Female duo on their rise in a male-dominated world of DJs

FAST RISING DJS Higa Sharon, 23, and Nadege Rusamaza, 25, describe their work as a means to create a cheerful setting that brings out a happy and fun aroma with music. “Every genre, every artist whether African, American or South African we mix all those to make people happy, bring good vibes good energy thats basically what DJs do,” Higa says. The two DJs work as a collaborative team although they share differences in genres of their choice when they perform on stage. Higa is more drawn to the dancehall, and amapiano-oriented style of music while Nadege takes interest in trap music, and the oldies, as a team they merge their different themes to create a satisfying sound for the people. These artists didn’t particularly start in the DJ work, they were in-fact dancers before delving into the DJ scene. While Higa was a dancer/social media influencer Nadege was working a regular job, and a dance teacher but has since progressed from both professions. She now runs a bar in Gisenyi, Rubavu known as Kivu Rock, a family-owned business. With 168k followers on Instagram Higa gained her following by making dance, and TikTok videos in 2018, it all began from understanding which audience found her engaging. She later applied that strategy to DJ work as different genres cater to a demographic of people from teenagers to young adults. There is a wide range to which her audience spans. When it comes to the average income of a DJ it fluctuates depending on what event is taking place, whether it’s a public, private, birthday party, club or concert there are always different payments depending on the DJ and mainly a negotiation with the manager. “The number one advice I would give someone trying to get into the DJ industry is that you have to love it. For me and Nadege it’s a career but at the end of the day when we go to a club, or birthday party, its like you’re getting paid to have fun,” Higa says. “Even though its fun its also hard because working at night while standing for many hours is not easy. You have to like it first then have that passion to do it” Nadege says. Both women said as rising DJs you have to be open to learning, working in the music industry reveals a continuance of learning, whether it is new music, artistes, or old school music it’s essential to be open-minded because the public opinion matters, and it’s a necessity to understand the audience you’re performing to. Their manager Desire Nkubito understands the benefits of social media attraction and the creativity it holds. It’s something his artists can do as a full-time job, which has proven to bring food to the table. With their current success they have long-term plans of creating a label to establish their own music. Creating job accessing fields for girls that are interested in DJ work but feel insecure about their safety due to the DJ field being largely male-dominated. Offering these opportunities will create more of a balance in the DJ scene and provide a rise to more women DJs just like Higa, and Nadege.

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Female duo on their rise in a male-dominated world of DJs