girl.”
Which neatly brings us to Dinky’s forthcoming visit to London this Easter weekend. Standing side by side with three outstanding talents, (all coincidently females!), for Familia’s takeover of the Terrace at Egg, she will be joined by Dana Ruh, Camea and Deborah de Luca. “I really like playing in London. People really like house there and are really good dancers, so I don’t feel the pressure to play hard or too fast. I think people there have great rhythm and it’s had such a multi cultural mixture of people for so many years, that people are really open to different rhythms”. Whilst I may not agree with Dinky on the dancing front, our eclectic London audience can certainly expect to hear some interesting noises from Dinky’s unusual mix of records. This time round there won’t be any live vocals, but with the re-launch of her label Horizontal this year, kicking off with the release a new self produced track, “my husband is mixing it upstairs right now”, who knows which route her evolution will take on next."
Read the original article here
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Familia: La Menagerie Fantastique
Saturday 4th April 2015
Egg London
Lineup: Dinky, Dana Ruh, Camea, Deborah De Luca + more
Tickets: HERE
HOP magazine sat down with her to discuss life as a female DJ and what lies ahead for her...
"For Alejandra Iglesias, “it was actually a little accidental, the DJ thing. It was more like a hobby, I didn’t really know that there was a career out of it”. Ten years later, Dinky boasts the kind of musical experience that some would not achieve in a lifetime. From tapping the keys of the piano, to turning dials on turntables, to strumming the guitar as a self-accompaniment to her refined vocals, Dinky’s melodies have meandered around both the acoustic and electronic.
Rhythm and artistic expression has always been party of Dinky’s life, even if DJing may not have been always been the big dream. When she moved to New York from her home in Santiago, Chile, she was training to be a dancer and choreographer. As she took control of the decks in various bars and clubs, the underground house community welcomed her with open arms, “I was going out a lot. There were some amazing house nights going on, so it was great for me to see and experience.” Her influence? “Of course I liked Ricardo (Villalobos) and a lot of Detroit guys at the time, like Carl Craig”. With the support of house heavyweights lifting her high above the crowds, the spotlight began to shine brighter. Nevertheless, “at the end, everyone chooses their own path. I think it’s healthy to be independent as well”.
And independent she was. After being signed and moving to Berlin, Dinky’s sound began to evolve past the steady loops and kicks of house. “I always wanted to explore and evolve and listen to different things. I wanted to learn to play instruments better and learn how to sing. I think it’s good that if you can sing you use it as a tool for your music; it makes it more unique, it’s your own personal voice. I wanted to develop that”.
2013 saw the release of “Dimension D”, a fusion of Dinky’s newly trained dreamy, atmospheric vocals with a folky drum beat and electric guitar. The track, whilst retaining a certain element of electronic trace, leaves behind the syncopation of a high hat and takes flight into, indeed, another dimension. “I think it is more of an evolution or an extension rather than change,” she explained. Was the stylistic shift difficult to illustrate to those with whom her identity as a house DJ had been established? “I had a really good reception but it takes a while for other circles to recognize it. You don’t leave that circle very easily. But I did have a good reaction from magazines like NME”.
The arrival of a baby boy not long after the release however, changed the key, not only of her music, but of her lifestyle. Touring and performing live was no longer a luxury her health could afford, instead leading her back towards DJing and producing once again. Now, it’s about the openings rather than the closing, “Now that I’m a mum I have more energy before 3am and I want to channel that energy. I start getting tired after, and I don’t like people seeing that!”
Among the expected and understandable adjustments, Dinky’s pregnancy led her to discover some less polished aspects of being in the public eye. Indeed, with the overwhelming recent coverage and debate surrounding the underrepresentation of female DJs and producers, many have deemed the industry sexist. Caroline Polachek claims that there is a bias towards male producers over female ones, because of visual objectification and pressure for girls to look good. Tracy Emin adds, “There are good artists that have children. Of course there are. They are called men”. Dinky recounted her experience as gigs were cancelled due promoters fearing ‘the bump’. “I had a couple of problems in some places, but that wasn’t because I was a woman, but because I was pregnant. I thought that was a bit bad and really discriminating.”
However, putting the baby to bed, so to speak, “I’ve never really had so many problems to be honest. I don’t tell myself that I’m a female DJ as such. Of course there is a difference, we are not the same. It’s a different style, but it shouldn’t be because we are women, it should be the difference in music.” Having apologized for the painfully cliché of topic, and categorically falling in line with the wave of female driven questioning, is it perhaps encouraging for young girls to hear these discussions? “Well when I started there were hardly any girls. You might have seen one occasionally. When I started, 20 years ago, I was very young, and everyone loved it! The difference between now and then is huge”. In fact, “It’s full of them!”.
In truth, whilst many adopt an anarchist attitude to representing the minority, a notable number approach the topic in a way that dismisses the ‘female’ categorisation, essentially wanting to “keep it about the music”. On the flipside, with the momentum gained by the ‘female DJ wave’, do promoters target the ladies of the loop when composing line-ups of with a focus on their gender rather than musical ability? “The people that I work with are open minded and are not judging or booking me because I am girl. Even with my name, people don’t know immediately if I’m a boy or girl.”
Which neatly brings us to Dinky’s forthcoming visit to London this Easter weekend. Standing side by side with three outstanding talents, (all coincidently females!), for Familia’s takeover of the Terrace at Egg, she will be joined by Dana Ruh, Camea and Deborah de Luca. “I really like playing in London. People really like house there and are really good dancers, so I don’t feel the pressure to play hard or too fast. I think people there have great rhythm and it’s had such a multi cultural mixture of people for so many years, that people are really open to different rhythms”. Whilst I may not agree with Dinky on the dancing front, our eclectic London audience can certainly expect to hear some interesting noises from Dinky’s unusual mix of records. This time round there won’t be any live vocals, but with the re-launch of her label Horizontal this year, kicking off with the release a new self produced track, “my husband is mixing it upstairs right now”, who knows which route her evolution will take on next."
Read the original article here
-------------------------------------------------
Familia: La Menagerie Fantastique
Saturday 4th April 2015
Egg London
Lineup: Dinky, Dana Ruh, Camea, Deborah De Luca + more
Tickets: HERE