ERAM takes us on a very special journey for H&S’ 17th mix. An exclusive showcase of Brazilian artists in her signature Ghetto-tech sound, she has curated a scintillatingly ardent mix for us.
Hailing from Brazil, ERAM (aka Marianna Viscaíno) is the founder of collective/label ZONAEXP and host of ERAMEXP, a show on Veneno radio featuring all things hybrid electronic rap, funk and beat in the mix with the underlying electronic sound as the only restricting element.
First of all tell us a little bit about this mix, any artists or tracks you want to shout out in particular? Did you have a particular activity in mind that you wanted this mix to be listened to whilst doing?
For this mix I made a selection featuring only Brazilian friends’ tracks, some of them are part of ZONA and most of the tracks are unreleased. All my mixes are constructed based on my mood of the day - this one I recorded on a electro-ghettotek vibe, very ourselves.I think that doing dishes and cleaning the house is a good activity on these quarantine times. For those who are already free from social isolation, exercising would be a great way to listen to this mix.
You have such a signature sound and hybrid energy to your sets where the BPM can start at 150 - everything from techno, electro, breakbeat, hard drum, acid and of course ‘Ghetto-tech’. Is Ghetto-tech a huge part of the scene where you are or is it more a signature sound of the parties your collective is throwing?
Definitely here in Brazil, it is a very strong characteristic of my collective/label ZONA. We have artists exploring this genre for some years now, exploring higher BPMs, broken drums and Brazilian music samples.
Always considering the fact that we're all emergent artists with very few tools, I'm a single mom, but there are also POC and people that grew on zonas perifericas - and it reflects in our music, our sonority will never go far from where we came - after all those who forget where they came from don't know where they'll go to. I always try to be as much versatile as I can - no purism allowed. I like to make a tour through lots of genres in my research. I also always try to research about the places I'm gonna play and who is going to share the line up with me, and for podcasts I always listen to what was released before.
ERAM is the sound project you created inside a collective that throws parties in public spaces, with the aim of reclaiming these spaces by occupying them - can you tell us a little bit more about this?
2013 was a year with massive protests here in Brazil, and it was the beginning of a new scenery of underground electronic music. Music was used as a tool for occupying streets, public squares and marginalised places - it became a movement that spread through the whole country. In 2015 I joined Arruaça, a collective that occupies public spaces. After more than 10 years going to raves, underground electronic parties and festivals all over Brasil, and always missing womxn representation at those places, I came out from the backstage production to take the decks.
“It reflects in our music, our sonority will never go far from where we came - after all, those who forget where they came from don't know where they'll go.”
ERAM EXP is a program you curate on VENENO radio, another one of your babies. Does it seek to give a platform to anything/anyone in particular?
I seek (or sought before isolation) to always present emerging artists who are visiting or live in São Paulo, most of the time women and trans people. Also to always make a selection from recently released songs from friends and/or people who sent me.
Now in quarantine I started to present a "homeoffice" version of my program with DJs I share isolation with. I’m probably gonna record some alone podcasts and I hope that soon I can keep on presenting my DJs mapping.
What was the drive behind starting ZONAEXP? Is ERAM EXP and ZONAEXP interlinked in anyway?
Our biggest trigger to start ZONA was our restlessness and also sound distance and representation within our scene in Brazilian electronic music. We had many impasses and difficulties to actually make it happen, nowadays we have a lot of artists and producers in our casting that are important personalities of the Brazilian underground circuit, such as: Tabu, Pianki, DJ Félix, DJ Mtn9090, Marcelulose, Perrelli, NORA, NARA VAEZ, PERONi, Suelen Mesmo, CRAZEDBR e +. We produced free weekly parties for almost 2 years between 2017 and 2019, presenting emergent artists and recently we released our first V.A, a track collection produced since 2017, and we are already preparing the next one, which will be released this year. We'll keep releasing new singles and EPs, and are hopefully waiting the moment we'll be able to produce events again. ERAM EXP is directly related to ZONA, just like ZONA, ERAM is also an experimental project, we'll always be reinventing and experimenting together.
What is your routine now in quarantine and what are you projecting for the future?
During quarantine I've been exploring on my mixes tracks I like, with no big concerns and looking to be as connected as i can to new releases and artists. Also, now I have more time to dedicate for the label and I finally started to finish my own music productions. We have some releases for the future and I intend to give more and more space and voice to our artists.
You are also joining the GHETTO TRAXX agency, can you tell us what can we expect about this?
When talking about women and LGBTQI+, very few Brazilian DJs have the chance to go out of Brasil with their music, it's really difficult to be internationally recognised. I've been creating connections with artists I admire and explore same sounds genres as ZONA for some years now, I really hope to be able to travel soon and take our work over the world.
Follow ZONA here and everything ERAM here.
First image by Mau José and second by Matheus Piccini.