Community

Raf Reza

KEY WORDS

people, feel, music, gigs, playing, community, learn, talking, art, find, work, life, toronto, build, share, younger, growing, pushed, guess, mentality


RAF REZA IS A TORONTO BASED DJ AND PRODUCER STITCHING THE SONIC LINKS BETWEEN THE SEEMINGLY UNRELATED.

Raf has touched many corners of Toronto’s music community over the last 10 years. Between curating the bins at Standard Time Record Shop and now running his record label Orphic Apparition, his ears are tuned to music coming from both the local and international community. His DJ and Live sets are genre-fluid in nature where tracks flow through a variety of tempos and sonic palettes. A handful of releases under Raf Reza and various aliases give nods to a well’s worth of influences. The elastic nature of his musical expression took him across several venues beyond North America, United Kingdom and Europe. You can also catch him on various internet radio stations such as NTS Radio, Clyde Built Radio (Glasgow) and more. Raf’s limitless reach will continue to morph the musical boundaries within dance-floors.

This conversation took place in April 2023.

Yeah, we're good to go. Okay, I feel like we should just riff off what we were just talking about?

Sure, yeah. Whatever direction you want to take it. I'm game.

I think I mentioned this to you, but the first time I saw you play was Sous Bay, in Hamilton. What I thought was really beautiful about your work was that you were really connected to community. I could tell how you were using your work and music as a vehicle of connection, for raising awareness, or bringing people together and focusing our attention on on different things. I don't know if that resonates? 

No, it does. Yes. Definitely. I feel like collaborative listening, and engaging with music experiences are a pretty important part of community. I mean, if we think about the history of music, I'm talking, thousands of years ago, it was used for ceremonial functions. That was a place where I think a lot of people would reflect on what was happening around them. It was for celebratory purposes, as well. But the whole point of it is to get people to interact with each other, not just watch the act but also engage with one another. So, I think, inherently, music is a community based medium, you know? So it's important we remember that whenever we perform. Obviously, in many ways we have come quite far away from that, you know? There are definitely ways we can be better at maintaining that aspect of it, because I feel personally, it's really important. So, yeah, I definitely agree with you on that, for sure.

“... music allows people to hold on to community and keep in touch with community. It's a place where people exchange ideas, both relating to back home, but also share the lived experience of what we're doing as diasporic people in other places.”

- Raf Reza

Yeah, thank you for that elaboration and for those beautiful reminders. I think, in a crowd, you can tell when community informs a DJs work. I'm curious about how you got into playing music. 

Well for me, there's a handful of things that happened independently that led me to where I am today. To start, a lot of my participation in a community with music started in middle school, middle school dances. I grew up in Scarborough for a good chunk of my elementary education and middle school and then ended High School in East York. But growing up there was a pretty big immigrant populace in my school, so primarily Caribbean communities, also South Asian. I think both of these communities really enjoy playing music, getting together and having a good time. So I guess like, that's the first point, you know, especially through the lens of the Caribbean diaspora. Dancehall, reggae, and soca is a big thing within this community and there's a grandeur to them. For me, that was really, really cool to see and be a part of.


Also, my family on my mom's side lives in London, who I saw very frequently all through my life. Every couple of years in the summertime I’d spend about two months there. And as we all know, they also have a big Caribbean and South Asian migrant population. For these communities, music allows people to hold on to community and keep in touch with community. It's a place where people exchange ideas, both relating to back home, but also share the lived experience of what we're doing as diasporic people in other places. My uncles and aunties were pretty involved, not as music makers, per se, but they were going out and involved in the nightlife culture quite a lot.  


I think the two experiences combined, and then me pursuing my own interests when I was about 15, or 16, and going out to raves and stuff like that here helped formulate where I am today. The cool thing about going to a rave in that time was it was not very segregated. It was a very good mix of people from all backgrounds and from all over the city showing up to these things. And for me, that was really cool. I think it's a bit more interesting when there's a good mix of people of different backgrounds, different social classes, you know, all that sort of stuff. It makes for a really nice time, and I felt like I fit in quite well.


So yeah, I would say that was my first step into doing music stuff. I started putting out my own music in 2017 and then started touring later that year through the UK, Italy, Denmark, Scotland. Now I have my community here, which I'm a part of locally, but I also feel like I'm part of a global community of like-minded people who I work with. That's been really nice, you know, finding people in other parts of the world that share similar values.

