Dreams Not Memes Podcast

I spoke to full time punk, organizer and anti capitalist Shaiful from Singapore. Shaiful is the founder of Prohibted Projects a booking agency and punk distro based in Singapore. In our conversation we discuss anti capitalism, living without the dependency of money, and his future dreams towards alternative culture and the elderly. Find out more on Dreams Not Memes Podcast. 

In her 15 years long DJ-route Miia Magia has been travelling from Britpop and Nu Disco to Deep House and Techno. DJing, organizing parties and earning residencies at the legendary Helsinki clubs such as Semifinal, DTM and mbar made her a diverse and open minded DJ. Alongside her own club nights she's been invited to play for all the main cities in Finland and also to Tallinn, Valencia and Madrid. On her way she's been privileged to support her Finnish favourites to name a few; Roberto Rodriguez and Milla Lehto.

Living and breathing the Stockholm scene between 2015 to 2019 made her dive even more into her own sound, best to be described as deep and moody to sharp and groovy. While playing at the underground raves and clubs she was rewarded to support her favourite artists such as Axel Boman, Benjamin Mull, Cari Lekebusch, Damien Eie and DJ Hell.

Moving back to her roots to Helsinki for the new decade she's been focusing to produce music and run her own club & podcast concept Motto. 

Miia is not only a musician she is also a make up artist.  When Miia turned her multitalented hands to make-up her approach was simple: It should follow minimal principles to let female inner beauty radiate from underneath the skin. One of her most important values is to follow and promote clean and ecological skin care and make up products. Like her unique approach to jewellery designs and DJ-ing, Miia's make-up career stems from her time as a successful teenage gymnast. Practice makes perfect and her years of practice will make your face look as perfect as you want it to be.

She has worked with The Finnish National Rhythmic Gymnastic Junior Team, Dancer Nikeata Thompson, Pin Up Helsinki® and musicians such as John Blackwell and Cassandra O'Neal (best known as the drummer and the keyboard player of Prince), Sin Cos Tan, Ismo Alanko and Benjamin Ingrosso. In the year 2012 she was also competing in the Finnish Team at Wella International Trend Vision Award Show in Madrid.

As a fashion designer, Miia's striving for perfection is at the heart of her design philosophy. Her jewellery collections flicker with the strength, flexibility, balance and style that made her a successful teenage gymnast and talented dressmaker. In the early 2000's after her graduation as a dressmaker, she got a call to visit Central Saint Martins (College of Arts and Design) in London. During her visit she was a seamstress at the Fashion Design students final thesis. This experience was very significant and made a great impact on her future ventures.

After ten years she created her own Scandinavian design label Miia Magia Design. Since that she has approached jewellery design as a work of art, which is why each individual piece is the very definition of unyielding excellence. Whether you like surgical steel, chandelier crystals, zippers or hardware materials, Miia's hand made collections have something to compliment your look. All the materials are carefully selected to promise a quality of long lasting slow fashion.

Learn more on today's episode of Dreams Not Memes Podcast. 

Webpage: www.miiamagia.com

Instagram:

@djmiiamagia

@miiamagiadesign

@mottosonorecords

Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/miia-magia

https://soundcloud.com/mottosono

Patricia Ligia is a bass player and composer from Montevideo, Uruguay. She started studying music at the age of 9, but not until the age of 14 she grabbed the electric bass and immediately fell for it. Currently she is living in Boston, where she graduated in Jazz Composition and Performance in Berklee College of Music.

Patricia's musical training is very diverse, a mix of self-taught and formal academic. Always in pursuit of her musical concerns and interests! Her curiosity has led her to establish a musical relationship with her neighboring country, Brazil, since an early age. She has studied with distinguished bass players (Arthur Maia and Itiberé Zwarg) and participated in musical festivals in Curitiba, Rio de Janerio and São Paulo between 2012 and 2015.

In 2016 she won the FECFA Scholarship (Stimulus Fund for Artistic Creation and Training) in Uruguay which helped her to participate in a 3-week residency in Nashville, TN with Bassist Victor Wooten. There she met Steve Beiley, current chair of the Bass Department at Berklee, who urged her to audition for Berklee. One year later she was able to audition and received the scholarship that allowed her to come to Boston in 2018. She has been recognized by the Berklee Bass Department with the Jimmy Haslip Endowed Scholarship Award (2019), the Mike Gordon Award (2020), and from the Jazz Composition Department with the Melva Liston Award (2020) and Gil Evans Award (2021).

Patricia is the leader and collaborates with several musical projects in Boston. She’s co- founder of the band Mestizas; a musical group specialized in the fusion of flamenco, jazz, and various Latin American and Caribbean folklore genres, where she plays bass, sings, and arranges the music. She’s also the bass player of the band The Timba Messengers; a group where Cuban music and Latin Jazz is a pillar in the repertoire.

