Club Chai’s 8ULENTINA shines a spotlight on non-Western sounds on this rapid-fire, club-focused mix.
Growing up in San Diego, Esra Canoğulları soon realized the limitations of their location. They learned to DJ at 15 years old, but without a community of like-minded collaborators, put the interest on hold until a move to Oakland almost a decade ago. There, Canoğulları was surrounded by inspiration and began to solidify a unique signature, blending sounds and conceptualizing an artistic space for women, trans people and people of color.
Canoğulları’s artist name, 8ULENTINA, is a nod to Turkish transwoman singer and actress Bülent Ersoy and highlights the fact that their creative process is an exploration of their family’s Turkish, Arab and Jewish roots. They were at an art event in Oakland, peeling cucumbers to make çoban salatası, a traditional Turkish salad, when they met Lara Sarkissian, aka FOOZOOL, a local artist and filmmaker who instantly recognized the dish.
The two bonded over their Middle Eastern heritage and shared passion for visual art, film making and music and before long they were collaborating regularly. Soon, the duo launched Club Chai, first a club night and later a record label and curatorial project.
8ULENTINA’s FACT mix is a rapid-fire blend of clattering percussion, Middle Eastern sounds and fragments of club music torn from often problematic roots and re-contextualized completely. Tear down walls, reject binaries, don’t assimilate – the future is here.
On Wednesday October 24, 8ULENTINA will be performing alongside FOOZOOL, Jasmine Infiniti and Quest?onmarc at Brooklyn’s Mood Ring.
Listen next: FACT mix 671 – FOOZOOL