Did you ever have moments when you decided that you were gonna give music a full-time, fair shot where you were like, what the fuck am I doing? Or like, is this gonna work out?

I'd say me going against my parent’s judgment and wanting to pursue this more actively when I was leaving school might have been a point. I didn't really have any kind of reason financially or you know, with like getting loads of gigs and stuff that informed that decision. It was more just like, this is what I want to do. I haven't really looked back since. I've definitely struggled with having doubts in my craft here and there, just like anybody else. But I'd say for the most part, I'm pretty confident that this is what I am doing and what I should be doing. I don't really have too many doubts about that. Maybe if I'm having a really bad day, you know, I can sometimes have intrusive thoughts, like anyone else. But otherwise, I feel very confident this is what I'm supposed to be doing. And also, it gives gives me what I need, like, gives me fulfillment, you know?

Yeah, when we spoke before, you had said that you never wanted to know where you're going next. There's something about that comfort with uncertainty that maybe has allowed you to pivot, I want to say, in your career a bit.

I've grown up with so much uncertainty in my life I've kind of learned to embrace it and almost be excited about it. I don't like knowing everything. I think a bit of mystery is good. And yeah, be on my toes. I am okay with the fact that it's uncertain. I have like, zero insecurities about the uncertain aspects of my life working in the arts, because this is what I do. This is what I signed up for, you know? Yeah, sure, it can be inconvenient sometimes, and not really work in my favor. But, for the most part, I think the uncertainties have revealed themselves to be really cool and beneficial and inspiring and overall a very good experience for me. So, I don't know why I would have a problem with uncertainty, it's led me to so many great things.

Yeah. I feel like there's this idea that once somebody gains some success in the art they practice, it becomes easy or all of a sudden you have a clear path. I find it's almost the inverse when it's truly that drive towards your calling, if you will, or your life purpose. Just because music is what you want to be doing doesn't mean that it's easy. It’s still a lot of work.

It's a lot of work, and it's quite thankless a lot of the time, but at the end of the day, I'm okay with all of that. I'm okay with the choices I've made in pursuing my art the way I do it, and on my own terms. It is definitely not the most marketable way because I don't actually have a niche, my niche is the lack of one, but I think a lot of people resonate with that and I think in a world where we're pushed towards niches, niches, niches, I'm kind of like an anti-niche-ist. I think you should be involved in as many things as you can to make your experience rich. Ultimately, you know, that will give you more out of your experience. I push for more uncertainty, more shaking the foundation, like, just get a little confused, you know? Look for the mystery and try and figure some things out. I think not knowing what’s next makes it so much more interesting than knowing exactly what you're doing all the time. What fun is that? You know?

Yeah. I feel like we never really know. That sense of certainty or control is just, yeah, I don't think it's really real, or it's so temporary.

Exactly.

And I think not having a niche is appealing for so many people. You’re modelling that it’s a possibility and a route others can take in the art world.

Yeah, I find having a niche can sometimes put you in a pigeonhole and can demote exploration as a tenet of what you're doing. You know, exploring and playing, and giving yourself a chance to screw up and stuff, all of those things are kind of what the good stuff comes out of, right? So, you know, I try to keep myself in a state of not knowing everything, being willing to experiment, take risks, and yeah, if anything gets too comfortable, like, you know, switch gears kind of thing.

“I think buying a ticket to an event is you making a pledge to go there and make a good time for everybody else… A lot of people that come to your gigs, they have all these expectations. It's like, well, what do you want to contribute to this, what are you bringing to the table?”
                              

- Raf Reza

I'm curious, having your base in Toronto, how does it feel to be playing music in this city? And, like, do you think traveling really helps you have Toronto as a home base?

Um, well, I mean, I've been doing the music thing here for about 15 years now. So it's a pretty considerable amount of time. There are a lot of challenges in the landscape here, I will admit that. I've had a lot of really interesting discussions with some friends, you know, at the pub about this kind of stuff, where we're kind of talking about our gripes and our thoughts and feelings on what it's like to be working in the arts here. One way, culturally, we're different from a lot of the places I've had a chance to visit, is the way the arts are perceived as a novelty here. I think that is a big hurdle. I'm very much all for everybody being into music and art, and participating in whatever capacity they're willing to. Music being like one of the five food groups to have a well lived life, you know? This whole idea of music or art as a novelty, we just need to take that barrier down.

It's hard because we just don't have that old of a culture and appreciation for the arts here in our general society. I think a lot of people genuinely don't value it and what it stands for, but they want the social benefit of being a participant in it, you know? There's also things, infrastructurally, that push people to be this way. For example, one thing I notice here is how late people turn up to everything, even though we have way less time because bars shut at 2am, right? So, it's like, why wouldn't you go earlier? 

I’ve also noticed a mentality in some people who buy a ticket to an event, where they hope their best night ever will be brought to them. Whereas, I think, buying a ticket to an event is you making a pledge to go there and make a good time for everybody else. Do you know what I'm saying? And like, it's this mentality of I'm just here to take, but give nothing. I think that is a really poisonous mentality which afflicts a lot of the nightlife here in North America. A lot of people that come to your gigs, they have all these expectations. It's like, well, what do you want to contribute to this, what are you bringing to the table? You know, if anything, right? It’s nice when people come with a bit of a purpose. It’s really infectious. You could be out with 10 people at a gig or only 30 people and still have a really good time because the company you're keeping is much more willing to engage themselves rather than just be engaged. You know? It's a really tough one, that one, and I struggle with it.


That being said, I think the community here of people making music is really dope. There's so much talent and some really, really good work coming out. It's just, unfortunately, the structure isn't quite there for us to really reap the benefits of having such a big and very talented group of people working on stuff and doing things. I think that's the constant challenge. I definitely do feel a bit more liberty when I go away and play. But again, my friends there, they have their own set of problems. It's not quite easy anywhere. But yeah, here it is definitely tough in a way that's very different from like, the club circuit over there.

“Being open to innovation and learning how to do new things and make yourself little again is important. That's all part of the cycle. I feel like every week I'm reborn, you know? A new version of my practice is reborn every time I learn something new or approach things in a different way.” 

- Raf Reza

Yeah, I really like that idea of you know, when you buy a ticket that it's a pledge. I think that mindset would serve us well in a lot of different areas of our life ... if we saw our life requiring this active participation and seeing our interconnectedness. Like, oh, what I do matters and it actually impacts the environment I'm in and the people that I'm around.

Yeah. I completely agree. I would really love to see like, some kind of nightlife scene starting to boom in North York and Scarborough, like more West like, I don't know, like Jane and Weston or something, kind of spread people out. Also, if you make a journey to a destination, you're more likely to stay there all night and have a bigger window of time to contribute something to the atmosphere, you know? Whereas if you're bouncing around from three different parties between the hours of midnight and 2:30am, everything kind of comes to a bit of a loss, you know, for every single place that you've been to. Like, what's really happened there? It would just make things more interesting and it would also open up doors for people who are doing what we're doing in other neighborhoods further away.  

I such a great time trying to get back home from Sous Bay. Like, absolutely cooking in the sun for hours, we missed the last train, the hilarious Uber ride back to town - this guy was just zipping it back home for us. And then we went out again, in Toronto, having done that, and it was just so fun, you know? And we hold that memory really dear to our heart and it made for a good story and a really memorable weekend for me. I had a great time. I'm up for more of that, you know?

“I feel like like a lot of the North American culture is destroying the old and building the new... I don't know too many groups who look both to people who have come before, but also people younger than them and continue the narrative by passing it through every channel, you know? That mentorship lineage is something I'd like to see more of.”

– Raf Reza

Yeah. The more time you spend in a space or a venue, you're building relationships, even if you don't necessarily see those people or exchange information, there's a magic that kind of can be stirred up as opposed to this like … speed dating.

Yeah, speed dating parties. Yeah, it's a bit weird.

So with that, who or what would you say that you bring forward with you in your work or life? Do you think about any one or thing living on through your work?

“If we think about the history of music, I'm talking thousands of years ago, it was used for ceremonial functions. That was a place where I think a lot of people would reflect on what was happening around them. It was for celebratory purposes, as well. But the point being, the whole point of it is to get people to interact with each other, not just watch the act but also engage with one another. So I think, inherently music is a community based medium, you know?”

– Raf Reza 

I feel really connected to a lot of these, like, room two DJs, you know, who are not playing the main room, but the second room, which is usually smaller but has a crowd that is more willing to take risks. I feel like a lot of my peers who I work with also kind of share this sentiment. The nice thing about being room two is there's less expectation of what is required of you and a lot more curveball opportunity. Again, I don't like to play really big crowds. I prefer things like 200 and under. It's just a little bit more intimate. Playing big fests is great. I've done it before, and I've had great times, but it’s a lot harder to make something translate across that many people. Something kinda gets lost, I find, when you scale it up too much.

