This Friday 6/19, I’m headed to Detroit, Michigan to deejay the Allied Media Conference Azucar party, headed by DJ Izla  and to head a workshop on Digital Music, Identity, and Place to really delve into all of the nerdy theory and thought we put behind all of our dj sets and productions.

If you are around in Detroit for the conference, don’t miss Ivette Ale and my workshop on Saturday 6/20 9am – 10:30! Or follow the conversation on twitter with hashtag #Migritudes #AMC2015 

AMC 2015 Workshop: Migrations: Digital Music, Identity, and Place

Track: Creative Placekeeping through Sound

Where: Allied Media Conference State Hall: Room 219

In Shailja Patel‘s spoken word piece and book “Migritude”, she writes of “a generation of migrants who don’t feel the need to be silent to protect themselves” (Migritude, Kaya Press, 2010). Using her concept as a starting point, we will speak about how digital music breaks silence by equipping a generation of migrants with a dynamic global platform. We will discuss the roots of popular sounds and examine how they relate to mass globalization by exploring the intersections of music, identity and migration as related to technology. Participants will leave better informed for their event production, music making, and engagement with cultural practices.
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In this discussion we will explore the intersections of music, identity and migration as they relate to technology, with a primary focus on queer people and people of color.

We will discuss digital music as a form of cultural retention, exchange and resistance and how technology creates space for new iterations of traditional and native sounds. We will collectively identify the roots of loops and beats in popular music and examine the appropriation and exchange of those sounds as they relate to colonialism and mass globalization.

Participants will learn how to identify a variety of global genres and their significance to the communities they represent. The goal is to engage participants in these music/migration histories in order to better inform their event production, music making, and engagement with cultural practices.
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Presenters:

Ivette Ale is a Mexican-Cuban events producer raised in LA. She is the co-founder of Azucar, NYC’’s premiere queer bass party. She djs as IZLA and her current project – JAK + JANYCE – is a collab with #TROPIKVNT partner SKYSHAKER blending ballroom vogue, Tropical Bass, Pow Wow and vocaloid for the club.

Thanu Y. is an activist and dj. She hails from Sri Lanka via Thailand, and lives in Brooklyn. By day, she’s a media/policy expert for an immigrant rights advocacy organization. By night, she djs as Ushka, known for her genre-blending style. Her interest in immigration connects to her activism, politics, and music.