The only way for me as a DJ to be relevant is to focus on those who are there to dance

I became a DJ because I had friends who were working with music and I felt that I wanted to participate, rather than just hanging around, at the parties they had organized. So I just downloaded a computer program during my Christmas holidays, began to mix music, thought it was fun and soon I got myself some more serious equipment.

It is important to find good music to play. I might hear a song somewhere and then I look it up on Spotify, then I browse through related artists, or if the song is included in a compilation I listen through all the songs on that album. If any of them are good I continue to look in that direction, thus it becomes like a chain of songs that I follow.

Before a gig I’m always very nervous. I find it hard to eat and I don’t get much else done that day, but I decide on which two songs that I’ll open with to have some kind of comfort to get started. When I see that people are dancing, that they are happy and respond to what I play, the tension goes away. Then it becomes enjoyable! Afterwards, if it has gone well, I feel sheer happiness, it’s really a special feeling.

I’m not inclined to play very hard techno, the important thing is that people are dancing and that there is a lot of energy. People may have different ideas about what it means to go out, but the only way for me as a DJ to be relevant is to focus on those who are there to dance. Therefore, the question I have to ask myself is: what are the ones who want to dance looking for? It could be that I should be playing more meditative music where you dance more within yourself and social interaction doesn’t matter that much, which is very different from other times when people dance in circles and have much more contact with each other. This second kind of dancing requires a completely different type of music, might even be something that one can sing along to. Also, I can control this a bit by what music I choose to start playing.

If I would, as you asked, compare a DJ to others who perform alone before an audience, such as a stand-up comedian or an actor doing a monologue, I have a great advantage in that I don’t need to have done everything myself. Of course a comedian can borrow jokes from others, but I can have a gigantic library of songs and I do not personally have to answer for every song I play. If the audience doesn’t respond to one song, I can try another from a different genre. In that way, I’m not as exposed. But of course, it would be a pain if I tried with all my best songs and the dance floor was emptied anyway.

At first it is fun to feel a bit cool and so on, just like you asked me if it is feels like that to be a DJ, but then it probably takes something more to continue. I spend an enormous amount of time listening to music and if I didn’t think that in itself was interesting, I don’t think I would continue as a DJ.

I play at different places all the time. When I have a gig, I usually don’t know anyone there, maybe I have just emailed a bit with the organizer beforehand. It would be fun to sometimes have someone to select songs, listen to music, be nervous and do gigs together with.

I have a master in engineering. When I started as a DJ, I had a regular job and very regular routines. At that point the gigs were the only things that got me nervous, everything else in my life was safe. Some of the gigs I’ve done have been such that I’ve been on a stage and played to an audience rather than in a protected DJ booth. To dare to do that, I had to gather courage and challenge myself. Overcoming such fears is also part of what makes it fun to be a DJ. I also think it has trained me to dare to do new things, which I think contributed to the fact that I later dared to resign from my permanent job which I didn’t enjoy.

Once a little girl, maybe nine years old, came up to me and asked,
-Are you DJ for real, like Avicii?
Of course I know that there are really big DJs who have a world wide audience, but I read somewhere that Avicii does three hundred shows a year. I find it hard to believe that he really enjoys it. What I want with my DJing now is to get to play at a bit bigger festivals. Going abroad to play is also great fun. When one takes the music from here and out in the world you can really surprise the audience, and at the same time it is a greater challenge. I did it a little this summer and I would like to continue with that.

Note: If you would like to listen to the music of DJ Elena Håård, try her SoundCloud website: http://soundcloud.com/elenahaard

Hur ska det gå för Skara? Del 1

Idag är jag här i Skara tillsammans med min man för att besiktiga bilen. Vi bor ungefär 20 minuters bilresa från Skara. Vi har två barn och ett till är på väg. Jag är 23 år och har aldrig haft ett jobb. Min man har också haft svårt att få arbete i perioder, men just nu har han precis fått ett nytt jobb som telefonförsäljare.

Det var svårt för mig i skolan och därför tyckte jag heller inte att det var roligt. Jag gick inte alltid på lektionerna. När jag började gymnasiet gick jag programmet barn och fritid. Då fick jag reda på att jag hade dyslexi. Det var skönt att få reda på vad det berodde på att jag hade svårt att följa med i skolan. Jag tycker det är synd att jag fick veta om dyslexin så sent i livet och att lärarna i grundskolan inte kunde hjälpa mig. Jag kan läsa, men det går långsamt, särskilt om det är nya texter. Men sagorna jag läser för barnen kan jag.

Om 12 år är mitt äldsta barn nästan vuxet själv. Jag vill vara en förebild för mina barn. Man kan vara det på fler sätt än bara genom att ha god ekonomi och lång utbildning. Jag tycker det är viktigt att man är en varm och kärleksfull människa och att barnen växer upp i en varm och kärleksfull familj.

Jag ser ljust på framtiden. Jag tror att det kommer att gå bra för mig och min familj. Jag måste klara av att skaffa ett jobb själv. Ingen kommer hjälpa till med det, utan man måste ordna saker och ting på egen hand. Men jag vet inte just nu vad jag kommer att jobba med i framtiden.