That being said, these bigger parties that I play are some of the people who attended the smaller parties and now have ended up at this big one. I want to challenge them, and, you know, freak them out, I want people to feel something. It has to be loud, and it has to be risky. I need to shake people, like, quite literally, and also shake myself. I love to be shaken up. I think that's kind of the attitude  by which I perform. I don't really work with promoters who have some kind of expectation of what kind of DJ I am other than I'm just going to show up, read the room and just do my thing. You kind of just have to trust me. And building that trust takes time, right? But I work with the same people over and over again, that's a big part of what I do. And like, if it works, then we want to do it again next year, together, you know? They will have grown, I will have grown, and we both get to share the spoils of growing together. I think that’s how I originally won promoters over, by being willing to return again and work with them instead of taking something with a higher payout. I'm like, no, let's develop what we're doing so we can both grow. All my friends who I've worked with have come so far, it's so wicked to see that. For me as well, my life is very different in my creative practice than it was, you know, seven, eight years ago.  

Yeah, that's cool. You also reminded me a lot of this curator who I love. Her name's Nasrin Hamada, and she talks a lot about how relationally informed her work is and the people who she programs are her friends. The work doesn't end just because the exhibition ends, these people are embedded into her life. I admire that about her and I love working that way too. It's beautiful being able to evolve as a community and collective. Obviously, not to say that new friends can't be joining in, but there's something really special about working in that way that you described.

Yeah, it's great because I'm really careful with the people I work with. I won't just work with anybody, even if the money's good. It has to sit right with me, you know, and I have a pretty, like, rigorous screening process of just figuring out what are you really about. You know, are you just a venture capitalist? Or are you actually about this in a way that's positive and encourages the things I talked about before? If I don't see that, then I don't want to work with people. 


Again, like you said, it's an ongoing thread. It’s like we're sewing this giant thing the rest of our lives. Every event is a stitch, but also every conversation, everything we share with each other, it's just constantly adding a little bit of stitching to the thing that one day we'll get to admire, and then we'll pass it on to someone else to continue the work, you know? It's definitely not the way a lot of the big big dogs are doing it with big teams and stuff like that. We're definitely operating on a much smaller scale, but I think it's a lot more spiritually fulfilling, you know? Yeah, I find it meaningful. So that's why I continue doing it this way.

Yeah, yeah. And I feel like now, especially, there's a bit of a crisis of meaning. Maybe that's why people want to bop around a lot more. It feels like, collectively, we’re a little lost.

A spiritual epidemic.

“This is what I signed up for, you know? And yeah, sure, it can be inconvenient sometimes, and not really work in my favor. But, for the most part, I think the uncertainties have revealed themselves to be really cool and beneficial and inspiring and overall a very good experience for me. Uncertainty has led me to so many great things.”

– Raf Reza

Yeah. Building off of what you have said, what do you think you'll leave behind for archeologists of the future, or what kind of an ancestor do you hope to be?

I hope people can see that I wasn't afraid to try anything. I've been humbled by this, too, but if I have an idea, I will pursue it and see it through. Might take me some time, but I will get through it. I live and die by my ideas, for better or for worse. I think that's the attitude I hope my mentees will see. Hopefully, they will find a way to incorporate that into their life and work. And a lot of younger producers and DJs and people working in the arts are consistently showing me things. It's not just about me leaving something for them, they're also actively teaching me. It goes both ways.

Overall, I definitely want to encourage people to just try. Just try doing something different, you know? Force yourself out of a comfortable situation. I always think about Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies: if things are not going your way, pull a card from the deck. It'll be like, do everything you just did, but in reverse, you know? See what happens. I want to encourage creating a good petri dish for weird things to happen. I think that's the kind of mentality I want to instill on people. I also want to be able to provide a framework where you can make that work and it’s not seen as a waste of your time.

Cool. I love that. Could you elaborate more on collaborations or working with younger producers, artists, musicians, and how important that is to your work?

Well, yeah, I think collaboration is a super good way to get yourself out of a rut. I try to work on collaborative projects as much as I can. Riffing with somebody always puts you in a new mode of thinking. That being said, it's good to have some sort of guidelines by which you work. I work with the veto process. So like, either we both are into what we're doing, or we're not. Letting things breathe is really important, but also having a system that helps push you to make a little bit of progress is important too, and trying to see all the ways in which you are working well together.  


