DJ Nakadias Insomnia

DJ Nakadia in Insomnia night club Pattaya

We caught up with Nakadia, Asia’s number one female DJ when she played at Insomnia night club on Walking Street Pattaya.

Great session Insomnia looked like you enjoyed yourself dancing around in the DJ booth?
-Yes – I always enjoy. I love my music so much… when I hear it, I am happy and I dance.

Are there any other club in the world like the where people come to the club at 02.00?
-There are many clubs like that, in Portugal the people even start clubbing at 4! And some after parties start at 6 – I Berlin some clubs don’t close for 24 hours and you can have the best Djs of the world playing around lunch time… it’s amazing!

Pattaya is a bit of a mix crowd. Is the people dancing important for you?
-Yes, it is very mixed and it is very hard to play for tourists. You can never make everybody happy. It is the most important things for me to make people happy with my music. That is why normally I not play in commercial clubs.

I know the DJ booth in Insomnia is a bit away from the crowd but is that not a good thing, you don’t have all the people “requesting stuff”?
-No, I hate to be far away from the people. It is really bad. I cannot feel them. I need to be with the people. Normally I not get requests from people. But drunken guys that try to flirt to me when I am working – They are a problem and can kill my good mood sometimes.

Do you adjust the music after the people or do you just play on even if nobody dancing?
-Sure – I always play for the people and try to understand what they like. The sets are always different and I don’t know how a night will be before I play. My sets at Insomnia sound very different to my sets in other clubs. I play much more easy sound because I know it is a commercial club. In Samui I can play really cool because the people specially come for my sets. In Europe I only play cool clubs where the people come especially for the music. But the people know exactly what they want there and you have to play exactly the sort of music they like to hear. That can be difficult sometimes if you play the first time at a club. But the second time is easier because you can get ready for that. The important thing is to make people happy when they go party. They need a good time in the club. The DJ has to play the right music at the right time. Sometimes one track can be great at 23:30, but at 01:30 it is totally the wrong track. Some DJs play the same tracks, but one Dj plays a great set with these records and another DJ play a terrible set with it. It is about emotions – the right emotion at the right time. Commercial Djs dont have that problem – they only have to play hit after hit 😉

You are leaving for Europe now?
-Yes I am flying to Amsterdam and then I will catch a plane to Berlin now. It is a 3 Hours stop over – great time to check my fan mail.

When will you be back to Thailand and do you know where you will be playing?
-On January 2 I arrive back in Thailand. It will be a very busy time with 4-5 gigs every week. I have most gigs at home on Koh Samui but 1 time per month I also play my resident clubs on Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, Phuket and at in Bangkok. I don’t think I will be back i Pattaya soon. It is not city for music – people come for different reason to Pattaya. In January/February I also have bookings in South Korea, India, Malaysia, and the Philippines, so it will be a really busy time.

What is home for you actually? Do you live anywhere or its just two bags and a CD case?
-I have 2 homes and I love both: Samui and Berlin. It is always great to come home there. In Samui I am happy that I can speak Thai and in Berlin I love to be around the best artists of the world. So much inspiration….

Do you eat Thai food when you go outside Thailand or do you stick to the local dishes?
-Most times the Thai food outside Thailand is not good – and I also want to know what local people eat. So I always try to eat local food. Sometimes it is really good, and sometimes I dot understand how people can eat it…

What DJs do you admire and learn from?
-I learn something every time I look at other DJs. Sometimes I learn what I better not do and sometimes I hear good things. I don’t have an idol that I can look up to. There are some really great DJs that nobody knows and there are some big superstars that just really terrible. So – I look to other DJs very open minded. My favorite at the moment is Onur Ozer from Turkey. He is on the way to the top now with big support from Sven Veath.

What makes you want to dance?
-Always when I hear a good music track. It can be a slow deep house track or a techno track. The style does not matter – as long as I can feel the music and it make me happy. I love the feeling when I hear a great track. But if I hear something terrible then I cannot stay in that room – I have to leave. It really hurts my feelings when I have to listen to some of the terrible music out there.

What do you use when playing, I saw you had a Apple computer with you?
-I work with Traktor on my Apple Macbook. This is for me the best way to DJ. I can work with the turntables or CD players from the club – but I play the MP 3 files on my laptop. That way I only travel with 2 Cds and 2 Vinyl. They don’t have music on it – only a time code that control the MP3. The rest is the same like with normal CDs. I only have one extra little box that controls the effects and can make loops. So I can make the set more interesting.

Do you get many fan mails from young Thai girls that want to become a DJ?
-Yes – many many! There are so many young girls in Thailand that want to start Djing. It is great to see that.

Any advices for Thai people want to become a DJ star like you abroad?
-The most important advice is that they better not think about that. If you want to be a Dj then it has to be for the music. You have to love the music. If you think about the money or to play around the world then I think it will never happen. When I start the people tell me I can be big and travel around the world… but I not believe them. Play music and enjoy it. Do it for yourself and if there is love for music and talent then all the doors can open. But it is very hard. People always think that it is so easy and that all happens alone – but it is very hard work! I work 10-12 hours every day on my music. People only see the little but time in the clubs – but that is just the fun part of the job.

Anything you like to say to the people in Thailand before off?
-Thanks to all the people that come to my parties… It is great to see so many happy faces all the time!

You can catch Nakadia at these places on the internet

If you like my music you can download my live sets on:
http://www.bangkokdisco.com/

And my tour videos are on:
http://www.youtube.com/nakadia2008

Nakadia home page

She also have a FACEBOOK page and Fan page.

Video of DJ Nakadia