In Argentina they know how to combine their skills and work together to put out one big creative fist. I think we honestly say that during the past year all the good stuff music wise came from Argentina. It felt like a sonic ocean breeze accessorized with excellent artwork and uplifting spirits. A while ago we had the pleasure to get in contact with Alta Joya, an flashy creative lady from Buenos Aires who's making the most out of life. We asked her to put a mix together for the upcoming second edition of our mixtape serie and answer a couple of questions in the process.
"The good point of working in a team is sharing different points of views which coexist with your own thoughts"
Who is Alta Joya?
Haha, it's me! I acquired that name a couple months ago. 'Joya Disco’ it's a club near home I pass by every night when I go out. It's a kitsch place with weird neon lights on the entrance. The funny logo makes me laugh but somehow I have the feeling I’d get freaked out if I go inside, as if some dark bizarre vibes would haunt me. (…and I do have that feeling quite often).
Do you feel you have to work twice as hard being a female artist in a mainly testosterone dominated music scene?
On the one hand I can get advantage of it. There are just a few females in the business so it's easier to stand out from the rest.
On the other hand I found out it's way more difficult than I previously thought. Being a member of the on-line community 'Female Pressure’ made me realize it's not just a matter of working twice as hard as men. The problem is that some electronic music festivals don’t give female DJ's an outlet for performance and a lot of the advertising from musical events generate sexism. (It's very interesting the way the members of the community mentioned above created the FP's blog, there's a lot of useful information about that subject.
Finally, in my humble opinion, I don’t consider my job as a hard work cause I don’t do it for a living. My aim is not being a famous DJ but having fun doing what I love to do.
Comming from Buenos Aires where Cumbia is huge right now, how did you get familiar with genres like Baltimore Club and such?
Hmmm…let's say I’ve always tried to be surrounded by people whom I could always learn from. Obviously you can learn something new from anyone but in the music scene it is good to get together with good DJ's and absorb their knowledge and skills. It's a quick and easy way to receive all the music that has also passed thru them, you know what I mean. I discovered the Baltimore Club thru DJ GONE and as for other genres I love like Fidget, Midget, Wobble, Dubstep, Grime, etc… I think I’ve known of them partly thanks to the guys from MUGRE.
Next to remixing music and being a DJ you also run the Cooliado blog, can you tell us something more on that?
Cooliado is like a son to me. It has everything from me but has found its own path. I work together with 3 more persons: Efrita, Mono Azul and Fac. Each of us has different tasks and not all the crew members make posts. The good point of working in a team is sharing different points of views which coexist with your own thoughts. For example, I’m not involved in the web designing tasks but I give my opinion when the blog need some changes. I also feel it like a son because I don’t know where it will go and I don’t have an absolut control over it but I know it'll keep growing and I'll be helping in the process.
Cooliado was born in a summer's night right from (dunno exactly how) an idea which months later turned out into a blog and also into a celebration some time later. My motto (and the key for that blog) is to share what I like, it's something I usually do in my daily life and I wanted to make it 'massive’ along with my friends.
If we'd like to trade something for an exclusive track, what should the CFYE delivery man bring to your door?
Uhmmm….tons of chocolate and a certain person covered with that chocolate, hahaha!
You seem to put much effort in your art work, is that something you do yourself?
No, I don’t. Some of my friends do that for me. I’m not only surrounded by awesome DJ's but also with good designers! Haha. Rodier Kidmann did the artwork for my last mix ( -> download ALTA JOYA - Cumbianture Time!), I’m very fortunate!
If you could fill a swimming pool with something, what would it be?
Cream.
What can we expect from you in the future?
Don’t expect anything at all, it's better to get surprised than to get disappointed. =)