There are a lot of really, really talented younger producers I met on my last trip, some of whom I will be working to put their music out. We work with Ram Jack, who's pushing 60 now and he's making incredible music and has not lost his touch at all. He's a mentor to me, and has been giving me critique. That's another thing I think I would want people to know that hopefully resonates with them. Critique is really important. It's hard to give good critique because you don't want to offend people, but at the end of the day, you're just holding everybody back by not being honest. You don't have to be mean, but being able to articulate and critique people and their work is important. And creating a safe space for doing that is important. Obviously, you want to encourage and come from a point of like, I want you to reach your full potential with what you're doing, and work with them on trying to extract what it is that they're trying to do. And then be like, you know, here are different ways we can approach that, try it out, and you tell me what you think, you know? Yeah, that's been really good for me. I want to continue doing more of that.


Another thing that I want to say is like, here, we don't really have that kind of mentorship lineage. And by lineage, I mean a line that goes both ways. I feel like a lot of the North American culture is based on destroying the old and building the new. You see it in all aspects of our lived life here, whether it's tearing down heritage buildings to build condos and this and that, or in the art world, you know? I don't know too many groups who look both to people who have come before, but also people younger than them and continue the narrative by passing it through every channel, you know? I feel like here it's just really tough. The younger generation just kind of hates the generation older than them, and wants to basically like, shut them out. And then it's the same where the older generation feels like we're trying to take something away. There's no middle ground. And it's like, well, actually, we are all sitting on the same raft. So you better grab the paddle and row.

*laughs*

“It's the thing that my friend Brennan Green said to me years ago...He told me, don't ever believe the hype. I think about that all the time. If there is a lot of hype, there's probably something to be seen in-between that you should look at more closely.”

– Raf Reza

Yeah. I’m thinking about how much bigger Toronto would feel if it was more intergenerationally supported.

Yeah, I'd love to see it. Because we are actually into a lot of the same things, but we've just divided ourselves so much. It's the cliquey-ness, you know, which really hurts everybody. And, yeah, we need a bit of a cultural mentality shift to see more of these things. I don't know how we're going to achieve that, I actually don't know. All I can do is speak for myself, and live my life in the way that enables me to have that.

For me, it's going to shows where I don't really know most of the people there, or the group of promoters or the crowd is older than me, but I go anyway, because I'm into the music. I go there and I meet people there and have really exciting conversations with them and learn from them. Sometimes I'm the oldest person in the room and I’m learning from people younger than me and what's working for them and what their philosophies are. It's just absorbing as much information as you can to make a more informed decision moving forward. That's really what it boils down to, you know?

Yeah, yeah. And to your point about being on the same raft, it's like, we have no choice but to share the earth that we're on. It's not like we can really pick and choose who we're moving forward with. Our only choice really is like, to do things with one another or, like we sort of mentioned earlier, you can try to separate yourself off, but that would be really detached, I want to say, from from the reality that we're in.

Yeah, exactly.

Do you have a different area of creativity that you're curious about working in or a new method that you're curious about learning?

I've been kind of interested in teaching, the educational aspect of music and figuring out better ways to engage people in wanting to learn more, and be willing to learn more. It all goes back to trying to encourage openness and curiosity. I’ve been working with video and stuff. I don't know, I made a reel the other day about a record and it popped off, like people from everywhere were so into what I did. I was like, shocked, actually. And like, I don't have any of the pro video gear. I literally had a mic stand that I fit this like shitty Chinatown tripod. So I had it like, held up above my head, and I'm like, man, I've never made one of these before, but I'm gonna try and make it work. I thought that was really cool, you know, seeing how that brought a lot of people into understanding what I do in a more digestible way.  


I also really want to start getting involved with working with youth. I just did a video with this community center called Sketch, talking to them about how to get your music signed, streaming platforms, doing records, physical media, and all that sort of stuff. It was really fulfilling for me. I want to get into more of that kind of mentorship. I want to invest my time in the next generation, and maybe try and undo some of the things that just aren't quite right at the moment with intergenerational information and cultural exchange. And also, shit, like, I get tired now from gigging all the time. So I need to find other ways to supplement that. I think this is a good good way because I am sitting on a wealth of information I want to share with people. So right now I’m figuring out how to package it in a way that's digestible, but also incredibly helpful for people.

