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From hosting her own master classes in Namibia to taking her knowledge to the rest of Africa, she is on a roll.
One of Namibia's pioneer female DJs has been selected by the British Council to be a mentor facilitator DJ in an initiative that is meant to empower females in the African DJ industry. The Afroberries founder, DJ Alba, whose area of expertise lies in dance music has been passing on her knowledge to eight aspiring DJs in her master classes. Her topics included branding, marketing, safety for female DJs and how to bury stereotypes.
“People believe that all female DJs are tomboys, they should have crazy hair. I mean not everyone is like that… each has their personality but we have the love for music and the art of DJ'ing in common. Someone came to me once and said 'you look so decent, you don't look like a DJ' and I was like, but how do DJs look though? So there is definitely this connotation attached to DJs in general,” she said.
Alba had a humble start in the music industry as a DJ, not knowing much about the industry or what it required her to do. It all started when she got her first laptop and she 'stole' DJ software from a friend's computer, because she didn't want to answer questions about what she was doing with DJ software on her computer as a female.
After playing around on her laptop for months, Alba then went on to do live mixes with one of her friends who was working at Unam Radio at the time. She entered that space as a co-host of the evening show that her friend was hosting every Saturday.
The project is in partnership with Modzi Arts, a non-profit organisation that focuses on promoting the arts.
Alba is currently the only Namibian and the aim of the project is for the attendees to maintain and utilise all the connections they have made thus far.
June Shimuoshili
“People believe that all female DJs are tomboys, they should have crazy hair. I mean not everyone is like that… each has their personality but we have the love for music and the art of DJ'ing in common. Someone came to me once and said 'you look so decent, you don't look like a DJ' and I was like, but how do DJs look though? So there is definitely this connotation attached to DJs in general,” she said.
Alba had a humble start in the music industry as a DJ, not knowing much about the industry or what it required her to do. It all started when she got her first laptop and she 'stole' DJ software from a friend's computer, because she didn't want to answer questions about what she was doing with DJ software on her computer as a female.
After playing around on her laptop for months, Alba then went on to do live mixes with one of her friends who was working at Unam Radio at the time. She entered that space as a co-host of the evening show that her friend was hosting every Saturday.
The project is in partnership with Modzi Arts, a non-profit organisation that focuses on promoting the arts.
Alba is currently the only Namibian and the aim of the project is for the attendees to maintain and utilise all the connections they have made thus far.
June Shimuoshili
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Namibian Sun
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