SHE Spells Doom recently contributed a guest mix for Bandcloud (see here) so naturally it felt like a good fit to ask this Zambia-based DJ and producer for his 2020 reflections.

How are you and how has 2020 been for you, in as many or as few words as you’d like?

I'm good, thanks. Hope you are too :)

2020's been a bit of a mixed bag. A lot of changes in my personal life, as I'm sure has been the case for many this year — music wise it's been my most productive year. Having a rough time made me realize the reason I started making music. It's always been a source of comfort and strength whenever things have gotten a bit rough or uncertain for me.

You live between Geneva and Lusaka. What differences have you seen between them this year in particular?

Lusaka has been less affected by COVID than Geneva (and most of Europe) so life's pretty much back to normal, with most local businesses being open again — with masking up and sanitising being practiced, to some extent (mostly due to the cost of keeping this up). Geneva has been a bit more strict on enforcing safety measures and is currently in a second lockdown. I was there during the first one and it was pretty wild to not be able to see friends for a couple of months and pretty much everything was closed, with "essential" businesses being the exception. Geneva's nightlife's still on pause right now and a lot of amazing people's income has been affected but at the same time I'm glad they're safe.

There's been a lot of lip service paid to issues around race in 2020, with some efforts made by larger media platforms to be more "inclusive" — do you see that continuing or will it be a case of back to normal next year?

Wish I could be more optimistic but I feel like the "inclusivity" will die down overtime because it may not be a hot topic to cover until another tragedy occurs, unfortunately. It's really draining because it can feel like media platforms use the plight of black people as a PR opportunity, while not being genuinely invested in acknowledging our contributions and bringing our stories to light. Already noticing some Electronic music sites that had nothing black artists on their landing page over the past couple of months going back to what they used to do. On a positive note we've seen the emergence of platforms like Black Bandcamp — I really love what they have done with their platform and appreciate what they've done for me and other black artists.

Have you heard any artists in your area who have impressed you this year?

I'm into what Kreative Nativez (a Zambian duo who make Afro House and Amapiano bangers) are doing right now.

In the region, I'm really excited about what Sunsunus, Rose Bonica, ODOUS and blaqkongo are doing over in South Africa.

What do you hope to see in 2021?

I'd hope to see some more of solidarity that's come out about in the (Electronic) music community during these times continue. I'd also hope to see events/parties figure out a way to properly compensate DJs and artists for streamed gigs, if this is going to be the way forward. For me — I'm hoping to do more collaborations with vocalists and up my output, in general.

SHE Spells Doom on Linktree