Yeah. Oh, that sounds awesome. And that's so funny about the video. I love when those things pleasantly surprise us.

I was incredibly surprised. I'm gonna try and put together something for tomorrow to post and just just do a little blurb. I don't talk too much in it. I try to keep my talking to about 15 seconds, just to introduce, in very, very point form, where it's from, if it has any significance to the culture where it comes from or if there’s any fun trivia about it. I just say that, and then I just play it. And then that's it. And I step out of the frame. My friends were saying that they love that they could see my flip flops in the video. It didn't look like it was overproduced. It felt like it was me. I really appreciated that. I've always been very mic shy so it's kind of nice to open myself up into that world a little bit more. So yeah.

That's awesome. I think when it's that natural, coming from a life's work of research it can culminate into something fun and playful and like easy, but also something only you could do, which is special.

Yeah, it's been really fun. So I'm definitely going to be doing more of that, cuz people seem to like it, and I'm enjoying doing it.  

“It’s like we're sewing this giant thing, you know, the rest of our lives. Every event is a stitch but also every conversation, everything we share with each other, it's just constantly, you know, adding a little bit of stitching to the thing, you know, that one day we'll get to admire, and then we'll pass it on to someone else to continue the work, you know?”

– Raf Reza

Is there a song movie phrase or anything that like, is on repeat in your mind right now? You've been stuck on?

Ah, I mean, I feel like there's one thing that stayed with me through the entirety of my practice. It's the thing that my friend Brennan Green said to me years ago, and I don't know if this can qualify.  He told me, don't ever believe the hype.


*laughs*


Which you know, I guess, circling back to the idea of feeling comfortable, don't get too comfortable with what you're doing. I think about that all the time. And looking outwards, too. If there is a lot of hype, there's probably something to be seen in-between it, you know, that you should look at more closely. So, yeah, I think that's that's the one, don't ever believe the hype.

Oh, that's very wise. Was there anything about him that made you like, you know, trust those words coming from that person?

He was my mentor. He was my mentor when I was in my early 20s during a tough phase in my life. Him and I became friends. He's a lot older than me, 15 years older than me. He mentored me and pushed me to really take risks in my music. He also said this other thing, which was really funny, and like, kind of crushing at the time for me, but I realize what he meant by that now.


I sent him some tracks and he wrote me back. He said, Raf, you know, technically, it's good, but your music sounds like somebody who has only listened to house music their whole life. And I was really shocked by that. But I realize more and more everyday since that time, what he was really saying was to listen to other things and see how you can involve that in your creations. How I work on stuff now is I try to take qualities of things I like outside of the thing I’m making, and bring them in. Initially, it was a bit of a tough pill to swallow, but I'm really happy he said that to me.

Yeah, cool. I love it. What you just said was reminding me of how a lot of the time we focus on one thing and try to get really good at that one thing. And maybe that's the first step of the process that a lot of people have to go through, especially when we're first getting into a creative practice, or whatever it is. But then to start exploring other genres, it's like, you're kind of vulnerable again. You're back to basics, wobbling on your your feet a bit. I was thinking about just how hard that is for people. I think that we do less and less trying of new things as we get older. It’s sad because trying and being a novice at something actually makes us so much better at the things that we are already good at.

Yeah. Because you're like, activating the part of your brain that creates new connections, and that is always going to be useful in whatever you already know how to do. Learning how to use something new, or try something in a different way and blocking out time to give yourself that space to do it is so important. It really adds so much more, once you're on the other side of it. But yes, getting over the hump of not wanting to learn something new when you feel like you already have everything that you need because you've just been doing it for so long, you know, that'll bite you. And then you know, you're gonna be like, fuck, now I'm not relevant to nobody, including myself, because I haven't innovated, you know? 


I think being open to innovation and learning how to do new things and like, making yourself a little kid again, you know, is is important. That's all just part of the cycle. I feel like, every week, I'm like reborn, you know. A new version of my practice is reborn every time I learn something new or approach things in a different way. I just can't stress enough how important that is to my practice, and that's also why I never get bored of what I'm doing. It never feels like a chore, you know. And, yeah, I hope it stays that way. And I think it will if I continue to approach things like this. But again, really hard for bookers, you know, to know what I'm about. But hopefully things like this will help people understand that this is an okay way to approach your practice, regardless of what the medium is, you know?