Social Media:

IG: patricia_ligia_

FB: Patricia Ligia

YT: Patricia Ligia

I spoke to the founder of The Plugger Mag and internationally published travel journalist, Camilla. Camilla is a Portugal-based writer. She began working around the music business as a project manager for a music festival. Born in Brazil, she is a girl from Rio and a member of She Is The Music as well as Women In Music.

Her nomad heart made her travel the world, but she came back to her first love, the music. In our conversation we discuss Camilla's journey and how she committed her life to her music community and starting Plugger Mag. Find out more on Dreams Not Memes. 

https://thepluggermag.com/

Jimena Caballero is a singer-songwriter, composer and pianist from Mexico City. She began studying piano at the age of 7, and became interested in songwriting at an early age. She was awarded a talent scholarship to go to Interlochen Summer Arts Camp twice. In 2017, he was awarded a talent scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music, where he is currently studying Songwriting.

Since then, she has received different awards, such as the Latin Grammy Foundation Scholarship twice, the Pat Pattison Award in Songwriting, the Jack Maher Award for Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting, the Mili Bermejo Scholarship for Voice, and the Student Employment Award. Jimena has shared the stage with several artists, including Herbie Hancock, Lang Lang, Armando Manzanero, Dani Martín (singer of El Canto del Loco), among others. She has performed in different venues such as the O2 Arena in Berlin, the Bob Carr Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, the Sala Roberto Cantoral in Mexico City and the Teatro Macedonio Alcalá in Oaxaca.

She is currently working as an intern at the television and film music companies Spirit Music Collective and Spirit Production Music. Jimena continues to work towards becoming a professional singer/songwriter and composer.

Find out more about Jimena on Dreams Not Memes. 

Socials

IG: mena.musica

FB: @musicmena

I spoke to Brett Lucas of Australia. Brett Lucas has been involved in the arts since he was a child, attending Victorian College of the Arts and performing as a freelancer performing with the Melbourne Symphony, State Orchestra of Victoria, Australian Ballet, Australian Opera and many other professional Arts organizations, all before the age of 19. 

After getting his degree in performance, he went on to complete his teaching degree, where his passion for performing soon developed into inspiring and encouraging the next generation to go after their dreams. In 2009, Brett realized the corporate lifestyle didn’t give him any value and he didn’t feel like he was helping people to the best of his ability. He put his MBA on hold and began working as a social worker, where he was able to develop a better understanding of social change and how he could be a part of that change. Brett went on to complete his MBA but this time with a focus on social impact. 

With such a broad range of experience, Brett is able to use his skills to create a well-rounded experience for his students. Since taking over The Academy of Music Dance Drama in 2018, Brett has completely reinvented the school. Enrollment has more than tripled, class offerings have expanded, and a large focus has shifted on growing the confidence and creativity of each student. “I am on a mission to empower the creative minds and create more creative markets,” says Brett. “It’s not just the promise of the ‘belting out the ballad’ Celine Dion-style or making it on X-Factor. I want performers to make a difference to their own happiness whatever it may be, through developing their own values and being part of the community.” 

Now that the success of The Academy of Music Dance Drama has taken off, Brett is in the process of completing his Master of Laws at the University of New South Wales in order to grow the school even more and help the students understand all of the legal aspects of the performing industry. Brett is not only growing his school but also assisting other businesses and individuals in expanding their strategies in the arts. This multifaceted man is always learning, not just from his schooling, but from his students, and is always trying to be the best that he can be.

In our conversation we speak about Lucas' career experiences and his views towards education in the arts in Australia. Learn more on Dreams Not Memes. 

Website: https://musicdancedrama.com.au/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicdancedrama/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicdancedrama/

I spoke to Ronnie Grace a an independent Italian-Canadian singer-songwriter and performer from Venice, Italy. Raised bilingual, her first musical influences came from America and England, and although her primordial tastes are rooted in rock and soul, her music today is closer to DuaLipa and Mark Ronson's pop. In 2017 she took place in the Pordenone Blues Contest with the song "Lonely (for a long time)", winning first place. Currently she is studying theater at the “Lorenzo da Ponte Theater Academy" and works for various recording studios as a singer and songwriter. Since 2018 she has been part of the most important Abba tribute band in Italy “Abbashow” as Annie-Fried Lyngstad, with whom she has performed more than 200 concerts throughout the country and abroad. In 2019 she performed alongside Damien McFly in the prestigious international artists festival “SXSW: South by Southwest”, held every year in Austin, Texas. Later she flew to New York where she performed live in two of the most famous venues in the city: The Cafe Wha? and the Bitter End. Ronnie is currently working on some singles that will be released starting in 2021. In conversation Grace shares her story about becoming a musician, dealing with her own creative identity and her future goals. 

Find out more on Dreams Not Memes. 

Granted by Ronnie Grace 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siHIJ1wdgkg