The Share festival Negrita will celebrate its fifth edition with a new format that will concentrate the performances in two days and a single place, the Parc del Fòrum, where some of the main names of national and international urban music such as Bizarrap, Dellaporte or Quevedo will perform. Along with them, the female presence stands out, eight artists from the 20 names included in the poster.
“It is an opportunity to show people that female DJs exist and are a reference for other young peopleâ€, explains Carla Boada, better known as dj Nà tura. This turntable artist has met with three other participants in the festival at the Red Cross headquarters in Barcelona to talk about her trade, what it means to be a woman in the urban world and her participation in the poster, a recognition of his work as recalled by the rapper of Arab origin Raisa. “Over time, more opportunities are being given to diversity, to people who have never fit into a specific space.” “We can do the same job as menâ€, highlights Marta Riera, better known as dj Trapella, drawing from the beginning the most vindictive vein in her.
Asked about the possibility that they have been invited to the festival precisely because they are women, they are clear that the important thing is that they feel recognized, “because if not, just to pretend, they wouldn’t call me”, dj Trapella makes clear. The same is the opinion of Raisa, who points out that when faced with opportunities like these “you think that you are doing something well, because if you don’t beat yourself up too much, psychologically it is very hard”. For his part, dj NÃ tura highlights that positive discrimination has allowed women to demonstrate their worth, “in the historical moment we live in, it must be like this”, with the hope that in the future “this discrimination is not necessary and there is equality real on the billboards.
Aleesha, the fourth entrant, known for her R tracks
In this conquest of spaces for women, they have met with the opposition of some men, as dj Trapella recalls when he affirms that in his world “there is a lot of mansplaining”, a lot of clever people who approach the Premià artist, with years of experience in all kinds of parties and festivals, to tell him how to DJ. However, he does not forget to remember the cases of other co-workers who have been by his side, men who “understand that it is time for more visibility” for women, and who are willing to “take a step forward.” side because they understand the momentâ€. A feeling shared by Nà tura who acknowledges that he has “professionals who have worked very well for years” who right now what they should do is “leave space for women who do it just as well”.
This understanding has a generational bias, “usually people move on and adapt to things,” says Aleesha. In this sense, dj NÃ tura highlights that the difference between them and the previous generation is clarity, “we talk about things without fear, the important thing is to show how we feel because if you fake things you can’t transform reality”. And she stresses how important it is to have people by her side who validate what she expresses, because if she feels attacked and the men around her “pass me by and tell me I’m crazy, then I’ll shut up, say nothing and things won’t change.”
Are these changes compatible with certain sexist tics of the urban? Yes, we talk about different things. Raisa, known as much or more for her popularizing facet than for her music, remembers that inappropriate or macho lyrics can be found “in any type of music, you start to see lyrics from groups from 10 or 20 years ago and they say things that are just as macho.” â€. More explicit, Trapella cites the Rolling Stones or the unhealthy interpretation of jealousy in some songs by Hombres G as examples. “Reggaeton is no more macho than other styles,” Raisa insists, acknowledging that “sometimes it’s too sexual, that’s yesâ€, but he qualifies that in some styles of music “sexuality/sensuality is not only in the lyrics, but in the insinuations. There are poetry books that are supersexualâ€.
NÃ tura adds another variable to the debate by highlighting that reggaeton “comes from a different cultural context” than music from the US, the predominant one, of which “everything is accepted because it complies with some macho contexts typical of the West.” That is why he thinks that “we criticize the machismo that is not ours, the one that we have not normalized.”
“When DJing they generate contradictions for me, but who doesn’t dance Gasolinaâ€, comments Trapella between the laughs and the agreement of her companions, “it’s a great song, the question is to what extent do I believe what this gentleman says and to what extent do I I will apply in my lifeâ€, or if, on the contrary, “it is fiction, basically entertainment and a way of thinking from another timeâ€.
In this criticism of reggaeton, the fact that it is sung in Spanish has played a role, because as dj Nà tura recalls “if you don’t understand it, you don’t condemn itâ€. Aleesha, who began singing in English, believes that music in Spanish has improved a lot in recent years, a progression that has had to do with the fact that people “have ignored prejudices about reggaeton, and that creates new things that people are not expected.” In this sense, he highlights RosalÃa as a reference, “and in the end I realized that the fun thing was that my friends understood my songs.”