Sarah Farina
DJ | Producer
What happens when you combine footwork, juke, ghetto house, R&B, UK Funky and DnB? You get Rainbowbass.
Berlin-based DJ, producer and activist Sarah Farina uses this self-produced term to describe her sound. Influenced by the early releases of Aphex Twin, Missy Elliott and J Dilla, Sarah’s collection is as diverse as those three artists in the same sentence.
As founder and resident DJ of OHM’s Rec Room party alongside DJ Uta, Kepler and LUZ1E, Sarah is celebrated for her sets and tracks which bounce between high energy and low-slung bass. She manages to get the balance just right when it comes to merging a myriad of melodies from 90’s Chicago house to present-day productions of UKG, grime, jungle, baile funk and much more.
Previous bookings at Berghain, ://about blank, Circus in Tokyo, The Square Place in Uganda, Melkweg in Amsterdam and many more have helped to get her name across the globe. While on tour, Sarah also taught DJ workshops in Rwanda, Uganda, Alexandria, and Detroit along the way to show that music, DJing and club culture is beyond the idea of just producing or consuming it.
The pandemic has obviously made an impact on Sarah’s schedule but she hasn’t let this get in the way of her work and maintains an active online presence via HÖR and Transmission. Along with Dr Kerstin Meißner, the two women run Transmission to amplify the political relevance and history of international sound, club and rave culture to enable social justice and co-create safe and inclusive dance floors. Through their podcasts and toolbox list, there is a wealth of resourceful and relevant information in the archives to keep the momentum going around these topics, some of which never came to light in mainstream media until earlier this year.
Going back to an iconic moment with DJ Rashad, Sarah travels down memory lane with the below image, and shares what she has observed over the last few months and how this has affected her way of thinking…
Photo: Unknown
Where was this photo taken and why did you choose it? What was the music vibe at the time?
This photo was taken on 22nd of March in 2013 at Festsaal Kreuzberg Berlin. The night was presented by Urban Mutations Berlin (DJ Wen & DJ MFK). You can see me playing next to DJ Rashad, who was a pioneer of the footwork/juke genre from Chicago.
Unfortunately he passed away in 2014…he was one of the sweetest music people I’ve ever met. That night was very special and it was an honour for me to warm the crowd up for him and the vibe was insane! The club was packed and people were dancing without a break, which is remarkable ‘cause juke and footwork music can be quite challenging for some because the tempo of the music is usually around 150 to 160 BPM.
It was also the first time we had met and we instantly had a connection and started swapping music. DJ Rashad really lifted the electronic music genre up to another level like no one else and his music is still so timeless. I feel very lucky and privelged that I got to spend some time with him. And if you don’t know his music make sure to check it out and follow the Teklife crew for more.
How have you been over the last few months and what's life like in Berlin these days?
The last few months have been quite intense in all forms. I feel like I experienced all the feels haha. Being in Berlin as an artist right now means being in an extremely privileged position. In comparison to other countries, artists in Berlin got support and I can still somehow continue being self-employed.
It’s still tough though because I basically can’t do my job like I used to anymore but I try to trust the process too. As we all know the only constant thing in life is change.
Through this time I also starting connecting music and politics more and more which is something I already did but not on such a level. Beginning of this year I started the project ‘Transmission’ with researcher Kerstin Meißner, which aims to make the political relevance and history of international sound, club and rave culture audible and visible.
And we started producing a podcast called ‘Politics Of The Dance Floor’ in collaboration with one of Berlin’s cultural institutions called Haus der Kulturen der Welt.
Your RA bio describes you as 'the smiling antithesis of genre cliques and sour scene elitists'. Do you think there will be less of a sense of elitism in the music industry and dance music scene when the pandemic eventually comes to an end?
I guess that’s up to all of us. We should all use this time to reflect on the dance floor and the club scene…what kind of dance floor do we want to create? What kind of dance floor did we have? Who had access to the hedonistic style of raving? Who didn’t? There is so much to unpack.
I also find it quite weird how many DJs kind of started touring again…I 100% understand that we all miss the dance floor but I find it very problematic. If those privileged rich DJs care so much about the scene, why not stay at home and donate instead? I actually would love to talk to some of them to understand their motives better.
And elitism will always be there as long as we live in a capitalist system but in general I hope we find ways to build alternatives, more transparency, more solidarity, more normalising checking ourselves, more calling-in than calling folks out. And we can practice the things we wish for already today in our daily lives to some extend. Through that you can get a glimpse of what the world you wish for could look and feel like, which can be motivating and can turn things eventually into reality.
At this moment in time, how do you feel about the future?
I feel all kinds of things regarding the future. Sometimes I feel like it’s all a shitshow but mostly I feel hopeful. Covid has really exposed so many things on a global scale but also on a personal level.
At the same time it has intensified the problems that have always been there and made them even more visible. I think that through that, we all have a chance to really check ourselves and ask us basic questions like: what do I actually want to do with my life? This kind of forced self-reflection can be quite painful for some and can trigger anxiety, for others I think it is actually fun to explore where they want to go.
Everyone who is part of the music industry has a responsibility and I hope all of us use this time for critical (self)reflection that hopefully becomes normalised.
Have you discovered any under-the-radar artists recently who the world needs to know about? If so, who are they and tell us more…
I’ve been really into the music of OSSX and Xyla. They both produce really cute music that intersects with jungle, juke and bmore.
What’s the one thing that has remained a constant source of comfort or escapism for you throughout the year so far?
Through the current situation I was actually more in nature than the year before and that’s something I really enjoyed.
We consume so much on a daily basis, it is unnatural, our brains are not used to that. I realised we need to rest more…but being able to rest is a privilege, so we need to hold space for those who don’t often have this privilege.
Listen to Sarah’s latest mix for Balance Festival here and follow her below: