On India tour, a legendary DJ couple brings focus to the rebellious roots of electronic music

German DJ-producer Tama Sumo, who played at Chennai’s Mount Road Social recently, talks about electronic music’s forgotten socio-political undercurrents, away from the elite experience that it is today.
On India tour, a legendary DJ couple brings focus to the rebellious roots of electronic music
On India tour, a legendary DJ couple brings focus to the rebellious roots of electronic music
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When German DJ and producer Tama Sumo started her journey with electronic music 30 years ago, the Berlin Wall had just been brought down. Partying at underground venues in Berlin wasn’t just about letting loose and having fun. “The whole thing felt revolutionary. The music reflected our desire to reject the general politics. The music carried a message of hope,” she says.

Lauded as one of the world’s finest house and techno artists, she is also a veteran from an era not many young listeners of electronic music today know of. Back when electronic music wasn’t a booming billion dollar industry with magnificent stage productions and visual effects, Tama Sumo, born Kerstin Egert in Bavaria, started playing in dingy bunkers and expansive buildings which became unoccupied overnight due to the fall of the Soviet Union.

“There was a sense of rebelling and raging against what was normative in society then. Clubs often felt then like a great leveller, where what you did for work or your background played no significant role,” she recounts, as we sit down for a pre-gig chat at the spanking new Mount Road Social in Chennai. The gig was organised by Levitate and Flip Mag.

Tama’s partner Lakuti has her origins thousands of miles away, in South Africa. As Tama was discovering house and techno in the dark corners of Berlin, Soweto-born Lakuti and her friends were experimenting with the same music at small clubs in Johannesburg, as their people continued their brave and defiant battle against apartheid.

It wasn’t just their music that was unifying, they had both grown up in fractured societies which were then limping out of the ravages of war and racial distrust. “Even though we come from different backgrounds (Johannesburg and Berlin), we have a lot of similarities in terms of the records we listened to then. Young poor and black kids in Jo’burg had a voice. The LGBTIQ community had spaces to create and express outside of the judgemental eyes of society,” Lakuti points out.

Today, Tama Sumo is a resident artist at a prestigious club in Berlin and tours the world extensively. Lakuti isn’t just an artist, but also a music entrepreneur. She owns and runs an artist management agency and record label called Uzuri. Both of them live in Berlin.

Looking back at their journey and reflecting on the evolution of the electronic music scene, they say that it has become more elite today. “It has become mostly inaccessible to people from poorer backgrounds, what with high door charges and expensive drinks. In many ways it has also strayed from its queer, Black and Latino roots,” they say.

“The roots of house and techno were definitely political,” Tama Sumo says, “a rebellion against and also a much needed part-time escape from social and political structures. Daily struggles due to racism and homophobia were (and still are) a reality for Black people, Latin Americans, queer and transgender people.” Lakuti then chips in, “And house & techno music and parties for us were one way of protesting against this reality, from our own communities and families to empower each other. To quote Robert Hood, underground resistance was in no way a euphemism, but a reality.”

“It felt like the marginalised were taking centre stage and everything was possible,” Tama Sumo says.

That’s not how they think it is today. “We both think that for some people, the message is lost and clubbing has become one dimensional, more about hedonism rather than a life-affirming and life-changing experience,” Lakuti says. However, it is not all bad. “There are a lot of people wanting to fight to keep the dance floor more inclusive and colourful and true to its roots,” Lakuti says, as Tama Sumo adds, “The dance floor can still be a social equaliser. It depends on the vision of the promoters, staff and guests, and what they are willing to put on the table.”

This has been largely true in the Indian experience too, the class-exclusivity of electronic music scene notwithstanding. Many Indian clubs and promoters have taken efforts to make their parties safe spaces for LGBTQ people, albeit from the upper classes.

As a veteran couple, Tama Sumo and Lakuti have been mindful of not forgetting their music’s roots. They signed a letter condemning islamophobia in the wake of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting and have criticised the lack of female visibility in the industry. In 2013, Tama Sumo staged a kiss-in with same-sex couples as a protest against homophobic and sexist comments. “For us it is important that the music that we are playing and highlighting carries emotion, some kind of spirituality, and we don’t shy away from that. Art should reflect and act upon injustice as well.”

Doing that isn’t easy, and requires courage. Take for instance BLOT!, one of India’s most popular electronic music producers today. Amidst the ongoing social-political upheaval in India, and mass uprising against the Hindu right-wing BJP government and its citizenship laws, BLOT! was among the many electronic music artist to speak up – loudly and in no uncertain terms, on his social media pages. Some of his later posts indicated that he might have faced blowback from his own fans for speaking out.

One of the ways electronic music can remain rooted to the people is promotion of local talents, say Lakuti and Tama Sumo. “Local talent acts as a bedrock for any thriving and good scene. With the right support by promoters, local talent can anchor the night and build community,” Tama Sumo says.

Lakuti adds, “Also it is beautiful to experience how your resident DJs or live-acts and the crowd kind of develop together and nurture each other. It is also important to give young talent the chance and the place to experiment, try themselves out, find their pace.”

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