Hey Sifa! Introduce yourself for those of our readers who might not know?
Hello hello! I’m Sifa, dj and producer from, Brussels, Belgium. I run 2 record labels (Offering Recording, Depth) that are mainly focused on house music with an African touch.
What or who are some of your key personal and musical inspirations?
I do get musically inspired on daily basis from different artists and from all genres, but if I had to stick to electronic music, I would say that names such has Louie Vega, Daft Punk, Timmy Regisford, Boddhi Satva, and DJ Grégory are artists that led me to my musical direction today.
What is your aim and style as a DJ? Do you like to educate, edify, enrich, take people on a journey or what?
From all the above options, taking people on a journey is what does fit the with me. Of course there will always be à percussive and very groovy side to what I play, but growing something completely different always spices things up. On the other hand I’m not a big talker or person that shows his emotions – so my sets will always reflect the mood that I’m in.
And how would you describe your sound in the studio – what is important to you, what are the key things to get right?
The only particular things about my sound are the pads. It’s for me the element besides vocals that emotionally connects you to a track. Besides that I pretty much have an easy but long workflow. Everything I produce is pretty simple and straight forward but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t take me a lot of time to be happy with the result. Even when it’s done I sometimes doubt it…
Tell us about your label manager role at Offerings – what do you do day to day for that?
I’ve started at Offering Recordings when Boddhi asked to handle the social media of the label. It was a good opportunity to start somewhere in the music industry. Today I almost handle the whole label, music selection, planning of the release agenda, social media and you name it. It’s almost a full time job but it’s what gave me my first step into the music industry.
How important is it to respect the black roots of electronic music in what you do?
Living in Europe I think it’s a very important subject. I’ve had a lot of discussion with people that didn’t know the origins of house and techno. Now that the genre has became so big I think, and with different varieties. It’s really important to not forget where it all started. Thankfully you can find online a lot of documentaries that allows people to educate themselves. Sometimes I feel like the whole original movement got replaced by something for elitist people. I don’t say that it’s the case for every country but in some it is….
What’s next for you?
Next for me is my upcoming EP – Actarus – on my label Depth. Following by Madela coming out on a special project by Madorasindahouse and Midi Minds Kenia.
What was the last record you bought and why?
The last record I bought is one from Methodman and Redman – The Rockwilder. I bought it because I’ve been a huge fan of this particular song. I also found the music video cool in high school.
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