Bonaventure's subversive approach to electronic music is making an Impact

Impact is a series dedicated to profiling raw talent that's about to turn dance music on its head. Next up: Bonaventure

Soraya Lutangu started making music in late 2015 following the death of her nephew Bonaventure. She had previously been invested in pursuing a career in graphic and book design, but the pain and devastation she felt over the loss profoundly affected her life and outlook.

“I am convinced that my nephew died because of the colour of his skin, and this really shocked me, changed me,” Soraya told aqnb earlier this year. She became dedicated to fighting the worldly imbalances such as prejudice and structural violence that she experienced first hand growing up in Switzerland as a person of European and African heritage and that continue to afflict the world. Music became an outlet to express her radical intent, and this energy underpins the raw, agitated, politically-charged music Soraya makes as Bonaventure.

Towards the end of last year she was selected as a winner of Berlin Community Radio’s Incubator project and put out her debut release ‘Complexion’ via influential imprint NON Worldwide. In 2017 she looks primed to continue rising as a vital voice in the underground club sphere, with multiple art and music projects, and international bookings lined up.

This weekend on April 9 she’ll perform a collaborative art commission with Hannah Black and designer Ebba Fransén Waldhör at the MoMA PS1 in New York, and next month her second EP ‘FREE LUTANGU’ arrives via PTP, which weaves stirring samples into fierce productions for an intense, subversive listening experience.

Check out an exclusive Bonaventure mix and Q+A below.

How did you find out about the Berlin Community Radio Incubator scheme and how did it feel to be selected as winner?

Anastazja (Moser, BCR co-founder) told me about it after I sent a link of ‘Complexion’ to the Instagram of BCR radio. At first she invited me to guest on her show and then encouraged me to apply to the Incubator program. I remember going back home to do tracks to have something more consistent to send; Sarah (Miles, BCR co-founder) and Philip (Diep, BCR programming assistant) were so supportive as well and I was just shocked to meet people with such big hearts and can-do spirits. It felt surreal to be one of the winners and to see that BCR was into my music. As life is intense, we became family.

How did your experience growing up in Lausanne in Switzerland influence the music you make now?

I left Switzerland six years ago and have been doing music for just over a year now, so it is very challenging to grasp exactly how my upbringing in Lausanne influences my music today. I guess more than the city I am from or the one where I live now, it is the people I meet, global politics, memes and love that manifest most in my sound.

Maybe it is cheesy to mention but Ziúr, M.E.S.H. and Amnesia Scanner are strong influences and helpful in my development as a producer. I'm thankful for their tips, advices and tricks.

Trauma is embedded into your music. You started the project after the death of your nephew Bonaventure, and you explore themes such as oppression, identity, structural violence. How do you channel this as a source of inspiration and what energy do you think it brings to your music?

Traumas of loss, oppression, structural violence or institutional racism are no objects of inspiration nor abstract themes to me. I am trying to say what I think, denounce what I see or even repeat what I have heard by doing music. I am also trying to know who I am. Seeing people react to it keeps me sane and gives energy to my music.

What draws you to music as a medium to convey your message and challenge hegemony?

The laws of the Universe, really.

Did putting out your first single through NON feel like a significant validation?

Yes, at the time it was really important for me to have this single handled by a label I could relate with and that had similar political views. On top of this, Chino Amobi's [co-founder of NON Worldwide) remix of ‘Complexion' is really amazing, I love this track so much. This release really felt like a beautiful start.

‘FREE LUTANGU’ is comprised of six tracks, one for each of your siblings. Family and the link between the personal and political seem to be a big influence on your work.

It is for Salima, Amanda, Célia, Novely, Anwar and the little one Tamara. ‘FREE LUTANGU’ has been ready for a while now; the EP grew quickly and I am so impatient to see it out there. Val (Geng, PTP founder) is the perfect person to take care of this release and I felt really connected to him throughout the process; the energy and respect he is investing into each and every one of the artists he is working with says a lot on the depth of his heart. I am quite sure it is just a beginning.

The vinyl edition arrives with remixes of ‘Complexion’ from Endgame, Geng, Jackie, Prison Religion, Y1640 and Ziúr. Was it exciting to have those artists create new versions of your track?

It is a great honour to have them participate. ‘Complexion’ came out of me as an urgent pulse when the grief was nothing but pain. To have other people acknowledging the story and injecting something from themselves into it was a big help, as when something is too heavy to be carried alone. ‘Complexion’ is the first track I did and therefore a very special one. A video of it made by Ali-Eddine Abdelkhalek is coming soon, and probably more remixes throughout the year(s) to come.

Is that your nephew Bonaventure on the artwork? What made you select that photo?

Yes, it is Bonaventure on the artwork. The same reason that made me choose that artist moniker. M.E.S.H. will be doing the typographical layout of the vinyl cover, so there is more coming up.

