[Interview] Women Rule The Music – Ela & Pulsatilla
* Pour lire la version française de cette entrevue cliquez ICI!
Chez Kito Kat‘s fifteenth anniversary celebrations continue with our second and final interview as part of the Women Rule The Music series. This time, we had the chance to chat with Ela and Lisa Pulsatilla who both contributed to the project with some captivating recordings! Producer and DJ originally from Argentina and now based in Brussels, Ela unveils an energetic mix that navigates around the electronic music genres. On the other hand, Pulsatilla offer a fascinating live recording performed in company of Alicia Hush and Ellxandra, nearly two hours of haunting music!
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First, I was wondering what motivated you to answer positively to Salima’s call to participate in Chez Kito Kat fifteen years anniversary and more precisely to the Women Rule The Music podcast series?
Ela: 15 years of existence for an independent label is already a huge reason to support, but have you seen the title of the series? A very nice approach to celebrate music! It’s not every day that opportunities like this present themselves to generate this kind of exchange between women from all over the world and in addition are also dedicated to different styles of music. It is sure that CKK is a team and that there is not only Salima, the President-Founder; but it is precisely that team who decided to celebrate this anniversary by recognizing and highlighting the female contribution to the project and to culture in general, and that, it inevitably touched me.
Pulsatilla: I fully support the initiative by Salima and all involved artists to bring more visibility to female-identified and non-binary/trans musicians and DJ’s! As the FACT reports over the past few years have shown, female-identified and non-binary/trans artists are still underrepresented in most major music festivals and only through collaboration and creating nourishing, open, accessible safe spaces can we provide an environment for all artists to come together and flourish. I think this podcast series provides a place, a building block for that and I am thankful to contribute.
The issue of women/non-binary/trans person underrepresentation in the music world has taken more place in the public space in the last few years with numerous initiatives aimed at diversifying the scene and the festivals line-ups. How do you feel about the orchestration of this change and do you see a real sincerity behind the different actions that are taken? In your opinion, is there an approach that could be more organic and truly felt?
Ela: I’m always happy to see people in general take a position on this subject, and I am really sensitive to the fact that, obviously, there are old social dynamics that still exist… Sometimes, for example, I hear people that suggest that it is « a trend » to give more attention to women, non-binary, trans people or even feminism. For me, this is the vision of a society that still consider our visibility as a threat… and that is not moving forward.
I cannot judge if the current cultural initiatives are sincere or not, but I can support the fact that there are spaces and people who are raising awareness, and whatever their status, take position and contribute to make the scene more diversified. Women have always made music, art, but for some reason there are still people who will judge or belittle our performance (often, the appearance, status or personal history will take on more importance than the creative content). The social requirement is very high and perhaps these movements can bring us the general acceptance necessary to stop asking all these questions and finally move toward other horizons.
It seems unbelievable that in 2021 there is still a need to talk about it, but as long as the abuse of power and consumption continues to exist, there will still be awareness to be raised about it. Culture is a wonderful instrument for evolution and I believe that a song, an artist and inspiration can liberate certain physical or mental « prisons ».
Pulsatilla: When I first started looking into the music scene, I got massively discouraged and asked myself continuously if I want to be part of this type of scene. Especially in electronic music, for a long time I felt inappropriate and insecure of claiming my space because of many experiences I had playing in a male-dominated event or festival. Being lectured on how to use a filter, having my volume adjusted during my liveset by someone reaching over my mixer, or not being paid while all guys on the setlist do is just not cool and absolutely enforcing the hierarchies and patriarchal underlinings of the music scene. It took me almost 2 years to really find the space I want to create and perform in. This was not until I organized my own events, a monthly open jam in my garden where many of my friends improvised with each other for the first time that I found the space I felt comfortable in to make music with others with a small audience. For me this was the safest, most organic way possible. I still truly believe that we need to make more music together. There just needs to be way more until it floods all other sectors. This can of course happen very small, in a garden for example or large in international collaborations or festivals, but needs to come from the bottom up.
Your mix offers thunderous percussions, an eclectic atmosphere, but also some dark and noisy tracks. Is there something that influenced your selection, what are your main inspirations and what emotions did you want to communicate to the listeners?
What I loved about the call is the fact that it was totally open, so I got carried away with the selection. No pressure, just the music I love, without thinking about appealing to a specific audience. Anyway, I had must-haves like The Subdermic, an artist that I mix often and that perfectly matched the theme!
