Technoacts that are not white males

[Root]

hey folks, as i'm involved in a festival that's gonna happen this summer, i'm collecting some ideas concerning the booking for the technofloor. the whole idea of the festival is political and aiming to provide a space where everything is a bit better than in the 'real' world, like having the festival as a safe area with the demand to leave sexism, homphobia, nazis, capitalism, machoism,... outside, as much as possible.
as there is a superiority of white males in the game, it would be nice to have a balanced and diverse booking. i don't think this superiority is real because white males are so much better in doing what we do. Likely it's about social dissemination of power and access to capabilities and social roles. with the festival we want to act as a counterbalance.

so if you've got some ideas, if you know someone who knows someone that is not a white male and that is playing great techno... best in the area of berlin, let me know!

[intrusav]

I don't get this whole "safe area" shit.
I know the idea behind it, but it's not something that you create and control. It's organic. Invite people you know to a house party who are ok and let it grow. You can't start at the scale you are talking about. You're wasting your time trying ..

[intrusav]

Black lesbian bouncers maybe?
Ffs ..

[Lost to the Void]

I dunno man, just book people you like.
Talent and quality of output should come first, otherwise it`s all a bit SJW.
"oh yeah let`s book this dude... oh wait, is he black/asian/a Koala bear.... no? Ah shame, book someone else"
"Oh wait, have we booked an even demographic? Has someone made a pie chart yet, we need to make sure it`s an even spread"
"No.... no, we don`t have enough poor people booked, can someone head down to skid row to see if there are any techno DJ`s living there, and get them booked".


By just not making it an issue and not discriminating in your booking then that is balanced.

[intrusav]

An apple pie chart. Poor people?! No, you don't want poor people, or poor koalas either ..

[intrusav]

They're racialist and will perv on your iguana ..

[Lost to the Void]

Koalas are fucking stoners man. Totally unreliable.

[The_G]

Okay, first, techno has ALWAYS had a lot of non-white DJs/producers. As I'm sure you know, most of the Detroit guys are black. Also lots of black DJs/producers from elsewhere. One guy I absolutely love as a DJ is Steve Rachmad, from the Netherlands.

I'm really encouraged by the cohort of female DJ/producers coming up as well. I don't like them *because* they are female, but rather because they are good. That said, I do love that the former sausage party of techno is becoming less of one. I think it's healthy. Mix shit up as much as possible.

A couple people I'm into right now are Amelie Lens and Peggy Gou.

[RWise]

Yeah this 'safe space' idea is turned into a motive of discrimination its self a lot of the time.

Imagine someone saying the same thing you said but replacing white male with black or female. It would cause uproar and what youre saying is petty discrimination masked by SJW motives if you ask me....

And like The_G said, techno has always been diverse. Dunno where this 'white male' dominance has come from. Some of the biggest pioneers and most respected people in this scene aren't white. Robert hood, Mills, pretty much all the detroit/chicago guys etc... There are a lot of big DJs i like in this scene that aren't white. Like Oscar mulero, Lewis Fautzi, Psyk etc.. All spanish, Portuguese and so on...

Like Voidless said, book who you like based on talent and steer away from booking people solely based on their skin colour or gender.

[juodas]

Why you don't paint your self then, if you can't find anything?
P.s Don't get offended. Sarcasm

[intrusav]

Tons of tones or is it tonnes of tones. Never clicked. The instra. Fuck yeah, lush ..

youtu.be/lkYU5tN04eg

[intrusav]

I heard a rumour...is Steve Rachmad a lesbian koala? Just that someone in the know let it slip. Such a lush piece of moozak. Yuss. Book him! ..

[Prophän]

There are a lot of big DJs i like in this scene that aren't white. Like Oscar mulero, Lewis Fautzi, Psyk etc.. All spanish, Portuguese and so on...

Best joke I heard today

[dubdub]

I dunno man, just book people you like.
Talent and quality of output should come first, otherwise it`s all a bit SJW.
"oh yeah let`s book this dude... oh wait, is he black/asian/a Koala bear.... no? Ah shame, book someone else"
"Oh wait, have we booked an even demographic? Has someone made a pie chart yet, we need to make sure it`s an even spread"
"No.... no, we don`t have enough poor people booked, can someone head down to skid row to see if there are any techno DJ`s living there, and get them booked".

By just not making it an issue and not discriminating in your booking then that is balanced.