‘Mulatre’ from the new PTP EP is a really unique and exciting piece of music, weaving recognisable hip hop and r’n’b hooks into an atmospheric, agitated foundation. What inspired that track?

Mulâtre (here written in French) is an out-dated term used to talk about someone born from one black parent and one white parent. It is not exactly pejorative (used by people of colour) even though I cannot imagine a context where it would be more appropriate than “mixed” or “métisse”. Growing up I struggled to define myself between black and white, and the topic felt heavy also inside of my family. I thought it would be interesting to try to translate that into a piece of music that would vibe tracks from Mozart to Oumou Sangare or from Booba to Rihanna with no complexes. My friend Ebba said this track was like dying and getting a fragmented flashback of your whole life. Priceless feedback.

You’ve worked with Hannah Black on a number of projects, including the new EP, the live performance art piece ANXIETINA, and the designing the LIFE book which was co-written with Juliana Huxtable. How did you first get in touch with Hannah and how has the experience of collaborating been?

Hannah and I met through our common friend and textile designer Ebba Fransén Waldhör six years ago at a party. The following day we met again to see a strange exhibition in a prison in Moabit. We became friends and hung out when she came to Berlin to go to the lake, party or celebrate Christmas. In 2016, when BCR Radio commissioned us with ANXIETINA for the Berlin Berlinale 'Boat Rage', they were the ones seeing that a common project would be lit. We both were like, “Ah yeah cool, why didn’t we think of collaborating before..?”

As Ebba is a genius, we naturally teamed-up for the ICA show, to add a visual dimension to the performance. While we were traveling to London, Hannah got commissioned by the MUMOK museum in Vienna to do a solo show and a book, and she proposed me to take care of the design of it right away. She was a bit hesitant about who could be invited to co-write it though, and as I went to a talk held by Juliana Huxtable and Fatima Al Quadiri the previous week, I had this writer in mind and shared the idea. Hannah and I ended up going together to Vienna to perform ANXIETINA last month and launch the book LIFE the night of Hannah’s opening. It was special.

We both admire and respect each other's skills and love to listen to one another's work to feed on and give something back to. Hannah’s writings are really linked to her personal life so basically all her friends influence them. On my side I also have her spirits in my music, like the track ‘HOPELESSNESS’, that I wrote after hanging out with her when Brexit was in every conscious mouth, would have not existed without Hannah. To start a project based on friendship and common interests is definitively an asset, I think it helps us both to feel free and we know how to speak to each other. We have very different working processes though, so we are really challenging each other constantly, the experience is very enriching. The inputs of Ebba are also essential; she often helps us making decisions on the evolution of the performance and always gives us key feedbacks.

You’ve been playing gigs across Europe this year. How have you found touring? Any particular shows or moments that stand out as highlights?

A weekend in November 2016 was really charged in love: on Friday afternoon I did a live set in Berlin for the Ableton Loop conference, from a beautiful temporary BCR radio studio. There were maybe 20 people in the room, and I was happy with this performance. Right after I flew to Lausanne to play a DJ set at Aïsha Devi’s label party Danse Noire with GIL and Endgame. They are both adorable and very talented people and the crowd was unexpectedly receptive and excited, I was really surprised by that. The day after I was in London to do a live set for the TTB Presents party. I shared the bill with ALX9696 and Lechuga Zafiro, everybody spilled it and the public was just completely crazy. This is the best party I have been at in in a long time, the venue was a hidden white cube and Tabitha is the best. Seriously. I wish I could have stayed longer to hang out with Sega Bodega and the whole NUXXE crew but that is happening soon.

Your sets on Berlin Community Radio and NTS are really diverse in their scope. How would you define your approach to DJing?

WIDE AF. It feels easier to produce than DJ but I roughly get the same amount of pleasure, surprises and frustrations in each of the fields.

How does your Impact mix compare stylistically to the way you play in the club or on radio?

In this mix there is a majority of tracks I did and stems I am working on, drafts and excerpts from Instagram Stories of friends. Until now I had never curated so much of my own material in a mix. All the people featured on this Ableton collage are a meaningful part of the project Bonaventure – I am thinking of M.E.S.H., Ziúr, (Amnesia Scanner) and Geng in particular. There is also an exclusive track I did together with Hannah Black for our upcoming performance at MoMA PS1, an exclusive featuring with the artist and painter Hamishi Faraha (please someone take him out of the island) and a mash-up with SHY GIRL's vocals.

I am a bit less selfish in the club, or somehow a bit less generous perhaps. I have the fanboys Mike & Berni in mind all the time, wherever I play.

'FREE LUTANGU' is out via PTP on May 14, pre-order it via Bandcamp

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Staff Writer, follow him on Twitter