April Phillips
Djs that ‘click’ music surrounded by crowds of young people.Great scenarios with visual effects that cross the darkness.Party nights that last days.People jumping and dancing.Sex, ecstasy and alcohol.Vertigo and excesses.When they tell us about a profession within the world of electronic music, let's probably imagine something very different from the routine and conventional."There are people who still think that I only work on weekends," says Cora Novoa.Of shaved white hair to the sides and with a short and straight bangs on the forehead, the artistic imprint of Novoa is betrayed in her style and even in the way of talking about her, sincere and expressive of her.
In addition to being DJ, she composes and produces music, she has her own Seeking The Velvet record label (Sktvt), has played at great festivals such as Sónar and is a creator in Patreon, among other things.“There are weeks in which I work from Monday to Monday, ten hours a day.The actions and what is seen on social networks is only the tip of the iceberg, ”she explains.
The DJ that leads its music to both virtual platforms and festivals in physical spaces ensures that: “There are many things you have to coordinate.The project that I am developing with Patreon, for example, implies preparing a lot of content, because the idea is to create a community, which is something that fascinates me. ”
Cora Novoa likes his profession for music, not for the stage.“I'm really shy.I know a lot of people, but I have very few friends, ”she confesses.The part of the party is not what is passionate about electronic music.She is more to listen to music with hearing aids than by large speakers."I am quite quiet, I really like being at home and trying to take advantage of the time with the family," she says and explains that: "I don't go out to party every weekend, I already lived that.Just sometimes.To Sónar Festival I go every year, because it is a must, there are many creative proposals, or also to see specific bands or friends. ”
His daily routine, he explains, consists of “work, work, work”, combined with Crossfit and extreme sports.Every three or two months, she returns to her house in Galicia to visit her family."As a good Galician, I have morriña and I always miss my roots, my family and friends, the food of my house and the way of living there," she explains.What appears on her social networks is only the tip of the iceberg not only at a professional but also personal level.“Although I try to be close and show myself as I am, I don't like to expose me too much.I always try to have a foot on earth and separate my work from my personal life that is precisely personal, ”she clarifies.
Novoa, which captivated it with electronic music is that it works like an umbrella under which many musical styles can gather.Music is something that accompanies her from a very young age.“I was always related to music.I have Travesera flute formation.After the years, I discovered many other styles and electronics fascinated me.Little by little I started composing my own productions, ”says Novoa.
His father was the one who made him listen to the first theme of electronic music by floppy.“At that time it was not heard on the radio, since more generic and commercial music passed.My father also made me listen to sauce, flamenco, folk, ”recalls the producer and DJ and says:“ He is the one who has instilled in me the passion for music and I think that responsible for me to dedicate myself to this.He taught me not to have music labels.What matters is not the genre, but it is good. ”
Cora Novoa made its first production more than two decades ago, with only 16 years.At that time, the digitalization of both production and musical consumption was still very incipient.The first pendrive with USB memory was over, the first MP3 players began to circulate and, the opening of the first online music store Iunes Music Store of Apple in 2003, marked the beginning of the massive musical consumption on portable devices.
“It was more difficult to produce music.You needed more money to access devices to compose.A box of rhythms, which now costs a quarter of what a computer comes out, at that time a fortune was worth.Today the entire digitized process is already.It is part of the evolution and democratization of culture and art, ”says Novoa.
She learned to create music by itself.“I was self -taught until I moved to Madrid with 21 years.I could connect with more people and make me a hole.The good thing that is self -taught is that you create an attitude of wanting to learn and a habit of constancy, ”says music and adds:“ Artists cannot forget that you can arrive, but the most difficult thing is to stay.You have to take care of your work and not just make the same formula, because that has an expiration date.Success can cloud many people. ”
With a long career within the music industry, Cora Novoa had to deal with it with other male djs or ask questions about his love life, about his clothes or appearance.“They are things that a man are not asked.This already makes a difference, why do you have to differentiate between men and women?If in the end it is music, ”she says and adds:" We are in a macho society and in the end the fact of being a woman is something that will always mark you.In the music industry, this has always done this to look with double magnifying glass and demand double the women artists than men. ”
The producer achieved a successful professional career in a very masculinized sector.According to the Inclusion In the Recording Studio 2021 of Spotify, of the 173 artists who appeared in the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End list in 2020, 79.8% were men and 20.2% women, a ratio of 3, 6 men men for each woman artist.The presence of producing women is much smaller.In production, the proportion of men is 38 for each woman, being women only 2.6% of the total.
“The gap is especially pronounced in power positions, in the management positions.In the end men are the ones who make decisions, ”says Novoa.Indeed, according to a study by the Association Women of the Music Industry (MIM) of this year, women within the Spanish music industry occupy only 37% of the presidency positions and almost 70% of women in the sectorIt charges less than the average male Spanish salary.
Lee tambiénDespite the obvious inequality, Novoa interprets that “although it is still missing, the scenario begins to change a little with the new generations.She would tell any girl she wants to devote to this that she fights for what she wants to do, that works every day a little and that is not impossible.If I am here and she can get it too. ”For Cora Novoa, making music is not just her work: “It's my life.All my life, my personal and professional relationships revolve around it.It is what makes me feel and illusion. ”
