Interview mit Tatjana S.N.D.R.

Gender Neutral line-ups, manners and clichés in the nightclub

and behind the turntables

The pandemic forces us not to leave our protected four walls at the start of spring when the sun is shining. So we make the best of it and make a delicious breakfast sandwich, wander from the toilet to the TV chair, jump and hop on one leg, then with the other side from the living room window to the bedroom and then crouch down again, on the bed and make a candle.

Yes, now is the right time to clear your head. Our life in the soup of political injustice, global misanthropy, racism, misogyny and materialism has been simmering and simmering in our society for some time.

Thanks to Mother Nature, thanks to the pandemic, it is now about ourselves again, about our neighbors, and this is exactly where the transition to our topic is here and now by dealing with all these points.

I start the interview series with myself.

My name is Tatjana Sünder aka S.N.D.R. I've been a part-time techno DJ for 15 years. Mainly my appearances move between my headquarters in Berlin and Vienna, via Cottbus and Nuremberg. For the first ten years I focused purely on vinyl and I was convinced that I didn't allow any other medium. In the meantime I have also discovered the advantages of other players for myself and now I also like to ride on 4 decks in the tractor-tumble.

DJ, Organizer, Blogger

The first thing I remember i wanna do something with music when i was aged eight years old. 

For Christmas i got a small compact red music system. My uncle, who is three years older than me, and I recorded our first mixtapes. That was 1988 in the "Mister Robotnik" times as i say. Kraftwerk and so on. With the microphone we recorded my constantly cursing grandma and in between radio cutes.

In 1992 I saw my first Love Parade broadcast and was blown away. On the way to school I heard hardcore on my headphones. I think I was pretty much a "wierrdo" among my comrades.

Yes, ok, I was into Marusha at the time and I don't want to be ashamed of that. She was the first officially marketed "Djane" and that impressed me when I was 13. Then in 1996 I saw her for the first time in Koblenz and I was really crazy.

In 1997 I ate my first real meal. Felt, pepped, sweated, adored at 135 BPM with techno goddess Gale San. That was in "Zone 13" in Völklingen back then.

However, I only started to actively hang up very late. It wasn't until I met Electric Indigo in 2006 and their Female: Pressure movement that I found the right incentive to finally get into action.

I have to admit that I really didn't know who she was back then.

In any case, she founded F: P relatively recently and I am very grateful to her for that! The Thursday meetings at Electro Gönner in Vienna inspired and motivated me.

After that, i have played vinyl only for almost ten years then

What is 50/50 bookings all about?

To become active!

In all movements, I think it is important to take action.

Actively changing the things that can actually be changed. Take care of each other, listen and most of all respect. Whether man, woman or nonbinary.

Sometimes, but really only now and then, we tend to blame others. We scold "shit patriarchy" and behave in the same way towards them according to our worldview. Of course the patriarchy sucks, but the knowledge alone and the repeated ranting do not bring about any change.

The foundation is far deeper. Centuries if not millennia back. Only now have we arrived at a time in which we have a great deal of knowledge and can therefore control it with knowledge.

Questions like:

* Are outward appearances important to success? How long are my legs or my forehead?

* May my gender play a role on stage

Anyone who claims that external appearances are not important is fooling themselves into my opinion. Success is written out of the pen and ink of our parents. The privileged possibilities create our sound and our confident or insecure appearance.

When I was chatting with Carl Craig, I asked him what was important to be a successful woman as a DJ. He replied “Do it like Nina. She has sexappeal and sexappeal is the most important thing in the industry 

...

In this case, my career will not be affected!....

Two years later I met Nina Kravitz at her New Year's gig in Berlin in 2018/19, I think it was. I asked her exactly the same thing as Carl and she said the looks and gender were not important, only the quality of the music.

Well, I think she is really great, she is hardworking and it was an extraordinarily sympathetic conversation with her, but I believe that things tick differently, and she may not recognize the difficulties for many because she was not confronted with them. The first thing we notice in someone else is what is outwardly. Especially in the places where it is loud. Unless we're just talking on the phone, but then it can't be loud. Facial features, costume and the smell are our first impressions.

I wouldn't say that gender is important to me. The choice of music, the transitions, the movements and the charisma of the act. Nevertheless, as a DJ I would also like to be able to be a woman! And i think diversity is very important on a line-up. But unfortunately most of the line-ups still look very boring. Except for Berlin and a couple of other big cities, as far as I can tell.

Do you feel noticed as a DJ?

Sometimes, but rarely. It's like an eternal struggle to prove my skills. We all need the resistance to feel ourselves. Whether I'm a DJ or go to a club to party. I like to feel, sweat and dance with the others non-verbally on the same level. I really don't know if i will be noticed. I do when i actually play in a real club.

I did not play so often in huge clubs, but i did and i am very grateful about this moments. When i have played in Sisyphos in Berlin in the "Hammerhalle" it was an inexplicable feeling swim with all that people pound to the same heartbeat. Yeah, then i feel noticed as a DJ and an actor. . . But afterwards i am not able to get this flow verbal and be very shy and unsure.

How does the togetherness among colleagues work for you?

Differently! With women and with men I have experienced sexism, with both rejection and with both support. I found men to be more receptive to active music making with one another or in the exchange of topics.

Women are different but are also changing. Especially in Berlin, with the surplus of DJs, there is of course a feeling of competition and envy, but you still cannot classify this according to gender or color.

How do you get your bookings? As a woman?

I don't know if I am the right person to ask because I am only progressing with moderate success in this regard.

In general, I think that you have to be out at night very often, socialize, build up vitamin B, celebrate and adapt to the customs of the organizers and the club rules.

When i moved to Berlin in 2010, i was working as a waitress in a huge Restaurant in Köpenicker Straße. The Crew of "Tresor" was familiar with our company and had often a diner at ours before the weekend began.  Dimitry was one night as well sitting on a long table with 15 People. One of my bosses,  a dazzling party princess and well known in clubs, introduced me to the booker and told her that i am as well a Techno DJ... Dimitry heard that and said to his booker "great! let her play".

Nice memory!

I have played a few times but unfortunately i was never that good in socializing , maybe not determined enough. There can be many reasons that I don't know. 

To the booker of Sisyphos i send in a period of three years continuously, but not too often, mixes. It worked...

You have to pick up a few slaps and are often ignored. Especially in Berlin it was very difficult for me with this oversaturation of Djs. But I have a lot of staying power.

As a woman? There are advantages and disadvantages that each individual brings with them and is gender neutral. However, women communicate differently than men. And since we are in a male-dominated industry, male customs naturally play the main role. As a woman, you have to see what role you play.

Are you for a quota?

Well, I find it difficult to imply odds on the floor of freedom. On the other hand, there can only be strength and development in a community and so it becomes really difficult as a lone fighter in a company. You can only design more fully together with those that are just positioned.

I am very happy about the women's organizations like Female: Pressure, the Leipzigerinnen Feat Fem and the Femdex from Vienna, to name just a few, who support each other locally, motivate each other, organize themselves, practice together, actively support their female creative power .

Men have always done that. For women, this common era is only just beginning, I think.