The year is whizzing by, eh? We’re at May already, and the festival season is about to get going in the UK. Of course, if you’re a certain level of international DJ, festival season can be the whole year round — but wherever you are, we all love a festival, right? Although there are now so many now that qualitative decisions need to be made about which ones we choose to go to.
DJ Mag’s Top 100 Festivals poll — for which voting has just opened (see page six) — can help you do this. By shining a spotlight on festivals the world over, the Top 100 Festivals list that arises out of the voting process can help you decide where to spend your hard-earned cash. Have your say — vote today.
Jayda G is someone who’ll be playing a lot of festivals this summer. The Canada-raised, London-dwelling DJ/producer has rapidly risen through the ranks to become a mainstage mainstay, and graces our cover this issue in advance of her forthcoming album on Ninja Tune, ‘Guy’, which deals with issues around her father, who passed away 23 years ago. This sounds like a heavy subject, in contrast to the happy, joyous joie de vivre that Jayda brings to dancefloors via her DJ sets, but ultimately an artist should be true to themselves — and the album is still highly accessible anyway. The album format allows artists to go a bit deeper and off-piste; her cover story interview with DJ Mag’s Ria Hylton (from page 22 onwards) explain this, and Jayda also talks about the environmentalism that remains crucial to her being, as well as unifying dancefloors and changes in her personal and professional life. It’s also great to spotlight Black Artist Database this issue as they launch their own label (page 58), and there’s lots of other goodness inside too. Hope you enjoy it.
Carl Loben
Editor