Curator Spotlight: Manami

Manami is a Bristol-based DJ, producer and live artist. Known for her high-energy sets and genre-blending productions, she’s also a tutor with Saffron Records, supporting women, trans and non-binary DJs. For this Joyride Mix Series, she’s spotlighting three artists from the ESEA community.

Hey Manami! <3

You’ve chosen to select 3 artists from the ESEA community to be featured in the Joyride mix series. Can you tell us why you chose these 3 particular djs?

Hi! <3 Thank you so much for having me on series. Been so amazing to choose 3 artists for this. I wanted to spotlight some of the ESEA artists that I've come across, whether it’s been in the UK or in E/SE Asia.

Hitomi I met at my friend’s party, Orientate. She was opening and we got chatting outside after her set. She’s also Japanese, and also similarly emigrated to Europe when she was younger (need to fact check this, have messaged her). There’s that instant understanding, being from a 1st generation immigrant family, and the issues that have been faced growing up personally, to your family, questions on identity and belonging. So it was particularly exciting to meet!

I met Pinki in Chengdu when I played Tag. He looked after me extremely well during my stay. We got chatting about his experiences as a queer person in Chengdu, his community around him, how and why he started DJ’ing and running parties at Tag, and his ambition to platform up and coming DJ’s in the area. He’s really pushing for what he believes in, within a very different climate to here in terms of attitudes, perceptions, and general laws. Super inspiring and things we absolutely love to see!

I didn’t actually meet Luxixi in person but I saw her play at the closing of Dada Bar in Beijing. Really loved her set. All the flavours that I love. And the venue was booting off. I reached out to her afterwards so we’d chatted a bit since. So excited to hear what she’s prepared for the mix - as with all of the mixes!

You recently did a tour of East Asia; how would you describe the nightlife in the different cities you played?

One of the things I love about touring is seeing the different dance communities around the world, and seeing how their love for the music manifests within each culture. It looks a bit different between each country but the essence and passion remains the same.

Most recently I did a bunch of shows in China. I love the fact that each club really feels like it’s providing the punters with an experience. The people who run the club want to show you a good time. For example, all of the clubs have a bespoke drinks menu. Some of them have nice bars attached as part of the club, nice places to sit, sometimes a place to eat and of course a well built sound system, nicely designed booth. The type of care and attention that goes to various parts of the clubbing experience, it’s a bit different to what I’m used to.

Are there any clubs or parties you’d recommend we visit?

I got to play Heim when it had just opened at the new venue. That place provides such a 360 experience, which makes sense as Heim translates to Home. To be honest, all the places I played on my last tour. Shoutout to the old Tag that I got to check out up on the top floors overlooking the skyline of Chengdu; Mihn where the sound is just incredible, the booth is one of the best sounding booths I know, alongside the dancefloor of course. West Harlem in Kyoto is fab. Such an amazing crew of people that clearly just really love tunes. There’s particularly a growing community of UK bass heads there which I love.

You’re also a member of Saffron Records as a tutor for emerging DJs. What made you want to be a part of this?

Part of the reason why I love DJ’ing is the fact that anyone can do it. Anyone can pick it up and experience the same joy of playing and sharing music that you love, whatever genre that may be. DJ’ing brings me that same joy, and I love being able to share that when performing, but also facilitating it when teaching. Everyone should be able to experience that joy, not just for certain demographics which is why I’ve always been particularly passionate about teaching women, trans and non-binary people. It’s not a level playing field in electronic music, similarly to anywhere else, and it was even less so when I first started out.

Having my own experiences of learning to DJ in such a cis male dominated environment, I’ve always felt strongly to create an environment which isn’t like that. Being in such environments and just in the general world that we are brought up in, brings about insecurities and doubts which manifest into obstacles in learning and achieving. Just seeing people grow in confidence, and to bridge that gap between wanting to learn, to seeing them connect with the music, it really makes me so happy, and I’m so proud to be a part of the team at Saffron who have been growing that same ethos in various cities around the UK.

Are there any artists—past or present—who inspired you on your own journey?

I’ve spoken about HAAi in interviews I’ve done in the past, she platformed me and countless others from marginalised groups through the that they have. Another person that has always carried this energy of ‘there’s space for everyone’ is Lala. I think it’s so inspiring to see successful artists that properly look outwards to other people, those that have a real desire to platform others and marginalised people.

You’ve started to delve into the world of live sets. Can you give us a glimpse of what might be coming next…?

The first show was such a great test to see what felt right during the set. I’ve recently started working on my next two set of live shows this summer at Iota in France and Waterworks. I’m exploring those elements that felt right and seeing how I could develop that even further, to ultimately create a more impactful and cohesive set. That’s meant writing more music, and I’ve really enjoyed going about it from that angle. So lots more new music to share in the live set, with a run of shows TBA for the upcoming club season.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

I finally have new music coming out, from next month through to the end of the year. Production is always a bit of a constant battle for me on a personal front, the self doubt is super real there, but I’m super excited to be in a place where I feel confident enough to release my next bunch of music again.