Dust, Emily

After an incredible DJ set set in 2018, Emily returns as the WOMEX Club Summit curator for a second year in 2020, bringing together the world's most exciting electronic acts.

A DJ, curator and broadcaster with an eye on global club trends and emerging sounds, Emily Dust is a regular on the BBC, where she produced and hosted a documentary on the South African sounds of gqom for the World Service and in 2020 a documentary on Berlin's club culture for BBC Radio 4. With such an obvious knack for creating a strong narrative, it's not surprising that Emily approaches her DJ sets in a similar fashion, expertly weaving through the threads that bring these disparate sounds together. Dancehall, Brazilian baile funk, Angolan kuduro and South African gqom are all in the mix, kept together with the bass-heavy sounds of her native UK.

It’s this considered ear that means she can play in so many settings and time slots, going back-to-back with UK funky legend Roska at Boomtown, playing the Tate Modern, a beach in Ghana, warming up for Octavian at Roskilde, playing in a car wash in Durban, an abandoned slaughterhouse in Belgrade, Uganda’s Nyege Nyege festival, or showcasing her Juntos project in Rio De Janeiro.

Her own shows can be found on Soho Radio and Worldwide FM where she’s done deep explorations of some of the world's most exciting musical scenes, and brought through new talent such as Rudeboyz, Badsista and VHOOR, or more established names like Scratcha DVA and Kojey Radical. She’s played on 1Xtra, KissFresh and Australian station Triple J.

Pre-pandemic 2020 saw Emily touring South Africa and Zimbabwe, following a life-changing trip last December to Zambia and Zimbabwe to teach DJ lessons to women for the British Council. She also presented an acclaimed documentary on Berlin's club culture interviewing the likes of Dimitri Hegemann of Tresor club, Room 4 Resistance and Freak De L'Afrique's Wallizz alongside his father the legendary Jimmy Bamba Sarr. This summer Emily was one of a select few to play several Glastonbury virtual events, representing The Common area of Glastonbury for the BBC's Glastonbury coverage, DJing for The Rum Shack livestream and at the notorious Shangri-La's VR festival Lost Horizon.

2019 saw Emily her play 5 sets at Glastonbury, as well as Roskilde Fesival (DK), Fusion Festival (DE), Sfinks (BE), Colours of Ostrava (CZ), Boomtown (UK), Shambala (UK) and many more. She also launched her latest club night, Baile LDN, and become club curator of WOMEX. She’s also bringing back Juntos, her collaborative EP series that brings together artists from the UK and Brazil, originally launched in 2016 to coincide with the Rio Olympics, with a new label set to launch soon.

Currently taking bookings for gigs and festivals 2019/2020 and open to discussions about agency representation.

Catch her hosting the panel Why DJ Culture Matters To Global Music on Thursday at 1600 BST

Mixes:
Mixmag - https://mixmag.net/feature/emily-dust-impact-mix-interview-q-and-a-global-club-music
Threads - https://www.mixcloud.com/ThreadsRadio/ill-measures-takeover-emily-dust-31-may-20/
Kiss Fresh - https://soundcloud.com/emilydust/emily-dust-kissfresh-final-mix2

Links:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000j1j7
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswhwp

Selected 2020-2019 shows:
Pussy Party (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Yours Truly (Cape Town, South Africa) curated by Simbad
Sunday Edition (Johannesburg, South Africa)
SO Creative festival (Zimbabwe)
Glastonbury festival (UK)
Roskilde festival (Denmark)
Fusion Festival festival (Germany)
Colours of Ostrava festival (Czech Republic)
Sfinks (Belgium)
Shambala festival (UK)
Africa Oye festival (UK)
All Points East festival (UK)
Kallida festival (UK)
Badehaus (Berlin, Germany)
Swing Ting (Manchester, UK)