Conversations with Arianna Abram

Today we’d like to introduce you to Arianna Abram

Hi Arianna, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
For as long as I can remember, music has been the driving force of my life. Growing up I felt a little isolated in my feelings, as most young girls do. My form of escapism was listening to music and scrolling the internet. After school I would use the family computer to go through my older sister’s music downloads and watch music videos on Youtube for hours. While I was in school I was in band and choir, and I’m blessed my mom put into classical opera lessons. Singing on stage allowed me to express my feelings and it felt so natural to me. I craved that feeling ever since, I knew I had to be involved in music to some capacity. 
After high school I ended up dropping out college and started working. I kept going from job to job and put music and creativity on the back burner. I didn’t have a realistic idea of how to incorporate music into life. I just pushed that into the back of mind and kept trying to figure my life out. In the meantime I sublimated my craving for creating and curating music by making playlist. These playlists would be hours long and I loved going back and listening to them top to bottom. I would take a lot of time putting them together and I really enjoyed sharing them with other people. I would tell my friends and boyfriend that I would love to DJ someday, having no clue how I would actually make that happen. I had terrible follow through and I am a chronic procrastinator. Fast forward to 2022, my partner buys me a DJ board and I start practicing and playing the house. They really encouraged me to put myself out there and they still do to this day, and I am forever grateful to them. I started putting up mixes on SoundCloud, I still uploading mixes there. After a while I muster up the confidence to reach out to a few people in the scene and let them know that I started DJing. I got connected at some people in the DIY space and was graciously asked to play a few shows. From doing those shows I got connected with a growing network of creatives in the DIY and queer scene here. I have been collaborating and creating ever since.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road for me. I am still navigating and trying to get my footing when it comes to dealing with road blocks. I have had some amazing opportunities but I have also had to encounter the politics of the music scene. Nowadays if you want to participate in the music landscape whether that be online or out in the real world your images is just as important as the music. For me the struggle has been internal. I did not feel confident being seen in that way, and that is a major block in general. It hindered me from truly enjoying some major milestones. I also delayed my own artistic development with the mindset I took on at the time. I had times where I felt like I was not worthy to create or I felt like I wasn’t good enough and I let opportunities pass. I have been learning to get out of my own way, and it’s been rewarding.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an open platform DJ. I will DJ just about every genre but I love spinning underground club music. I love Ghetto Tech, Jersey Club, Baltimore Club, Miami Bass and Juke. I love a fast BPM. I will literally mix all of these generes in one set. I try to find some good throwback songs in those genres, it’s so fun to watch the crowd recognize a song. They get to experience the song in a completely different light. I think DJing is like musical collaging, you take different parts of music and you rearrange it and to create a more vast musical landscape. Take the familiar and flip it on it’s head. I think what sets me a part from other DJs is that you never know what you are going to get at one of my sets. My style feels slightly chaotic at times, but that’s the fun of it for me. I like to experiment more often than not. I would call it musical finger painting.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I have never really saw myself as a risk taker in the general sense of the word. But I feel like I took a risk putting myself out there in the way I did. Like I mentioned earlier I can be my own road block. I took a risk being seen period, dealing with feelings of not being good enough. But, at the same time I had such a love and desire to be doing music. It’s a risk to start doing something you love publicly. What would people think, would they hate me and think I am just as terrible as I thought I was. The fear of being judged doing something I loved, which is music was something I had to push through. There is a risk that you might not love it as much as you used to once you start the journey. Music is so important to me, it feels like I’m taking a relationship public. When you take a relationship public you run the risk of outside influences; good bad or indifferent.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aritheecalf/
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aritheecalf