“So that's I think, kind of how I won promoters over, by being willing to return again and work with them instead of taking something with a higher payout. I'm like, no, let's develop what we're doing so we can both grow.”

– Raf Reza

Yeah, absolutely. I feel like it's more genuine and more like, human to work this way but it just involves some of that, like, awkward beginning stages. I know it's hard for people to feel like, uncool, if you will. The last thing I'm going to ask you, is about the group that you're working with in Bangladesh, and if you wanted to say anything about what is really exciting you about that?

Yeah, sure. So, basically, for the majority of me being involved in like DJing and producing here in Toronto, I have not had an opportunity to collaborate with other Bangladeshis. And one big reason is that I think a lot of people in my diaspora again, they they see music as a novel thing and even though we come from like a pretty old culture of very artistically rich output, it's not really a common path that people pursue or even consider that it's something they can do. So like I've pretty much, more or less, played in a lot of communities outside of that. And then last year I started working with a collective here who are doing some really interesting stuff. They're so young, first of all, and also, they don't have many reference points, really. They are connected with people in Dhaka and we don't have any history of this in Dhaka, really. It's so new. It is kind of a new isolated thing, which has its own merits and benefits, you know, creatively speaking. There's some really, really talented people doing stuff there now. Obviously, I think the internet has helped a lot to democratize things and software and stuff.  I want to go there and check out what they're doing and be a part of that.


I think other South Asian cultures have been really good at documenting their diasporic experience through music and art. The Bengalis just haven't been able to do it in the same way. There are little blips kind of throughout the last 30 years since the 90s of crews and collectives, but even the biggest one, Sounds of the Asian Underground, the person who was running it, Sam Zaman, passed away quite young. I kind of want to take their ethos and bring it to what we're doing, and create a platform that's like, for us by us and put ourselves on the map. It feels really cool to be at the front of the nose of this thing right now. We are watching it happen as we build it, and hopefully getting those artists over there to come here and perform, not just for our community, but beyond, and help them out because they're really good at what they do. We're basically trying to create our own voice for people in electronic music coming from Bangladesh, whether they live in a diasporic community, or are living in Bangladesh, but don't really have a community there. We're trying to build that bridge right now.


So it's super exciting being involved in that and also an incredible surprise. I didn't think this was ever gonna happen for me. So now I feel really lucky to be a part of the crew and they're doing great stuff. There's like multiple little crews all throughout Bangladesh doing this and they're facing a lot of challenges. The police crackdown on everything, especially in the queer community. Like, there was a raid literally, like, a couple days ago, and my friend was at it and like, like, the person organizing it who is like, 18, is like out a few grand right now. Everything's confiscated by the police, who you will then have to bribe to get everything back. It's corrupt, too. So this is what we're working with. But you know, we're trying to figure it out, and hopefully make the climate a little bit better for people doing what we're doing over there and over here.

Yeah, it's encouraging to know that point of connection exists and that you can sort of know and support things happening all over the world and in these underground scenes.

Yeah, it's cool. And I feel this, like carte blanche kind of excitement, knowing that I'll have an opportunity to play there, if things work out with grants and stuff. So yeah, we'll see where it goes. It's so young still, this whole movement, we are literally just building it as it comes. Yeah, I'll keep you informed on that.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like an amazing project dude. You guys deserve all the grants.

 I hope to to see it. Yeah. It'll be good.

Is there anything you want to add before we wrap up?

I would like to thank everyone who’s tuned into this, and hope that it might inspire you. PEACE!

RAF REZA

RAF REZA IS A TORONTO BASED DJ AND PRODUCER STITCHING THE SONIC LINKS BETWEEN THE SEEMINGLY UNRELATED.

Raf has touched many corners of Toronto’s music community over the last 10 years. Between curating the bins at Standard Time Record Shop and now running his record label Orphic Apparition, his ears are tuned to music coming from both the local and international community. His DJ and Live sets are genre-fluid in nature where tracks flow through a variety of tempos and sonic palettes. A handful of releases under Raf Reza and various aliases give nods to a well’s worth of influences. The elastic nature of his musical expression took him across several venues beyond North America, United Kingdom and Europe. You can also catch him on various internet radio stations such as NTS Radio, Clyde Built Radio (Glasgow) and more. Raf’s limitless reach will continue to morph the musical boundaries within dance-floors.