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Music

Auntie Flo on Autonomous Africa: "Let's Not Create Unnecessary Borders"

The DJ responds to the controversy around a Boiler Room session.
Brian d'Souza (right) with frequent Highlife collaborator Esa (left) 

Yesterday evening, I performed on Boiler Room in Glasgow's Sub Club with Midland, JD Twitch, and General Ludd. We were representing Autonomous Africa—a label headed up by Optimo's JD Twitch. The project is centered around releasing African-inspired dance music and donating the proceeds to African charities.

That Boiler Room session has been criticized for alleged cultural appropriation. Specifically, comments have been circulated about how Autonomous Africa could misrepresent a race or continent of people. I can see how, on first glance, pairing the name "Autonomous Africa" with four white DJs from the UK can be troubling. I'm also mindful of the controversy surrounding Bob Geldof's recent Band Aid single, which has been criticized for its demeaning portrayal of the African continent in its effort to raise funds to fight Ebola. Records like "Do They Know It's Christmas?" remind us of how, in some ways, the West hasn't really moved on from past imperialist attitudes in the name of aid.

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Autonomous Africa by brtvofficial

Yes, the politics of a "charity single" can be fraught. But I have faith that music can be a hugely influential catalyst for social change—in that it can break down boundaries and open minds to other cultures. I also believe that when it comes to music, accusations of appropriation should not be flung around carelessly.

Think about sampling culture—a staple of all forms of music from the past three decades. Everything from hip-hop to house and drum'n'bass could not have been created without sampling. Yet sampling is essentially taking older music and wrapping it into something fresh and new. There's a fine line between appropriation and sampling, but that doesn't mean that one should be confused for the other.

I passionately believe that my role as a DJ and promoter is to bring various styles of music together, and present them to an audience in a way that engages and moves them. A DJ plays a vital role in today's world as a cultural curator. This is a privilege. Around five years ago, I started producing under the alias Auntie Flo and throwing a club night called Highlife. Both projects enabled me to promote a new strain of music that I felt was underrepresented on European dancefloors, where house, techno, electro and disco are ubiquitous.

This new music wasn't made in the normal homes of 4/4 like Detroit, Chicago, and Berlin but from producers in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Yet, it couldn't be classified as "world music," a highly problematic term that has Western-centric, colonial, and almost racist overtones. My goal was simple—to share these exciting new sounds with our audience in the UK, and if it broadened their horizons to new music and cultures, even better!

To that end, Highlife has brought over artists from Chile, Mexico, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, India, the US, Canada, and all over Europe. We've booked artists like Rebolledo, Charanjit Singh, Jamal Moss, and Raoul K. At the same time, my work as Auntie Flo combines musical influences from around the world with the sounds of Afrofuturists like Sun Ra, Afrika Bambaataa and Drexciya. Since my debut album Future Rhythm Machine in 2012, I've been lucky enough to collaborate with filmmakers in South Africa and singers from both Ivory Coast and Ghana. I've released music on the Chilean/German imprint Comeme, and next year, will release a series of song collaborations made in Cuba, Kenya and Uganda.

My point is that black music is not something that should exclusively be played by a black person to a black audience, in the same way that white music shouldn't be restricted to white ears. We can only further music culture by fusing styles, exchanging ideas and collaborating across borders.

There were no black artists on Boiler Room's Autonomous Africa session yesterday. But this shouldn't automatically be a reason for censure. Do I need to qualify my involvement by saying I'm half Goan, my mum was born in Kenya, I produce and tour with a South African, and our singer is Ghanaian?

Music should be free. Let's not create unnecessary borders.