Next up for Dutty Artz February Mixtape Mondays is the one and only Thanu, or DJ Ushka of iBomba fame.

Thanu has been part of Dutty Artz for almost a year now, and came on to help bolster our efforts in community organizing and social justice efforts. Along the way we launched the inaugural Beyond The Block festival in Sunset Park last September. However, at our Change The Mood fundraising party at Glasslands in August, we all found out how wicked of a DJ Thanu was. So, with a little coaxing we got her to put together a mix for us. Here’s what she has to say about it:

I sort of see my process as a mix of hard hitting bass for the dancefloor meets good tunes meets some sort of politiking. The songs I start and end with have immigration themes – Lido Pimienta sings of la migra and Copia Doble Sistema remix a Sonido Guay tune of a person leaving their lover to migrate north. with shout outs to women of color (africana/los rakas), #idlenomore (tribe called red’s song in solidarity with Chief Theresa Spence), Ana Tijoux’s Shock in support of Chile’s student protest movement,  zuzuka poderosa’s pisicodelia with it’s themes of anti-violence. The mix weaves through latin, hip hop, electric powwow, samba, bhangra, african (kuduro, azonto, nigerian), soca bass.

What I like most about this mix is that Thanu helps us refocus on what’s really important in all the genre blending and transnational identification happening in music scenes around the world. Just as people are experiencing new ways to participate in global culture via the Internet, they are having to face similar struggles in the wake of neoliberalist policies and free market global capitalism. The Internet may allow us to blur boundaries between genres, but borders both physical and social continue effect people in very concrete ways. It seems that in the Internet mediated musical landscape, whenever someone uses signifiers like Global, Ghetto, Transnational, or Tropical, they rarely acknowledge these issues, let alone attempt to address them. Working with Thanu over the past year on various projects, I’ve come to know that she is able to bring such issues to the fore so effortlessly in her music, because her life experience is reflected in her mixing. And as I listen to Foreign Brown, I am reminded somewhere between Ottawa and Santiago that there’s definitely more going on than just Bass.

You can catch Ushka with iBomba partner DJ Beto,  at Bembe tonight at 10pm and every second Monday of the month. Tonight’s iBomba guests are Rizzla and D’Hana

Ushka  / Foreign Brown tracklist:

Yuh Dun Know – Diana King ft. GunJan (Rude Gyal mix) intro
Fire Eyes ft. Lido Pimienta & Javier Alerta – Acido Azteca
Mami Moh (Chief Boima Dub)
Bayalibuza – Thornato remix
Africana – Los Rakas
Moner Alo – Brooklyn Shanti ft. Anoura
Jatt Pagal Karte ft. Jeeti – Lehmber Hussainpuri
Siempre Mas Pesa’o feat. Boogat & Madhi – Poirier
É da Nossa Cor feat. Mestre Camaleão (Sabo Remix) – Maga Bo
Let Me Love You (DJ Gregory Remix) – Bunny Mack
Oliver- D’Banj
Bum Bum -Timaya
Puto Prata Feat Bodytalk – Daniel Santos bootleg
Move to da Gyal Dem – Donae O Ft. Sarkodie
Sokode – Keche
Work – Lil Rick
Funketa (Douster remix) – Isa GT
Percolater – Cajmere
Ca Ca Ye (2melo & Thornato remix)
The Road- Tribe Called Red
Pisicodelia (Nego Mozambique Remix) – Zuzuka Poderosa & Kush Arora
Shock (Captain Planet remix) – Ana Tijoux
Galope feat. Robertinho Barreto- Maga Bo
Cape Verdeans in Paris – Chief Boima
Bad Girls (Milangeles remix) – M.I.A.
Fisketorvet Riddim (Milangeles remix) – Copia Doble Sistema
Oye Mi Negra (Copia Doble Sistema remix) – Sonido Guay