Rachel ChanSay yeeeeeah, for those of you who remember rocking out to a female DJ. Well, the crowd at the Wine Bar at Zouk got to do that with not just 1 but 12 women behind the deck on Oct 27.
These were freshly minted from the FFF Girl DJ Bootcamp, a month-long programme to hothouse women. Founded in 2008, it’s the brainchild of top local DJs Cherry Chan, Debbie Chia, Natalie Tan (a.k.a Pixiedub) and latest addition, graphic designer Pamm Hong.
Photo credits to FFF Girl DJ Bootcamp’s tumblr.
In fact, this year’s boot camp saw 12 instead of the usual 10 participants due to the overwhelming response from 80 applicants. How’s that for turning the (turn)tables on this male-dominated business?
Local DJ maestros like the lady-of-many-talents Ginette Chittick, duo Cosa Nostra, and turntable connoisseur KoFlow were among some of the guest lecturers roped in over the 4 weeks. The girls also got to meet international acts such as French techno whiz Jennifer Cardini, and British dubstep deliverer Ikonika, who dropped in during their last boot camp session.
SYNDICATE resident and Red Bull Music Academy graduate Cherry Chan felt it was important for the girls to learn not only about the technical aspects of DJing, but also the “electronic music eco-system as well”.
She added, “They get a sense of what’s truly going on in the international and local music scene beyond what they can find in magazines and websites. It all affects each other, and we want them to learn from the best which, of course, would include our locally based musicians and DJs with their valuable touring and local gigging experiences.”
With bottles of Heineken in hand, the crowd that included friends, fans and veterans from the industry itself like Jean Reiki and Rafi Dean, gathered at 7pm to watch the girls take over the decks.
The 1st FFF kitty, Kiyoko Mori, kicked off the showcase with remixes of popular indie pop songs from artistes like Two Door Cinema Club and Oh Land. But what really got the crowd grooving was one of the best dance songs in the world, “Music Sounds Better With You” by Stardust.
While Kiyoko was focused on getting her first live DJ set right, the other 11 girls were out on the dance floor busting a move and cheering her on.
Playing a chromatic spectrum of electronic, techno, house, dubstep and even Latin music, the 12 girls definitely kept the groove going, dishing out sonic beats for half an hour each. One would never have guessed that just 4 weeks ago, these girls were absolute DJ ‘noobs’ (newbies, in layman’s terms).
The crowd really got into it when crowd-pleaser, Rachelle (BAY+B), took over the decks with some disco funk that made you wish you could break out into a funky guitar dance.
Lavinia, also known as DJ Ghurl for the night, felt that it was good that all the FFF girls had diverse styles and taste in music as it could inspire one another to experiment and incorporate a range of influences in their mixes.
Opening with the underground sound of electronic artist Scuba, Soft Serve S built up the pace of her house set, layering deeper hypnotic grooves with funkier upbeat ones like Jamie XX’s “Far Nearer”.
The FFF felines had obviously bonded well over the 4 Bootcamp sessions. They were extremely supportive of one another’s sets, taking the opportunity to show off their dancing moves as well.
Natasha obviously knew the value of making an impression on the audience: Play something unpredictable. She managed to get the crowd’s attention by weaving in the famous viral internet phenomenon, the Nyan cat (a.k.a Pop Tart cat) tune, into her set.
If you closed your eyes while listening to Lady of the Sistrum’s Berlin tech-house mixes, you’d think you were at Germany’s Love Parade or an underground rave with strobe lights flashing everywhere. Sporting a short pixie haircut, she could easily be mistaken for Elly Jackson, one half of electropop duo La Roux, or Polish model, Anja Rubik.
Fiona FFINN’s electro remixes of chart-topping hits like “Save The World” by Swedish House Mafia and LMFAO’s latest release, “Sexy and I Know It” got show-goers up on their feet bopping their heads or singing along.
Photos courtesy of Rachel Chan.
DJ Ghurl and REN sent the audience into a salsa frenzy with their insanely rhythmic Latin and funk music. Spinning songs by Ricky Martin and even Jamiroquai’s big 90s hit “Cosmic Girl”, they made everyone feel like doing a samba. REN took it up a notch, meshing breakbeats into her set.
Wrapping up the graduation bash was Saigon Kat with some dubstep. Her set was full of heart-bursting bass lines that were in danger of making one go into a cardiac arrest.
All in all, the FFF Girl DJ Bootcamp 2011 girls put on a fabulous show that night, and their infectious enthusiasm for music was impressive. Tifen, one of the “cheerleaders” there that night, enthused, “Honestly, if you were just walking past Wine Bar and had no idea that this event was going on, you would’ve thought these girls were real DJs. They look the part and they’ve definitely got the skills. The crowd was really into it. I was expecting it to be a chill sitting-down-on-the-couch affair but most of the people there were dancing along. Kudos to the girls!”
They have the organisers to thank for paving their way into the world of DJing – with the guidance of veteran industry players, the support of a bangin’ venue in the local club scene and energy levels were boosted by cupcakes and giggles… Girls just wanna have fuh-unnn!
Look out for the next FFF Girl DJ Bootcamp that will be happening around the same time next year!