Longtime music devotee and former Valley Free Radio disc jockey Megha Amira, a.k.a. DJ megha, now hosts a bi-weekly hip-hop open mic night at Bishop's Lounge in Northampton, Meghawatt Mondays. The Advocate and DJ megha chatted via email this week about her new gig, her experiences playing music with prisoners and what it's like being a female DJ.
Advocate: How long have you been DJing?
DJ megha: I've been dancing and listening and loving music for a long time. Years ago, I had a reggae DJ boyfriend and I used to mess around on his equipiment, carry record crates, and occasionally jump on the mix at a house party. I've only been playing out seriously for the past year. Just this summer, I stayed with my parents so that I could save up some cash and finally afford my own sound system.
You said you were inspired to do a hip-hop open mic night because of your experiences on your radio show. Could you tell us about that?
My weekly radio show, "Creation Discotheque," ran for the past year on Valley Free Radio. I loved receiving live call-ins from local prison inmates. I would throw on beats and they would share the poetry and rhymes they had been working on. I felt like, in a way, the show was as much theirs as it was mine. Sadly, officials at Hampshire County Jail decided to block these calls to our station several months ago.
What do you hope to accomplish with Meghawatt Mondays?
I feel that providing a space, in any form, for people to interact with hip-hop culture in an active and creative way is empowering. Currently, mainstream hip-hop culture is presented to us in pre-packaged ways that only encourage the pseudo-creativity of consumerism. I think real, vibrant hip-hop culture was and still can be about building community through collective art-making. The open mic [is] about whoever shows up and what they want to create. I believe in the healing power of live rhyming and poetry-writing.
Is this open mic just for emcees, or are you encouraging poets and singers to participate as well? Do you provide background music, or can people bring their own music?
Singers and spoken-word artists will be welcome, but everyone will be encouraged to flow over beats. I've got a collection of hip-hop instrumentals and reggae riddims, both new and classic, and will be selecting [background beats] for the artists. If people want to bring their own beats, I can get them loaded up for the following week… I know we've got some great wannabe emcees, and I'm hoping that they'll feel welcome to come jump on the mic.
Do you find it hard to be a female DJ?
I do feel that the DJ and emcee cultures are quite male-dominated. Even very talented female artists are often not well-known… The hardest thing for me about being a female DJ is the pressure that I put on myself to represent. As one of only a few female DJs in the area, I feel like I need to work extra hard to mix well and sound nice. This is a challenge, since people had me performing out at all-female events before I really knew what I was doing. I used to joke with my friends about it being like affirmative action for female DJs. I know I've only been mixing for a short time compared to many of our local—male—DJs, but my heart is in it, and I practice every day. I've been dancing hard for a long time and I think I have the advantage of knowing what I like to dance to.
Meghawatt Mondays takes place every other Monday from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. (the open mic is the first hour, after which DJ megha and guest DJs spin) at Bishop's Lounge, 41 Strong Ave., Northampton, (413) 586-8900, www.mulinos.com, www.myspace.com/meghalaina.
