A Spiritual Music Interview With Brooklyn's DJ Exu
Usually, the goal is to plan things out over here on the UVS website. You know, envision before executing. But sometimes, especially in the realms of the spiritual, there isn’t time for preparation. Sometimes, like ghosts of thought, the inspiration comes swift and if you wane too long trying to make “sense” of the message, you wind up missing it. So when we received a direct contact from Brooklyn-based DJ Exu, we knew enough to heed the call to what was possible. The result is a short interview, Exu’s first ever, and an introduction (for many) to the historic implications of Afro-Diasporic music.
Check out the dialogue below along with “Part 1” and “Part 2” of a DJ Exu exclusive mix for UVS at the end.
UVS:
Peace Exu. What made you reach out to us about this topic at this time?
EXU:
I like what you all are doing. And because you are a collective that also does community outreach, I feel like you care about the history of DJing and music. I also noticed that you have both a younger and older following of POC folks. This [subject] is important right now, especially in connection to The Diaspora. If you’re willing to place DJ Nyack from Brazil and Tony Touch in the same room together, to me that’s incredible! It says a lot about bridging the gap between different cultures and places.
UVS:
Wow. That’s really humbling to hear. Thank you. Can you tell us about your musical origins?
EXU:
I’ve been a music prodigy since age 9. I studied classical music in my local elementary school, and then in my junior high school when, after budget constraints, they finally hired a Julliard School instructor. I studied Latin Jazz under them for two years, more specifically Brazilian music. I played electric bass and upright bass for three years.
UVS:
You’ve mentioned to me an affinity for Brazil and it’s music, can you explain why?
EXU:
Along with playing in elementary school I was also given the cultural assignment, by sheer coincidence, of studying the country of Brazil. So while I had the opportunity to play a lot of Brazilian music I was also doing a lot of paper research about the culture and history.
UVS:
Did you have any earlier experience or connection with the music?
EXU:
Growing up I would listen to a lot of Bossa Nova and Musica Populera Brasilera (MPB), the modern day music of the country. It ranged from Alternative to Samba to Post-Bossa Nova, basically a melting pot. My father also used to collect Brazilian Jazz music for a very long time and was also good friends with Gato Barbieri, a well-known Argentinian tenor saxophone player in the Latin Jazz community.
UVS:
What did the combination of growing up with the music and studying Brazil teach you?
EXU:
I learned about the impact of slavery and what those ancestors brought into the country. The influence of Yoruba heritage is immense. This came with the Orishas, the cantos that they sing, and the birth of a lot of the music outside of just the Portuguese influence.
UVS:
What exactly about the Yoruba heritage influences you?
EXU:
I’ve always been touched by the spiritual concept of the Orishas in the music. To get even deeper, on my thirteenth birthday i received a two compilation boxset of records from Cuba and Brazil. Both were gifted and written out to me by Ron Carter, a very well-know bass player who played with Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis on Bitches Brew. I never actually met Ron, but he knew about me through my music teacher because my teacher was actually a student of his back in the ‘70s.
UVS:
What did the boxset of records contain?
EXU:
The boxset was basically Orisha music from Cuba and Brazil!
UVS:
Whoa. Is this the origin of what you actually play out now?
EXU:
Ever since that moment I’ve felt it a duty for me to continue to educate myself about the Yoruba culture from Cuba as well as from Brazil. A lot of the music for my sets is bridged from that Brazilian Orisha influence, a little bit from the Lucumi, which is the sector of the Yoruba culture from Cuba and parts of Puerto Rico, as well as Ifa from Nigeria. I mix it with House music.
UVS:
How do you decide how you interpret this older music for more contemporary tastes?
EXU:
What I play ranges from Tech House to Afro House and more electronic takes like the Puerto Rican band Ifé. They make modern day Yoruban cantos by way of electronic pads that they’ve configured onto their hand drums. They’re able to reinterpret original music with a more modern twist. It’s like Kanye’s 808s and Heartbreak meets traditional, Rumba, and ceremonial music. A lot of folks are not familiar with influences from Brazil because many of us, particularly in New York City, are more aware of the Lucumi influence that came via Puerto Rico and Cuba via artists like La Lupe, Celia Cruz and others in the Latin music industry. I can give you a long list of more…
UVS:
What role does your name “Exu” have in all of this?
EXU:
My DJ name Exu derives from the Orisha of the crossroads. His sacred number is 3, colors, black and red, and his nature, that of a trickster. He has 21 caminos or journeys and each one is different. It could be that of an old man, a young boy, a skeleton representing life and death. The camino that I go by is Exu Caveira, an Orisha in Candoble, the Brazilian sect of Yoruba. This Exu is the equivalent of Hermes, if you are familiar with Greek Mythology. Hermes is known to be the messenger of the gods and also for people between life and death.
UVS:
That’s powerful.
EXU:
I always feel connected to this form of Exu when I play out, which is not often. The reason being that it is a form of performance art with detailed music sets, and my mask, red hat, and outfit. Wearing the elements is my way of paying homage to the ancestors while I play.
Photo: Fabian Gomez
UVS:
How do your gauge your audience or where exactly do you play out?
EXU:
People are welcomed to dance and be part of that moment of performance. It’s more of a healing experience with the opportunity to dance if they should feel compelled to. But it’s not like a DJ that plays at any place weekly or bi-weekly. I’m very picky and particular about where I go play because it has to make sense with the vibration that I’m performing in.
UVS:
That’s very intentional. Why?
EXU:
As a DJ, I see myself touring and spreading this music and message on a global scale. My goal is to play every festival that I can play in Europe, to be quite honest. If you go to vinyl sites like Discogs, many records Afro-influence records like Mongo Santamaria, etc., are bought and collected by Europeans. And these are really hard to find records with a price range that goes for about $100 and up.
UVS:
Damn!
EXU:
Markolino Dimond, a member of the Fania All-Stars has a record called Brujeria. It’s one of the first popular songs to ever openly talk about Lucumi and Santeria. A record like that, in pristine condition, you’re looking at about $500. This is an example of how hard it is to have access to music that belongs to us as a people. I happen to have the original 45, gifted to me by a friend of a friend. While other people from other places are actually holding on to it like gold ▲
Photo: Fabian Gomez
Follow DJ Exu on Instagram: @_exuexu