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On Friday 22 March following a now sold-out screening of films that explore the links between rave culture and contemporary art in Poland in the 1990, Concrete Lates x Rave: Recharge take over Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer, with DJ sets from Catz n Dogz, GW Harrison and Blanka Barbara.
Blanka Barbara’s genre is best described as deep and textured melodic house – perfect for taking crowds on a carefully steered playful and musically adventurous journey. Her productions have been supported by the leading names in the industry, including Lane 8, Marsh, Patrice Baumel and Hernan Cattaneo.
We’re very excited to have some time today with acclaimed London-based record producer, DJ, and Rabbit Records label owner, Blanka Barbara; greetings and salutations, Blanka! Before we dive into the proverbial Q&A mosh-pit, how would you describe your musical stylings to a fan just now coming across you? We definitely catch the sweet refrains of Dance and Electronic in your craft, but would it be fair to label you as a Dance/Electronic artist?
House music in all its glorious forms and variations is what invigorates me. Nowadays, I’m tending to play more melodic house and often reach for inspiration from labels like Siamese, Innervisions, Exit Strategy, Survival Tactics, Ellum. That particular style gets me voguing behind the decks or even when hunting for new music.
Curiously, you catch me at a time when I change gears, so to speak, going from the underground progressive house into the domain of genre-bending melodic house & techno – more tunes cooking and out this year. I am definitely playing some fresh tunes of mine on the 22nd of March at Southbank 😉
Major congratulations on your upcoming March 22 appearance at the Southbank Centre where you’re set to share the stage with Catz ‘n Dogz, the Polish DJ duo of Grzegorz Demiańczuk and Wojciech Tarańczuk! Starting at the tip-top, can you share with anyone late to the party what this event is specifically for?
We’re celebrating the Polish Rave Culture of course! Hence the film screening taking place just before our dance event – you can watch some amazing rave footage from the 90s at the Purcell Room and then witness the modern Rave live at the QEH Foyer enhanced by immersive visualisations by Deruba, our fellow countryman VJ wizard who takes his inspiration from the 3 decades of rave culture.
We could never have dreamed of a classier venue to put both of these events on as a package – right in the heart of London – if you’ve never been to one of the most influential venues in the UK, now is your time to experience it all.
When you were approached to work your indelible and textured house sounds on the crowds for this event which is part of the 22nd Kinoteka Polish Film Festival, did you know right away that this was a perfect match between you the artist and the cinematic event preceding your performance?
Absolutely! What’s more, I’ve been invited to write the soundtrack for the Kinoteka 2024 Trailer, which is quite amazing. I looked at the raw footage and immediately pulled an unfinished track out of my hard drive – luckily I have a habit of jotting down ideas in Ableton whenever I feel inspiration pouring in, a habit which came in handy on this occasion. The energy of the draft was right, the Slavic melancholy in the chords paired with an edgy charged groove felt like the perfect match for the trailer celebrating the best cinematic moments of Polish filmmakers.
Your deft musical craft feels perfectly matched for the larger-than-life world of the cinema. How important is the craft of filmmaking to you as a musical artist? Does that medium inform your unique sounds?
In a surprising way too! I’ve always been in love with film soundtracks, from early childhood my favourite albums and the CDs my parents got me were actually OSTs. The way the film composers could pinpoint each emotion you are supposed to feel in each scene made such a powerful impression on me as a child, I decided I must pursue this skill. In dance music you focus a lot on excitement, even if it’s emotional and melancholic, it has to inevitably be extremely groovy, catchy, and simply must make the listener feel ‘cool’ or even ‘unstoppable’.
For those attending the March 22 performance at the Southbank Centre and who may not be familiar with your live shows, what sort of show should they expect from you?
To me, any show tells a story. Performers, musicians, DJs – we are storytellers. Similar to a film, a soundtrack or a live show deals with time. Time is our canvas. I love painting with different colours, mixing genres, bringing different flavours. When listening to my live sets you will find yourself following a storyline and being gently led through a gallery of sound impressions.
Who inspires you musically?
I was very fortunate to start my musical career in classical music, which expanded my horizons immensely. And since OSTs were my main focus sound-wise, learning how the orchestra functions and how to write sheet music for large ensembles became my mission. At the time my ears were filled with Chopin, Beethoven, John Adams, Bacewicz, Alexandre Desplat and Lutosławski.
It was in fact my future husband, who, when we met, on our second date asked me “do you know who Deadmau5 is?”. I honestly replied “no”. He said “we must listen to THIS” and put on “Strobe”, then “Faxing Berlin”, then “Sleepless”. I still remember us sitting in my car, listening to everything for hours. I felt so much joy, goosebumps, like a portal opened in front of my eyes – that’s when I decided to pursue electronic music.
Fast forward to now, my idols are Maceo Plex, Steve Duda, and The Secret DJ 😉
What does ‘24 hold in store for you musically? Is there a possible EP or LP release from you on the horizon?
The timing of this interview is incredible. Just this week sees a new EP release on the ICONYC label. It’s a dance song “Forgotten Pharaoh” created in collaboration with Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jinadu!
Jinadu created this absolutely powerful rock-inspired topline with some amazingly meaningful lyrics. In response, I reworked my original instrumental offering and added an explosive melodic line that would match the energy of the vocal. The production simply demanded to feel like fireworks in the listener’s headphones!
I am very grateful to ICONYC for releasing the tune and especially complementing it with such amazing remixes, making the “Forgotten Pharaoh” EP a tasty melodic house treat.
What does your creative process generally tend to look like when working on new material? Is there a particular rhyme and reason to the creative chaos, or is it a bit more freeform than all of that?
I hunt for inspiration anywhere I can, and not just in clubs. Some things are important for the creative process, like being overjoyed by a rare sunny day out in London or going to a hip art gallery or to a family gathering or listening to delicious vinyl records at a store in Hackney. I often feel like a sponge, gathering ideas and impressions until I come to the studio and burst all over my hardware!
The above is about 5% of the music-making process, and the rest is hours spent in Ableton mixing, adjusting, re-recording, make things fit, deleting, shaping.
The main reason to create is to find the right sound that makes me vogue, that moves me, that is at times more inward-looking, that in the end is worth sharing with others and would in turn inspire them and move them too.
How did you come to create Rabbit Records and who are some of the artists associated with the label?
Rabbit Records is my first-ever label. It felt like a playground at first, a channel to share my music through. It was necessary at the time and extremely experimental. I’ve released some beautiful tunes there, like “Beacon of Hope” or “Rebirth”, and had the pleasure of hosting some imaginative artists.
My next goal is much more focused. I am currently working hard on setting up a new label that will have a philosophy that fits my current trajectory. Without giving out too much detail, my hope is to summarise all my professional experiences and extract only the things I felt worked for me, my peers and my fans. Both musically and visually.
Any final thoughts you might like to share with readers about your impending March 22 performance at the Southbank Centre, as well as everything else that may be in store for you during 2024?
Let’s rave in this brave new world together and seize the day! You might want to come to experience my music in New York in September, but for now, all I can say is ‘stay tuned!’ 😉
Event ticket available from Dice:
