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Interview with Babe LN, Prague's Jungle Queen
01.11.2001
The playing field for DJs in Prague is no longer totally dominated by male DJs. In the wake of what could be considered a rising tide of girlpower on deck, recently Prague's Radost FX club hosted 'Girls on Decks,' a Saturday night party with young female DJs Mary Love, Nana Blade, and Lucca heralded fans to the dancefloors. Rising stars such as Im Cyber, Lady Love, Katchja, Lillou, Charlie One, Da Babas, Nana Blade, Lucca host regular parties and residencies, while the next generation is still building chops.
Is there a change happening, and are women DJs as accepted as male DJs in Prague? Times are getting better but still the ratio of DJs to DJka's measures uncomfortably high, particularly the further East towards Brno or Bratislava. Stigmas about "women's inability to surmount technical obstacles" still remain in the minds of pinheaded dancefloorites, male or female, for whom commercial images speak more loudly than does the quality of the music.
The point is however that women are getting out there more than ever before and are being accepted more than ever before. But if you ask 1st generation trip hop/house/jungle queen Babe LN, she makes more wise point than I make simple observations. Babe LN is a commonly known DJka name in Prague, perhaps the only female DJ who has been around the scene as long as other established DJs like Liquid A, Bidlo, Braun, Elektromajk. LN performs weekly at Akropolis and otherwise bops around town year-round and at the summer festivals, hitting nearby cities like Bratislava and Vienna and beyond as often as possible. Babe LN's style of DJing is almost tangible; she gets behind the desk, and the aura of someone very much in control takes over, and a warming presence fills the room. She draws you in, and her face holds a constant glow of peacefulness in her mellow, nearly constant smile. Here is a woman who loves the music, thrives on it, and it shows. And fans notice, especially young women for whom such positive role models are essential. Here are a few brief words from Babe LN.
T: When did you start DJing?
B: I started DJ ing in 1993, but there was quite a long way from playing music to getting decks and starting to learn how to mix...seriously I can talk about lets say last 4-5 years. Mainly I buy vinyl at maximum Underground, TSP rec shop and whenever I go somewhere -like Berlin, Wien or London...
T: What's your favorite style, and what are some of your absolutely favorite tracks? What is unique about your sets?
B: There are more styles I really like, like hip hop, dub, breakbeat, d&b...I like certain kind of techno a lot, basicaly whatever I find good energy in. I play jungle and d'n'b mostly. Absolutely favorite tracks from records I play are changing rapidly, but I definitely respect producers like Dom and Roland, Ed Rush, Trace, Optical, Stakka and Skynet, Marcus Intalex and St.Files ...if you mean my favourit music in longer terms-kind of I just like to listen to,it would be probably: Miles Davis, Omni Trio, Biosphere, Leftfield, Morcheeba... It's hard to answer what is unique about my sets. Everyone is trying to tell his own story although thru maybe the same records.
T: How and when did electronic music begin being really popular here, has it been going on even since the 80s or has it been really a thing of the last 10 years or so?
B: Here we have to make clear what is meant by electronic music. I think,it's been here before the electronic dance music. So I reckon people knew bands like Kraftwerk long before the dance music boom started here in 90s.
T: How do you see things currently here, what is positive about the scene in Czech and what is frustrating?
B: People living in a moraly devastated country with economic dificulties, but still trying to do things; that's both frustrating and optimistic. Good is the energy and potential people are puting in. Frustrating is the price of record compared to the average income. Also frustrating is the way that the club scene seems heading towards mega-partys, this makes problems for the survival of small clubs.
T: How much do you go abroad and where?
B: I wish it would be more, but I can't complain. I played several cities in Slovakia, Vienna, Berlin, Hamberg, Dresden, banja Luka, Manchester and Lisbon..
T: Is Prague really competitive or supportive in the DJ scene?
B: I'm surrounded by very supportive people, but you can find someone sailing on his superstar trip everywhere, I guess.
T: Do you feel any difference (good or bad) in this respect being a woman DJ?
B: Definitely, it's been a dogma for so long that we're lesser humans- but it's changing. Good looks might be an easy selling comodity but on the other hand people have started to understand it's maybe not the most important thing just to look good behind the decks. And they've stopped to believing stupid myths like that women can't drive or handle any other things dealing with basic technical knowledge.
T: Have you been involved with any video or films?
B: Since I graduated at Academy of Fine Arts at new media dept, I have made some.
T: What else do you do and what do you plan for the future with your music?
B: I would like to make a film based on my comix. And I'd like to try and learn to work with my computer and earn enough money to buy things I need to do my music, (quit DJing, ahard one) I'm glad I had the chance to play in radio 1, it's work I really enjoy.
T: Do you have any recordings, and where can we get them?
B: I started to work on some tracks almost 2 years ago, but I never actually finished any of them...Going to studio and depending on someone else's time tought me I need to learn and get the studio myself, so I can work whenewer I feel like and my brain and ears are ready...
More info about Babe LN you can find at www.lighthouse.cz
For more cool info about female DJs, check female-run professional DJ agency East Base, www.eastbase.cz.
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