LaRadioKollektiv Recordings #4
La Radio Kollektiv features Caucus co-founder and member, Alicia. Having been attracted to the music industry at a young age, she hoped to create a place where people would comfortably express their art without having the pressure of being a veteran in the industry. Her set and interview will help you understand her passion for music, and her selection will send good vibrations your way.
CK: What drew you to the music industry?
A: My undying love for electronic music started when I was 17. I remember my first party at Rubik, looking at my friends and thinking “how do you dance to this music?”
After that I was there every week, an underage girl with a different ID everytime, trying to sneak in. Every weekend I’d go someplace different, always looking for new sounds. I used to stay up at night listening to electronic music and trying to create playlists. I always told my friends that I wanted to be a DJ and they always used to make fun of me (spoiler: we are not friends anymore).
I actually have two cousins who are DJs. One has a collective in Paris, and the other is in Canada and headlined his first big festival. My uncle was a DJ himself in the 90s. It’s like a family thing.
What always attracted me to this industry is that it is open to everyone, and I especially believed that after seeing how it gathered people from different backgrounds in the country. Electronic music emerged from the minorities and is universal, people don't differentiate between race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion (even if Lebanon still has a long way to go). The music scene is where I felt accepted and free to be who I always wanted to be.
CK: Caucus Kollektiv defines itself as a multicultural movement, what does that represent for you?
A: I come from a very diverse background. I spent nearly 15 years in France where the culture is very diversifed, my family is multi-religious. Same goes for Celine, she pratically lived all of her life in Jeddah. We both come from a background that is very different from the Lebanese one.
Caucus is based on the values we developed in the places where we grew up that went on to be mixed with the ones we developed here. For me multiculturalist represents, firstly, the people behind this collective, and it also represents the content we create, the events that we make and the music that we do. Like I said in the first question, electronic music is all about this multicultural aspect that is present but overlooked in Lebanon. I’m not basing this on color, race or religion, but more on social background. The club became a place where, without a wasta, what should be a good time turns into a nightmare.
For Caucus, we wanted to build a place where everyone would be treated the same and everyone would feel comfortable, no nepotism, no invasion of privacy, no discrimination.
CK: The music industry attracts a big crowd, has that ever lead you to deal with performance anxiety?
A: Anxiety is something that I have been struggling with since I was very young. I’m getting anxious answering this question! If someone had told me that one day I would be playing in front of people at an event we did I would have laughed at them. Learning how to mix was a challenge for me; fortunately I am surrounded by people that always know how to calm me down. I also have the best mentor, Elias Hraoui, who always gives me constructive feedback and pushes me to be better.
However, perfomance anxiety happens to me all the time, be it in front of people or in my bedroom when I record a set, and it’s not the best feeling to have when you want to be creative.
I remember not a long time ago, Celine and I had a live for Behind The Doors, I got super sick 10 minutes before starting and I couldn't see in front of me. At one moment I wanted to exit the loop mode I started and suddendly the track started all over again. My anxiety makes me think about it ‘till this day.
Being a newbie sometimes makes you hunt for perfection and it is hard to accept that perfection doesn't exist in music, you can learn all the techniques you want but at the end of the day it is what you play that people will remember (watch me giving this advice and never respecting it).
No one shows this side of the industry, you feel like everyone has it together and each time I talked to someone about the fear of doing mistakes they would be like : Who cares just go for it?
When you're starting it’s hard to just “go for it”, we always are our own worst critics.
CK: What do you have to say to women who hope to work in a men-dominated scene?
A: Do NOT let people pit you against each other. Do NOT let the imposter syndrome get to you. If you’re passionate then you're always an added value.
When we started Celine and I, I always had people telling me: Why is she getting more gigs than you? Why do you play in this place and she doesn't? Why does she have this and you have that? Her music is better than yours, and vice versa. Same for other female DJs who started at the same time as we did. People always want to compare women to each other and always have something to say about the music we do, how we dress, how we look.
I had this conversation with a friend not so long ago, I told her that every time I was listening to a track made by a woman in the industry I saw comments that I don't usually see on men’s profiles. For example, people saying that Amelie Lens has a ghost producter, or that Peggy Gou comes from a rich family that's why she was able to become famous. They criticize their faces, their outfits, if they touched this button instead of this one. You don't have to dislike a DJ because she's woman, the most important thing is their music. Who cares if she's wearing pink, a short, if she's smiling or not?
Thankfully, I didn't experience any kind of sexism in the local industry yet, I felt the opposite. Certain people were very welcoming and supportive of me, Celine, and our project. Some people were even excited to see a female founded (and I have to specify not female only) collective and fresh new faces.
CK: One of Caucus Kollektiv’s many mission is to express the voices of local artists, why is that?
A: Because our locals are the most talented obviously! We got tired of seeing the same line-ups with the same non-Lebanese artists while our locals are really hidden gems. We felt that Lebanon lacked a platform for them so that's why we decided to strictly host locals back in August, be it in our events or in the content that we post. Lebanese people are the most passionate and the most inspiring people I have ever met. The music industry is not an exception but the circle is so small because it lacks a platform where locals would be valued. When you start DJing, not everyone welcomes you with open arms, especially the clubs. We wanted Caucus to be a place where the fresh talents can come and be helped, be valued, and can express their art.
CK: Being a member of the most recent generation of artists, what obstacle do you think you face compared to older generations?
A: When the older generations started, the international lines up weren't a big thing in Lebanon, the locals where more valued and respected. Now, being a local can be a bit harder as you're overshadowed by the big names. I know a lot of people who wouldn't go to a party if it was headlined by locals only. They would be like "why would I pay this price to see a Lebanese DJ when the club next door is having an international line up at the same price"?
I think that post-Corona things are going to change, people's mindsets are shifting to be more supportive of the local industries, especially with the crisis we’re facing.
The second obstacle for me is the over-presence of social media. Don’t get me wrong, social media is a great tool and a great pleace for inspiration, but it also becomes a place where we always compare our life to other people’s and the electronic music scene is not an exception.
CK: Like many projects, Caucus Kollektiv was made possible by a team of people, including yourself. How did that work out?
A: With a lot of communication that's for sure.
We have very different tastes and point of views but we always find a way to make it work. Would it be too cheesy if I say we have the best team ever?
We all complete each other and I think that Caucus wouldn't have been the same with other people.
Without Elias for example, Caucus wouldn't even have existed. He is our mentor, our technical expert, our sound engineer. He is the one who helps us execute our crazy ideas (like me waking up and announcing that we have to shoot a video in less than 24 hours). He is the one we always turn to when we want advice or feedback and one of the people I admire the most.
Pamela and Lee are the ones who helped us create our movement, from our logo to our manifesto to the invitations people receive. Without them we wouldn't have a real visual identity.
Celine, when she is not asleep and after making sure she drank her morning coffee, is my number one inspiration in life. She is the one behind our whole strategy. When we had the idea of creating Caucus, she came to me with a crazy PowerPoint and she took our ideas to places I woulnd't have imagined, and she is always here to remind me when we have meetings.
Sometimes, when people see our collective, they don't imagine that we really do have a big team behind us, who believes in the movement we are creating. When our close friends saw all the work that was put behind this project they were amazed by what we were able to create in such short period of time. And none of that would’ve been possible by any other people.
We asked Alicia to share a track with us, and #CaucusKollekts Kawasaki’s “2000 And One”.
