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SAFIYE: INTERVIEW - BEHIND THE SCENES AND ON THE DECKS, MOVING BETWEEN GENRES, DANCEFLOORS, RADIO, AND EVENT NIGHTS.
SAFIYE: INTERVIEW - BEHIND THE SCENES AND ON THE DECKS, MOVING BETWEEN GENRES, DANCEFLOORS, RADIO, AND EVENT NIGHTS.
Safiye is a Bristol DJ and promoter floating freely between genres, dancefloors radio and event nights. From residencies at The Love Inn to her biweekly show on SWU.fm, her approach to DJing is guided less by genre and more by instinct to facilitate freedom of movement.
Coming up through Bristol’s club scene, Safiye has built a reputation for raw, instinctive sets that go with the flow and move with the mood. Whether playing intimate rooms or from international stages, her approach remains the same – if the music feels right for the space, it stays.
Alongside DJing, Safiye also works behind the scenes with Paradisco collective and Love International Festival, balancing life on the dancefloor with the realities of promoting and programming events.
In this Q&A, Safiye reflects on trusting instinct over genre, the differences between radio and the club, and the balancing act of working across multiple projects as a Promoter.
Looking back from local clubs to major festivals and residencies at the Love Inn and Motion, was there a moment where you felt pressure to change your genre blurring style of mixing?
Looking back from local clubs to major festivals and residencies at the Love Inn and Motion, was there a moment where you felt pressure to change your genre blurring style of mixing?
There were definitely moments of second guessing myself when I felt gigs starting to scale up last year, wondering if I need to define my sound more and so on. But finding the thread between the tunes that I love to play is one of the most exciting parts of DJing for me, even more so when they sit in different genres.
I wouldn’t say there was any pressure to change my style of mixing as such, more of a want to develop and understand what works in what environment. Playing intimate spaces like The Love Inn vs larger stages like KOKO or Barbarellas are totally different experiences in terms of energy, but my core approach to prepping a set is the same. If I would dance to this tune in that venue, it’s going in the playlist.
Since hosting your biweekly radio show on Swu.fm and shared guest mixes on SoundCloud, how have you found this differs in comparison to performing live sets?
Since hosting your biweekly radio show on Swu.fm and shared guest mixes on SoundCloud, how have you found this differs in comparison to performing live sets?
Having a regular radio show has been great; I love the freedom to explore music that wouldn’t necessarily work in a club. To me, it's an opportunity to be more subtle. Performing in front of a crowd differs because it’s more reactive and in the moment. My set might go in a totally different direction to how I envision it, depending on the dynamics of the dance floor. Mostly I’m thinking about the energy in the room.
Radio on the other hand, is more about digging and curation. There’s less anxiety about how a crowd of people is going to react in that moment, or how good a mix is. I use the same bio for every show which is ‘Playing a miscellany of music to go with the mood’ – by which I mean my mood. SWU gives me space to show a slightly different side of my taste in a more relaxed environment, if that’s what I want to play that week. Although I still get nervous speaking on the microphone. I love playing in front of people, though. The energy you get from a crowd of people dancing to music you’re playing is unmatched.
As you are part of Bristol-based Paradisco collective, as well as Love International Festival, how do you balance your time and energy to still be a pivotal part of Bristol’s DJ scene? And, how do your experiences as both a DJ and promoter feed into one another?
As you are part of Bristol-based Paradisco collective, as well as Love International Festival, how do you balance your time and energy to still be a pivotal part of Bristol’s DJ scene? And, how do your experiences as both a DJ and promoter feed into one another?
Wearing both DJ and promoter hats has expanded my world massively over the last couple of years. I have so much more appreciation now for how much effort goes into putting on events and festivals, into the logistics of it all, into programming a lineup, thinking about flow and building energy throughout the night and so on. The projects I work on feed into each other in so many ways. There are a lot of transferable skills I use between Love International and Paradisco, whilst DJing has made me realise how important supporting artists and venues is - which also feeds back into promoting.
Bristol has been the perfect environment to learn it all in. The music scene here has shaped me as a person so much, and gave me my first chance as a DJ and a promoter. Bristol will always feel like home to me.
As for the balancing act, I’m still figuring that out to be honest! A lot of the time Love International will take priority, especially in these months leading up to the festival, which probably doesn’t come as a surprise. It’s a big responsibility and requires a lot of coordination from me, so the time I spend working on it has to be really focused. It’s helped me to think of it as seasonal balancing. There are periods where Love International has to be centre stage, and others where I can shift more attention back to DJing and Paradisco.
Trying to do everything at once, though, is just unproductive and frustrating. I want to feel like I’m being intentional with my time rather than stretched across too many things. Within Paradisco we all have work and other projects going on. Sometimes one of us needs to take a step back for a while to catch up and recalibrate, but we’re all very understanding of that and supportive of each other.
On a week to week basis, I have to make sure to leave enough time to prepare for sets or SWU shows that are coming up that weekend or the week after. This is probably where I struggle the most, as these evenings are shared with social time, even basic tasks like cooking meals (which for some reason takes me hours longer than the average person). There are definitely days where it feels like I’m being pulled in too many directions and the To Do lists get out of control, but I love each project so much and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Check out her upcoming shows here!
Thank you Safiye and we look forward to what you have coming up next.
Images by Rob Jones, Maisie Lopez, Dan Hall & Lily Renshaw
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