I mean, you're not totally wrong but 95% of the time, if the promoter 'doesn't make it an issue' you inevitably end up with an all-male lineup. It's not even active discrimination most of the time, just the fact that there are way more male DJs and a lot of dudes in the industry are buddies and these kind of all-male circles can be hard for woman to break into. The fact of the matter is that there are WAY more women on lineups now that promoters are more into this kind of "positive discrimination". I don't always like it, there's some mediocre DJs getting booked all over the place just because someone needs to fill the women slot but then again there's a bazillion mediocre male DJs that get booked all the time. But it's necessary in the end if we want more women in this music.

If you book purely off talent, you get a lot of all-male lineups which are discouraging for young female DJs/producers, which means the problem won't be solved long term. Positive discrimination booking would ideally cause more woman on lineups, which inspires more women to DJ/produce, which would eradicate the need for positive discrimination in the end and ensure booking off talent that produces diverse lineups without even having to think about it.

That said, some people are definitely taking it too far and obviously just booking a bunch of female DJs without a regard for the music they actually play.

[Prophän]

But yeah like some people said here, I don't think you should really care about this, it's music after all, and facts are facts, there are far more white people making techno music in white countries because techno grew faster and is more appreciated in them, I think it's pretty representative and accurate. And once again, please keep it related to the music in itself and don't get it mixed with racial/ethnical stuff.

[Prophän]

Positive discrimination booking would ideally cause more woman on lineups, which inspires more women to DJ/produce.

Yes but most of them will be producing only because they saw amelie lens/charlotte de witte/nina kraviz so they will probably be making commercial stuff just to fit in, so not sure if we really need more of those.

[RWise]

There are a lot of big DJs i like in this scene that aren't white. Like Oscar mulero, Lewis Fautzi, Psyk etc.. All spanish, Portuguese and so on...

Best joke I heard today

should of probably rephrased that thinking back ... But what i meant is i wouldnt class a Latino as a 'white-male' even though that whole ethnicity talk can be a very thin and sometimes confusing line.

[dubdub]

Positive discrimination booking would ideally cause more woman on lineups, which inspires more women to DJ/produce.

Yes but most of them will be producing only because they saw amelie lens/charlotte de witte/nina kraviz so they will probably be making commercial stuff just to fit in, so not sure if we really need more of those.

Well, most producers start out making commercial stuff, there's always only a through that make it to the underground. And for the love of god, please don't mention Nina Kraviz with those other two. She the's most experimental out of any of the A-list festival names. What other festival headliner puts out 145 bpm weirdo records with russian vocals?

But yeah like some people said here, I don't think you should really care about this, it's music after all, and facts are facts, there are far more white people making techno music in white countries because techno grew faster and is more appreciated in them, I think it's pretty representative and accurate. And once again, please keep it related to the music in itself and don't get it mixed with racial/ethnical stuff.

The idea that you can just seperate techno and racial identity is bizzare. Those early detroit records were all playing with racial identity and questioning, what is blackness, what is whiteness etc. The Belleville guys were all a bunch of black nerds so they didn't really fit in anywhere and dreamt up some kind of fantasy Europe. And then in return the europeans developed a fascination with Detroit and blackness very early.

[chava]

[quote="dubdub"
The idea that you can just seperate techno and racial identity is bizzare. Those early detroit records were all playing with racial identity and questioning, what is blackness, what is whiteness etc. The Belleville guys were all a bunch of black nerds so they didn't really fit in anywhere and dreamt up some kind of fantasy Europe. And then in return the europeans developed a fascination with Detroit and blackness very early.[/quote]

The idea that you can reduce techno or any other cultural production to a question of race or gender is equally bizarre. I know that this is taught at 'critical theory' classes at University, but it is a seriously destructive mode of interpreting the world.
And this 'safe space' idea need to go unless it is actually addressing questioning of physical safety. As in maybe it is a ok idea not to let 10 drunken 'bros' inside a club full of transvestites.

Also people should really question the concept of 'diversity'. I mean a guy like Aphex Twin has probably done more to 'diversify' techno than a full lineup of your safe space festival.

[HowieRis]

Book nice people with good morals who can bring the party. If a decent percentage happen to be non-white then great, who cares... but don't go hunting for random people who are specifically "non white male".

If I was a black DJ and I got an email from you after seeing this thread, I'd most likely think I was being selected based on skin colour rather than merit. Not good.