Samira

Kyle asked about my writing in a letter I received from him two days ago. Kyle and I used to write eachother constantly–I still have all of his correspondence, which marks a time in my life when writing was my main form of expression. I’d like to share something I wrote in response to an interview by SFSU’s Etc. Magazine: Like a lot of the other djs in Sister, you have a traditional music background. How and why did you make the transition from drums and piano’s to electronica? What are the similarities/differences? i actually never played the drums–my mother wasn’t too keen on the prospect of her five year old daughter making all that noise. hence i started playing the piano. i wouldn’t say that the transition was one from the piano, but rather from a different medium all together: writing. i was a ferocious writer until i dropped out of grad school & DJing pretty much took over where my writing left off. i think it’s because of my love for narrative, the old oral tradition–people teaching through story-telling & passing down knowledge this way. and the audience is immediately present and the story you tell is one that you’ve heard before (or the records that have been made before) and sometimes stories get altered, depending on who is present. i think that it’s inherently tied up with my love for story-telling. that’s really how i look at my vinyl–pieces of stories already told & elements with which to spin new tales. in spinning I found a creative freedom that I had never experienced with writing: I like the transient aspect of the music-the immediacy of call and response, the nearness of your audience. sam