Overall, I like tribal and well marked percussions, the ones that make you trample and feel the earth closer. I like to break the binary and constant rhythm of techno with broken beats and drastic changes in BPM. Being as much a fan of jazz as of breakcore, I like the idea of not being trapped in a genre, a rhythm or a sound when I mix. I also greatly admire the creativity, research and intensity of experimental music, hence also this noisy side.
You’re originally from Argentina, but you live in Brussels at the moment, having in the process released a track on a Black Teeth Records compilation. I was wondering what the scene in your host city is like and do you have any Belgian artists to recommend to us?
It’s a little complicated to answer that question with the current situation and the culture being completely shutdown, but anyway, there’s always something going on the local scene. It’s nice, for example, to continue to follow Brussels based projects like Activities Records or Night on Earth who never stop creating. And there are also younger labels like Antipattern.Dpt or Black Teeth Records that are producing interesting things. As for the events, Saintklet is also preparing some great projects, let’s hope that all of this will start again now.
You will release two songs on Kito Kat this summer. Do you have any information to tell us about this release that we can’t wait to hear? And what will be happening for Ela in the upcoming months?
Regarding the release of this 2-track mini EP, all I can tell you is that it’s going to be a pretty dark project. We are all coming out of a long, confined winter and this EP was made during that time. I’m super happy, because it will be my first solo release on a label, now, for the rest, it will be up to you to give me your feedback on the release!
Lisa, you produced a mix alongside Alicia Hush and Ellxandra, how did you find the experience of sharing the creation of this podcast with two other artists? Is there something that influenced your selection, what are your main inspirations and what emotions did you want to communicate to the listeners?
Actually, it is not a mix, but a live jam we did one night at my studio. It was the first time for me to jam with Alicia. Ellxandra is my collaborator and jam sister on a constant basis, so we know each other pretty well sound-wise. We thought it would be interesting to just meet up and when we did we just plugged our gear and played for almost 3 hours. Alex was on her laptop, and so was Alicia and I had my walkman with recordings I did on my synth at home and some pedals to jam with. In 3 hours we almost did not talk and the communication through sound was incredibly fluid, easy, playful and magical! In our selection of sounds we paid special attention to textures, melodic progression, and Alex’s amazing voice. We all make different music, but when we meet it all fits and flows into each other.
In May, you’ll receive Salima on Lo Signal, your radio show on CKUT. I was wondering how did the Lo Signal team manage to stay motivated during the pandemic and what does the future hold for the show?
We had a lot of shifts in our collective in the past year, so we have had 2 new members join us recently! Of course not going to the studio makes a big difference. I love mixing live, receiving guests and doing interviews on air. However, we still try to invite as many guests as possible and offer programs that include more niche artists and styles, such as Cantonese, Turkish, and of course German electronic music for example.
You recently took part in the Jeunesse Cosmique in da cosmos? mais oui, where else? compilation released on 4/20, as well as Jonas Fortier’s initiative called SOLIDARITY with UNIST’OT’EN. Both of the songs are absolutely magnificent, can you tell us about the history behind these creations and your state of mind during their production in collaboration with Camelia Andromeda and Franco Bellavita?
My song for in da cosmos? was actually created out of a similar mindset I had for organizing my garden jams. Camelia is an artist I admire but have never made music with before, so I proposed to her to go into the Botanical Garden one sunny afternoon and record an improvisation. Our song Helio Ode, which you can find on the Jeunesse Cosmique compilation is a memory of our intimate afternoon under a big tree in the company of many birds and also helicopters. For Camelia and myself it is a really nice picture of that afternoon.
Franco – with whom I used to host the ambient editions of LoSignal – and I are very interested in sound healing methods and our song Amanita Muscaria was born out of a mutual need or wish to heal. We recorded all sounds from little instruments Franco had collected on his journeys and the melodies come from a tongue drum one of my friends has made from a propane gas tank! We submitted this song out of support and the wish for the Unist’ot’en territory to be freed and healed so they can live on the land how they wish and have been doing for so many years. If you do not know about their struggle with the Coastal GasLink pipeline project and the federal government, please watch their film Invasion and follow them on social media! They are standing strong and need all the support!
Thanks for your time!
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