DJ and Producer of Techno

Today I had the opportunity to attend a lecture from the amazing Rebekah at De Montfort University for one of the last events of Cultural Exchanges Festival 2014.

I was extremely glad that I was able to go to this event as she didn’t disappoint!
Rebekah was a Birmingham born DJ but is now a successful techno DJ and producer in Berlin. She has been a DJ for just over 17 years and still wakes up every day loving it even more.

Rebekah was very intriguing, as she was a normal kid with a dream like everyone else and she went out and challenged herself to succeed in becoming a producer and DJ. (I think this is very inspirational)
Also another thing I found fascinating was the logic behind her ‘mixes’ and ‘EP’s’. She creates her ideas around imagery, feelings and emotions, colours and also (quite surprisingly), the weather. She also said:
“I had a childhood memory of walking through a green patch and saw, even though they are rare to see, I saw bluebells. I then thought, how do bluebells sound?”
When she said this, I just new she was a very artistic and creative person, which is why she does so well at producing.
Also, she mentioned to the audience, which I thought was very down to earth …
“I had a few knockbacks; I didn’t get my hopes up. But I’m successful today because I didn’t give up, I challenged myself.”


Just this quote alone has inspired me today…

PaigeLouvinia♡ 

Is the truth always the best option?

Today I attended a lecture on the 'Truth in Journalism' hosted by Tor Clark.

Tor Clark is the principal lecturer in Journalism at De Montfort University and has been in the practice for 16 years. He is also a political speaker for BBC Leicester and Total Politics magazine.

The talk was very interesting but, it was the point he made about ‘Does the public always need to know the truth?’ was what I found most amusing.

He referred to wikileaks, Ed Snowden revelations, creating mass panic and the Kidnap Blackout agreement. This sparked a thought which made me think about how much should the public know (for our safety) and whether how much is reported in the news is actually the truth.

This was then followed by Tor explaining what he thought the objective of journalism is...

Q: So what is the objective in Journalism?

A: Reverence for truth

He also left me (and the audience) with his opinion, which I think was very useful in everyday experiences as well as journalism: 

“Unless there is a compelling reason why reporting should not tell the truth, always tell the truth.”

PaigeLouvinia♡

Akala & Shakespeare with a pinch of Hip-Hop!

Akala.

Akala was absolutely insane this afternoon at De Montfort University, Cultural Exchanges Festival!!!

The amazing founder of ‘The Hip-Hop ShakespeareCompany’ and 2006 MOBO award winner for Best Hip-Hop Artist gave attendees an insight into Shakespeare that I thought I would never be interested in, as I have never been a fan of Shakespeare or his works.

The lecture started off with the best way to engage an audience (well I think it’s the best way), which was audience participation. Everyone participated as we played the ‘Hip-Hop and Shakespeare game’, where we had to guess whether the lyrics or quotes came from Shakespeare or rap songs.

(If I must say, this was extremely entertaining as I only managed to get one right!)

This then followed into an African History lesson where Timbuktu was mentioned. Now, if you don’t understand the significance behind Timbuktu and how the audience where in hysterics over it, I will explain it now…

We gathered that everyone in the lecture hall all thought that at one stage in their lives, Timbuktu was a made up place, or according to Akala, he thought it was in Narnia. The funny thing about it was, until today, I still thought it was made up!

We then got an insight into his own work called ‘Comedy Tragedy History', 27 of Shakespeare’s plays intertwined with a Hip-Hop style, which he performed Acapella.

Just listening to this made hairs stand up on the back of my neck!

I would definitely recommend looking him up!

PaigeLouvinia