One of the blessings in music is the exposure to new cultures that you receive. You can gain insight into different regions of your own country or, if you're lucky enough, you can mentally travel to another continent and feel like a local. If you've ever been to a Fatima Hajji show, you may have a passport stamp for Spain and not even know it. The Techno DJ and producer fully embraced her ethnic roots and has integrated the sounds into her music, carving out her own niche in the Dance world. And despite not being able to speak the language of every country she visits on tour, she relies on her ability to move crowds with the emotions she can evoke through the music.
Fatima Hajji is unabashedly herself on stage and in the studio. Her pride in her heritage stems from her family when she was young. Her father, from Morocco, met her mother, who is from Spain, while working in Andorra. Once they moved to Salamanca, where Fatima was born, her father often played Arabic music as a way to stay connected to his roots. Some years later, her brothers started to listen to Rock, local Punk, and finally Techno… and more Techno. Although she was too young to attend parties, she "stole" her brothers' K7 (cassette deck) and that's the way she got her fix for her addiction to bass:
"I got connected [to] it immediately. The bass, the sound, and the pressure, all was new and irresistibly delicious."
Then at 15, already working a job, Fatima passed by a flyer posted up by a DJ academy. It caught her attention and without telling anybody, she attended classes for 3-4 months. Making enough progress in that short amount of time, her instructor signed her up for a local contest. And just like that, in front of all of her friends and brothers, she took home 1st place. She would continue DJing all over the continent and South America for another 10 years before she caught the production bug. When she felt the urge to create her own music, she moved from Salamanca to Madrid to take up proper education on production. She admits that it's a long path to take on but "it's a pleasure once you can do a track with your own taste and personal touch, and on top of this when you test it on a club and people [go] mad, you know that [it's] really worth it."
Seven years later since picking up the new skill, Fatima has put out several Techno and Hard Techno tracks under her own label, Taikatta Records. It's also a platform for her to host her own radio show, which keep her up to date on new Techno sounds for the weekend, giving her confidence in new sets to get the people moving. Aside from her international sampling, she also notes a difference in her BPM range from other Techno producers. Whereas she produces around 145, tops, other artists are producing at almost 150. When we asked her about her inclusion of sounds even outside of Arabic culture, she gave a deeper explanation than we had anticipated:
"When I catch a rooty vocal I'm focusing on the feeling this voice is transmitting [rather] than the real meaning of the words-his feeling is something bigger and [more] pure than any possible argument, and it's universal. I love to mix different roots on a same set. Music is a way to communicate so I just try to use those I really feel inside me. While I'm playing an 'energetic' set I'm trying to ride the people to the high, dancing. The pressure needs to be so high and I want to give them time to breathe, smile, and feel the happiness, without distortion, [with] clean basses and mix this all with melodies and vocals, and start again with the pressure-and the fat bass to keep the vibe into the way of adrenaline. "
Live on stage, Fatima knows exactly how to direct her fans to that "high." Part of that is the duality to her sound, as described at the end of her Facebook profile: "Fatima is Hard & Hajji will always be Techno." She's proud of being a part of both subgenres and to her, the end goal is the same: let the people have a great time. For her, "Techno is a powerful and great tool that allows us, as individual people, to be mentally connected with the group, as humans have been doing from the very beginning with music. It's something tribal. Hard Techno is a branch of Techno that has the same features, just on a faster way and with more strength." So with a mastery of both under her belt, she's able to conduct the energy for the night. You'll also notice that she doesn't use a laptop when she performs. Since she grew up using vinyl and it's impractical to carry around crates to her shows, she settles for the closest thing in her mind, which is CDs since "the small thing of seek for the next CD is the closest I can be to search for a vinyl in my bag." We're pretty sure that Fatima would fare just fine even without her CDs.
Last Call
1. What is your favorite movie of all time?August Rush
2. As a young DJ, who was the one DJ you looked up to?To be honest I never looked up to anyone. I love different details from many DJs. From everyone you can learn and I love this. If I have to mention one, Carl Cox for sure.
3. As a DJ, what's your biggest pet peeve?Complaints between styles. If I don't like something, I don't want to spend your time listening to it and complaining. Can´t understand this.
4. What is your current set up at home?DJ: 3x Pioneer 2000 CDJs, 2x MK5G decks, 1 Pioneer 2000 mixer.
Production: I'm working with a Mac, using Ableton Live for production, and sometimes mastering with Logic Pro.
5. What's your favorite record of all time?Mori Kante - "Yeke Yeke"
Keep up with Fatima Hajji on her Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter.