Introduce yourself? Preferred pronouns? Where do you currently reside? 1 fun fact about yourself?
Hiiiii
she/her
I live in berlin
I can move my ears
How is everything going with you right now?
You have no idea how much better off I would be if I could give a straightforward answer to that question. Things are as good as possible I guess, I’m very lucky to have financial stability and my own equipment to keep myself busy but at this point I’m almost excited to go back to my bar job.
Any fun predictions for 2021?
It will be like 2020 in reverse but having a panic attack… is that fun?
But seriously I’m really worried how the next few months are gonna unfold in terms of who gets access to vaccination and who doesn’t. I’m afraid of a global apartheid system being cemented in place which will have grave consequences in the critical years ahead. Er.. sorry.. back to fun things!
We were gonna celebrate 5 years of DUMP, a queer night that I co-organazie, last April. I think we’ll get to do it one way or another this summer.
How did you get your DJ name?
It’s Farsi for fountain, not in the natural, ethereal, source of lifey sense of the word but the tacky, painted concrete contraption you’d find in a garden. A friend’s family had a little garden west of Tehran where we used to party and there was the ugliest most elaborate fountain with purple lights and a miniature cave and all. I wasn’t even DJing back then but decided if I ever do I’d call myself abnama.
Who currently inspires your music-wise?
Definitely my Climax sisters Lucy X and Vani-T, they are kind of the reason I took djing seriously. Tori (Vani-T) has been the biggest musical influence on me the past couple of years, sometimes I catch myself trying to listen to music through her musical sensibility.
I’ve been mesmerized by florence’s beautiful mixes recently, and her Sounds On Screen series on NTS inspired me to start watching films again after many years.
I’ve learnt a lot from the free and bold way my friends Yoni and Nat Marcus each in their own unique way mix very different things together.
Naemi and Shy (Exael and Special Guest DJ) and the musical world I discovered through them have opened my eyes to much wider possibilities.
GOD69, The Neighbourhood Character always and others who are also included in this mix
4 djs you would want to see on a lineup for the first party post covid asap?
I’ll skip my Climax babes because I’m sure we’d all rather just get high and dance…
Livwutang
Yoni
Venetta
Byron Yeates
What other activities have you dipped into with a break from djing?
I started learning to play records last March so I’ve had a lot of DJ homework during the break. But honestly apart from watching a lot of films and reading more unless you wanna hear about my cooking adventures, I’ve been holding on to my sanity to varying degrees of success.
Also before the winter I got into long day trips on my bike and I find it to provide the ideal mindset for listening to new music, attentive but distracted enough not to get too self-conscious.
Let’s play a pipipi game… I give you a situation & you give me a track!
Neon lit sauna with 10 of your closest friends
Basement rave in siberia on hour 33
1st track you would want to hear post your own birth?!
Favorite weird drug experience?
Recording this mix! Wouldn’t say my favorite but definitely weird. After days of prepping I took acid and lit candles and incense and set the perfect mood and all that and started recording. Recorded on and off all afternoon and was so happy with it. Sat down to edit only to realize the recorder had been set to the wrong input so I only had the mic recording the room… worst acid trip of my life.
Why do you think it’s important to share music?
Otherwise we would have to either talk all the time or be eternally trapped in discogs
What would you like to see in the future for the dance community?
I wanna see European cities committed to the wellbeing and security of all nightlife workers from bartenders and sex workers and bouncers to DJs and organizers to the same degree that they depend on us for selling themselves as tourist attractions and “creative hubs”.
I wanna see more venues run by anyone other than white dudes.
I wanna see more local scenes that come together for sharing music and pleasure the way they like and that aim for connection and intensification rather than growth and representing something to an assumed wider outside audience.
I wanna see live streams disappear along with covid.
I wanna see less fashion and more sweaty hot dancefloors.
I wanna see more people of color doing door selection.
I wanna see a much more acute awareness of the fact that most people on this planet are not free to travel around the world at will to tour clubs and festivals, not that everyone should feel sad and guilty all the time but definitely angry and maybe think of the global electronic music industry more in terms of the free movement of money and commodities rather than of people and culture.
I wanna hear less talk of spiritual and political significance of partying, rave as revolution etc. and more commitment to engaging with the politics of partying and club culture itself. Pleasure does not seek justification (unless you’re applying for funding ofc…) but it has its own politics that includes but goes beyond issues of representation.
I wanna see more focus on harm reduction and care beyond the party itself. We all love the hedonism and the mess but we have to make sure those of us who are in the most vulnerable states are taken care of and have a community to reach out to even when they don’t show up to the party or when there’s no party at all. Here in Berlin the work the collectives Lecken, TS Raver and Berlin Collective Action have been doing is really impressive in terms of creating a more solid network of mutual care.
Tracklist
COOL FOR YOU – UNITED IN SHAME
AIR Krew – Dictionary
Florian T M Zeisig – Been Listening A Lot
SEEKERSINTERNATIONAL – Guncontrolla Side A
Jhelisa – Friendly Pressure (Beaumont Hannant Beautifully Bare Mix)
COH / Cosey – Lying
Download – Attalal (Remixed By Biosphere)
Mere Mortals – Gunjah
DJ Spooky – Grapheme
pent – uyd
lowkey+nude – Sanctus
Lo Kindre – No Hiding
Klein – Claim It
Caveman LSD & Ben Bondy – Scum Break
Critical Amnesia – 0DSN2 (inventory)
cEvin Key – cccc4
Plateau – supEr silvEr hazE
The Neighbourhood Character – Major Exits; The Major Exists
Download ft. Omar Torres – D.O.G.
Florian T M Zeisig – Aspire (exael remix)
DJ Fuckoff – Reality
Smurphy – Instinct
Ike – Seven & Seventeen (GOD69’s 7+17=24, 2+4=6⋮⋮⋱9 mix)
ben bondy – one
SEEKERSINTERNATIONAL – AllWaysDub
Mutually Feeling – Gutted Honeydew