-When you moved to Milan from London more than 20 years ago, how did you fit into the Milanese musical environment and how was for you the first impact with the cultural scene of this city?
- When I first moved to Milan I was not even a DJ. It all started with Radio Popolare: I think that one of the radio hosts heard and liked my voice and my aptitude to music, so he proposed to me to host my own show. Through the radio I was able to play whatever I wanted and I’m still thankful for the chance I was given, being -back then- literally a nobody. From then on, my name started to become more and more popular in the city and people began to know me. Some wanted me to play at their events, some at their clubs or fashion shows and, having always been interested in the world of fashion and vintage, that was something I loved doing. It was right at the beginning of my career as a DJ in Milan 25 years ago and, to be honest with you, there wasn’t very much going on at that time. Then I became a resident DJ at the Atomic Bar, which was something quite special in terms of the music that I was able to play, the freedom I was given and the environment of the place itself. Atomic was a melting pot of different people, cultures and tastes for music. Then gradually Conchetta became my favorite place (there I’d play Funk, Afro-Funk, Latin etc). Conchetta was -and still is- an ideal place for pushing sonic boundaries and, considering how difficult it was to play new, undiscovered music (because of the listener’s narrow-minded mentality) playing there it really felt like home. I’ve kinda witnessed the growth of the Milanese scene and, personally, I think that my strong point was that I loved to play a certain kind of music that was so difficult to find/buy and, before me, no one was really able to create a scene or a market around this ‘original’ type of sounds. Milan is a place of trends and perhaps the fact that I was a woman also helped me to be seen as new, authentic, therefore to break through. I was able to create a scene around me. I tried to push the musical barriers a lot to provoke a reaction in the listeners and I have to say that Milan really opened up and embraced this new ‘wave’ that I was an ambassador for. I was lucky too because people reacted well, it could have been different, I took a risk…But I can say I opened the doors a bit, to new people for new listenings. As time went by, I got to a position where I could choose where to play and where not and I happened to meet amazing artists at my shows: famous people like Calvin Klein, Wu-Tang Clan etc. It was awesome how easy it was to meet influential and inspiring people trough music, here in Milan. Surely I’ve found the best places for me to express my feelings and my art and -probably the most important thing when you work with music- I stayed true to myself, trying to be as original as possible, without copying anyone or any trend around me. Sometimes I see some promoters trying to recreate here the same atmospheres they lived and witnessed during their trips to London or Berlin but this never worked, or at least it always made me very, very angry! We in London grew up with the idea that originality is the most important thing, both in musical tastes and in clothing (hence my passion for vintage, which came from wanting to have my own personal look, my identity, without having to spend too much money). If you are a copy, you are not worth anything!