Here's Hoping with Jayda G Indigenous Underground Dance Culture & Queer Actualisation Through Community with Lady Shaka
Jayda meets the most vibrant Lady Shaka to chat all about how she went from a professional dancer to become a DJ, spoiler, it’s a hilarious story, but importantly how she has been using her platform to lift up other indigenous and Pacific Islander artists through her curated Boiler Room events and global parties and collective. Shaka shares core philosophies part of her identities including Mana, and how they guide her work as a multidisciplinary artist. Jayda and Shaka also discuss what it was like for each of them as mixed-race artists to move from small towns to a city of London overflowing with culture, and for Shaka how especially joining queer POC spaces and club nights have been fundamental to her self actualisation and discussing the importance of being around people who look like you. Shaka brings so much energy to this conversation, having us in stitches as well as making us cry, you are going to love it!
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Lady Shaka is a DJ and interdisciplinary artist of Pacific Island, Māori, and Cape Verdean descent, originally from Aotearoa (New Zealand) and now based in London. Her music blends electronic sounds with her queer identity, cultural roots, and connection to the moana (ocean). As part of a new wave of Pasifika artists, she challenges mainstream norms with genre-defying work that reclaims and re-indigenizes the Pasifika experience. Recognized at the 2023 Pacific Music Awards, she won the ‘Creative New Zealand Award’ for her innovative contributions to contemporary music. A former dancer, Lady Shaka views music as a powerful medium for storytelling and expression. She made history as one of the first Pacific Islanders to perform on Boiler Room in 2021 with queer collective Filth and has since performed globally. In 2024, she helped bring Boiler Room to the Pacific Islands for the first time, debuting the series in Rarotonga.
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