Friday Q&A with a Bali resident.

This week Karina Stepina

Karina has appeared from out of nowhere on event flyers all over town recently. With her full, party-on attitude, good looks and classy track selection, she’s quickly become one of the most popular female DJs on the island. She’s seen spinning tunes from Uluwatu to Seminyak, Ubud and even down at Nusa Dua Beach on Sundays. With all this going on, The Beat decided it was time to investigate this young lady a little bit more.

Where are you from?
I was born in Bryansk – a very small city in Russia.

How old are you and how long you been in Bali?
I am 25 years old. Three years ago I moved from my small town to the capital Moscow and then decided to come to Bali for holidays. Now, I’ve been here for two years, haha. I periodically fly to Russia to visit my family, or go to other countries for performances, but in total I’ve been in Bali for about two years.

How did you first get into electronic music? Like, was there a certain moment it all made sense?
When I was at university I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life, but I knew for sure that it had to be something creative because I loved music as a child. I played guitar and piano, loved to sing and always listened to music. A lot of music. Three years ago a friend from my city told me something like: “Listen I’m going to open my own nightclub soon and I’m definitely going to need female DJs. Do you want to try?” I started practicing and when I performed at the club for the first time I knew instantly that this was it!
Only three years have passed since that moment but so much has already happened! Craaaazy…haha.

What do you think makes electronic music so good?
When I started playing, I played mostly rap and hip hop. Later when I started studying electronic music, I realized how diverse it was. You know, to find your favorite genre in electronic music you need to study at least three hundred different genres. Electronic is the most diverse music in terms of sub-genres and has the most diverse palette of sounds. Everyone can find in electronic something that can give a lot of emotions and moods without words, verses and choruses.

And how nice it is to find a favorite genre and after some time find a variation of it combined with something new. Electronic music can be different at different moments: quiet, cheerful, sad, energetic. It is capable of accompanying any human emotion. I think it’s all about that, about diversity, yeah.

Do you produce music?
Yes, I haven’t released anything, but the world will hear something from me soon.

How would you describe the music you make or play?
As I said, it all started with rap and hip hop. Nowadays, I still play that, but in the last year I’ve been playing house as well. Predominantly, Afro house.

So what is it about Afro house that pulls you now?
I fell in love with the genre here in Bali. It feels different here. The ocean, jungle, volcanoes. All this is so in tune with Afro rhythms.
Afro house is very diverse now. You know it can be light and melodic for a sunset, or it can be dark and synthetic for a nightclub. And most people here love Afro. This is our match.

What do you do in your spare time? Any other interests?
Basically, everything I do is related to music. Of course, sometimes I can go to the beach to watch the sunset and relax a little. Sometimes I can read, or watch a movie at home, but the rest of the time I spend in the studio. Because I realized that it is impossible to succeed at anything unless you dedicate almost all your time to it.

Where are you a resident, or regular DJ? Where can we find you?
I am a resident at the popular Afro house party «MOYO» at Tabu in Uluwatu on Wednesdays and exclusive resident DJ of the K-Club Group playing at KABANA, SARDINE, LES TOILETTES and their very tasteful Nusa Dua Beach Club, LE BLEU.

Karina Stepina

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