ANNA over the last 2 years has been one of the most sought after young techno artists worldwide. The Brazilian DJ/Producer is often recruited for every stand out techno festival lineup and her production skills are praised by most of her peers. We spoke to her recently to discuss her appearance at Backyard Sessions next weekend in Malmo, Sweden, and what else she has coming up in the not too distant future….
How long do you look for new music and where do you look? How much of your set is new vs old music?
Usually when I am home I take the time to be in the studio and recently I am playing most of my own productions. When I am on the road I take the time to do my research and listen to music from other artists. I receive a lot of promo and also I listen to digital stores like Beatport, Juno, Decks. Spotify is helping me to discover a lot of new stuff too. Most of my set is new stuff, but I like to play some classics sometimes or some old stuff from 10 years ago for example.
You play Backyard Sessions in Malmo soon – what should people expect, where are you at style wise right now?
I will play a lot of unreleased stuff of mine. I’ve been working a lot in the studio and I like to test my new tracks on the road. People can’t wait for some Techno of course, a little trippy, sometimes darker, always groovy.
It is a party about diversity and equality. Do you feel the dance scene is diverse and there are fair chances for everyone or is there still work to be done?
I think in general yes, but we still have to work on some wrong visions. What I see now and in all of my years in the dance music industry is that we have to work much more to be heard. Today things changing a bit, but still, when people see a women in the booth they think she is there for everything, but not for her talent. We have to prove ourselves all the time. We have to change this vision. I recently saw a guy saying to a woman that to succeed in this business she has to loose all her femininty, I was shocked! So yes, for sure there is a lot of work to be done.
Have you played or visited in Sweden before?
I played just once, in Stockholm, but I forgot the name of the place but it had a great vibe!
And how is the dance scene, is the underground taking off, are young producers coming through now?
Brazil is mostly commercial but we have some amazing clubs for underground music, one of the best in the world, like Warung and D-Edge. I see now a lot of interest of younger people in the underground music, I receive a lot of messages from them sending me new music to have a listen and they say they want me to hear because they did something different and wanted to show me. Two years ago it didn’t happen, I am very happy to see this movement happening there.
What sounds are popular there? Is it still quite commercial or do you have an audience?
It is quite comercial yet but it is a great moment for underground, people are more open to listen to new and different stuff. Techno is big there at the moment. I moved from Brazil two years ago because I could not play my sound, I could not express myself the way I wanted but now when I come back to play there and I have an amazing time, things changed, for me and for the whole scene as well.
What else have you got moving up/are you working on?
I am working on my album that is why I didn’t release so much this year. But I still have a remix for Tiga & Audion coming up in September.
What do you know now you wish you had known when you first started out?
Meditation. It changed my life and I just learned about it 6 years ago.
Thanks for talking to us and we look forward to hearing you at Backyard Sessions 🙂
Backyard Sessions takes place in Malmo, Sweden on the 26th/27th of August, grab your tickets here.