Welcome to September Didis! We are underway planning our first year covering the Toronto International Film Festival with Didihood content creator Melony Manikavasagar. Stay tuned for coverage on all our social media platforms!

In August, we hosted and celebrated the launch of Sadiya Ansari’s new book In Exile (which is now on the Toronto Star bestseller’s list!) in her hometown of Markham, Ont. The evening at Kate’s Garden included a book reading and signing and a Q&A with co-founder Arti Patel.

Meet the Didi

Summer has come to an end and if you were in Toronto’s DJ scene this summer you may have come across Mrii. This powerhouse has played sets at Mazaar, Desifest and more with her signature Bollywood mixes.

We chatted with Mrii about South Asian women taking over the genre and what it takes to enter the industry.

Take us to the beginning. How did you get into DJing? 

I grew up in a musical family – I was singing, playing instruments, and performing Indian classical music since I was a child. I picked up on making Bollywood dance remixes on GarageBand at the age of 12 and I was always a huge Bollywood fan. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I started DJing. I started off playing on Virtual DJ off my dad’s laptop, playing for family parties and sports team award ceremonies. I soon realized I was able to use my skillset and intuitive connection with music VERY well as a DJ.

I told my parents I wanted to do it seriously and they invested in getting me the best equipment so I could take on more professional gigs and grow. I then started playing for various banquet hall parties (baby showers, sweet 16s, wedding events) as well as local hip-hop artist showcases. Along the journey of developing my sound and myself as a DJ, I discovered a way to represent all parts of myself with my music by blending genres like hip-hop, Amapiano, Afrobeats, house and R&B with South Asian tunes.

There's such an explosion right now of South Asian women in this space in Toronto and outside Canada. What do you think is happening here? Is the audience changing or is the genre expanding?

I believe over the past few years there’s been a huge wave of women of colour taking up space to represent themselves and their culture, especially South Asian women in North America. I believe the rise of such women and representation has inspired other women to hop on the wave and that gives them hope that it is possible for someone like us to be on such platforms that were once predominantly reined by white males. I feel like as women, we bring a magical sonic experience with our intuition and ability to feel energy, and we’re bringing to life something that all South Asians (especially in North America) have always wanted (and maybe didn’t know we always wanted) and almost sort of needed.

We love how you incorporate old and new South Asian music into your sets. Why did you decide to explore these genres?

Bollywood has been such a big part of my upbringing along with my background in Indian classical music. In my earlier years as DJ, I found myself on either side of the spectrum of myself, either representing my Desi roots at a Desi party or my hip-hop & R&B loving side within the underground hip-hop community. Sometimes I found myself feeling too South Asian for the hip-hop side, and too Western for my South Asian side. Being able to create space to not only honour and celebrate my roots, but to be able to have all parts of myself co-exist on one track, in one place, is so healing. In doing so I realized there are so many others within the South Asian diaspora who share this experience and feel more accurately represented and better resonate with the music and party experience with the blend of the worlds in my sets.

Have you faced any barriers as a woman of colour in the music industry?

Yes, unfortunately. Being a young woman of colour who is very ambitious and sure of my goals and things I want to achieve to some people in the music industry comes off like the mix of water and oil. I’ve faced my fair share of prejudice and judgment from people ahead of me in the industry, but very early in my journey as an artist I learned to create the space and opportunities for myself, and that any barriers served as redirection for better things. I feel like they can only undermine me or sleep on me for so long.

What would be your advice for a young South Asian woman who is interested in becoming a DJ?

My advice for young South Asian women who are interested in becoming a DJ would be to get right into it! I’d recommend finding out what resources are available at your disposal, and what you’re able to get, and start learning the basic skills online or by trial and error. Maybe even reaching out to any DJ friends or people within the independent artist and DJ community for guidance is amazing. It’s definitely something a girl can figure out to do on her own, but finding or building a community of likeminded creatives goes a long way. I’d suggest downloading any free DJ software (Serato or Rekordbox) and playing around with it to get an idea of the skills and your vibe as a DJ. Along with that, slowly thinking about the visual experience and brand identity you want to represent yourself with also helps a lot.

What's next for you? How do you see your career growing?

I see myself playing on large platforms like Boiler Room and travelling around the world to play my music. I see myself following a journey like Jyoty, a DJ from the U.K. I see myself in Vancouver, New York, L.A., San Francisco, Australia, London, Kenya, Johannesburg, South Africa, and India very soon. I also hope that when Tyla goes on tour, that I could be an opening act.

What we’re reading:

India is outraged at a young doctor’s rape and murder. We have been here too often by Nilanjana Bhowmick

What we’re watching / listening to:

— Arti Patel

Issue 76
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