FEATURE: Spotlight: Denise Chaila — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Denise Chaila

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I am going to bring in a few interviews…

because there is a lot to know and respect about Denise Chaila. Although she has just released her debut mixtape, GO Bravely, Chaila has been on the music scene since 2012. Born in Chikankata, Zambia, she moved to Limerick, E.I.R.E. and has made a name for herself there. An incredible rapper and musical talent, her debut E.P., Duel Citizenship, came out in 2019 - and it marked her out as a major name. There is a lot of buzz around her after the release of her debut mixtape and, when you listen to her music, you can feel this rising talent primed for a lot of success and popularity! Her fanbase is growing all the time; I am already a big supporter of what she is putting out. Many might think that E.I.R.E. is not quite as productive and standout when it comes to amazing artists, but there is such a hotbed of quality there. I especially think that the female artists of the country are especially strong and, whilst gender inequality on radio playlists is starting to improve, there is still a way to go. There are some interviews that I want to grab from so, first, we get some introduction from IMAGE (when they spoke with Denise Chaila back in September):

“Born in Zambia, Denise lived there until the age of eight when she moved to Ireland with her family. Her formative years were spent in the same manner as any other Irish teenager, and she disagrees with people who box her into one category. She believes her heritage to be fluid, saying: "I feel as much raised by Zambia as I do by Ireland but when I was trying to find my own voice and seeing who I was as a person, that was happening in Lucan when I was begging my mom to let me go to the GAA discos. It's just funny when I hear people attach me so closely to an idea of Zambianess that I am not going to model perfectly."

This fluidity has influenced her music by what she calls her "healthy disregard for borders" and her healthy scepticism of people who do. A point of frustration for her is the stereotyping of identity which joins in tandem with issues such as race”.

The subject of identity and finding a place in Ireland is a subject that comes up a lot in interviews. It is clear that there are not many Rap/Grime artists like Chaila in the country. I still think there are some in Ireland that have a perception of what ‘Irishness’ is and the way people fit in. That sounds like the country isn’t progressive but, through her career, she has faced some challenges and pushback. Chaila recently appeared on a chat-show in Ireland – which I shall mention soon – and she talked about racism she received following an Other Voices performance ("I felt like it was actually a moment for me to realise I needed to be more responsible about how I navigated my blackness in this country because up until that point and with all of the Black Live s Matter protest, we had been talking... We had been vocal but it took a very long time for white people in this country to see the reality of the trauma and the wound that black Irish people deal with”). Maybe that is a minority who are to blame, but there are some in Ireland who have a narrow mentality and cannot accept anyone who does not fit into their ideals of an ‘Irish artist’ – whether that is white or someone who performs Folk. When she spoke with gal-dem, Chaila discussed Irish identity and home:

“I had this identity crisis cos going to Zambia…it’s like going back to your house and finding out your parents turned your bedroom into an AirBNB. It’s still your house, you still grew up there. But it’s kinda not your room anymore in the same way it used to be – you don’t have sole ownership of it.

Whereas living over here, in Ireland, kinda felt like moving out for the first time and staying with a friend. But you moved into their house, right? And you co-own it and you’re renting it out but you don’t really wanna put your feet up on the table sometimes.

How quickly is the culture of the house gonna change, what can you take ownership of? Can I leave my stuff in the fridge overnight? Am I able to cook in the kitchen by myself or are you going to have a fit if I use this cutlery instead of this cutlery? And at some point you have to lay down the law and be like, “I pay rent here too!”. We came from other houses. This home that we made together, it is only right and normal that we’d carry on some habits from what we learned and how we grew. But if you try to enforce your mother’s law in our kitchen, I’m gonna fight you, because it’s our kitchen – we both need room in the cupboards.

Imagining Ireland put me on the bill – and I’m a grime artist. I don’t make folk music, I’m not talking about Irishness in my bars the same way someone who’s white Irish who has a lineage and a heritage that they can trace in this land has. Grime in Ireland is still quite new, the history and richness of it, however, are not.

A lot of everything that I’m doing and saying completely flies in the face of “traditional Irishness” because I am self-created and I revel and celebrate that in so many ways that depart from what nationalism says you should value yourself as. I start to talk and I open my mouth and just by virtue of being black I’m getting people shook. People don’t want to hear that or question or integrate the idea of “Irishness” – but all of these things that you’re basing your Irishness on seem quite flimsy. Like [people will say to me] “you can’t be Irish cos if you’re Irish then what does Irishness even mean?” – and I’m like, if the definition of Irishness is that fragile it deserves to crumble. If it’s just folk music and whiteness then it’s going to crumble”.

I want to end with a review of her new album, GO Bravely, as it is one of the best releases of this year – and one of the finest debut mixtapes. Denise Chaila recently appeared on The Late Late Show in Ireland; her performance garnered a lot of praise from those who noted how confident and assured she was. She spoke to Hot Press about the experience:

“Stuart: Were you nervous about performing and chatting with Ryan Tubridy on the Late Late Show?

Denise: I was nervous about the appearance weeks in advance. I’m rarely sick to my stomach about something but I know the importance it has as an institution in Irish TV. I was running through disastrous scenarios in my head, like what if I go there and embarrass myself in front of the nation? There just seems to be so much weight attached to it. I leant into the fact that I’m rarely alone, the guys are always with me. Somebody is there to catch me when my anxiety spikes and pats me on my shoulder and says, “You’re doing great, don’t overthink this, you’re going to overthink this but don’t be mean to yourself.”

For many of us, music plays a very important role in our lives, and it can be hugely powerful and comforting. It is clear that music and communication is vital to Denise Chaila. Music came into her life at a very young age and spoke to her in a very moving way.

In the interview with Hot Press, she was asked when the transformative power of music became apparent to her – she was also asked about lockdown and how she has fared this year:

“I said my first words at seven months, so it was obvious I was going to be a talker. For a long time we said in my family that I was going to be a politician. That’s the frame of reference they had for people who wanted to talk like that. As I got older I was inspired by the film Sister Act and by Lauryn Hill, Aaliyah, Missy Eliott and Busta Rhymes. Janelle Monae’s The ArchAndroid was a really big record for me. I remember babysitting my brother when he was really small and us dancing round the kitchen for an hour to ‘Tightrope’. I heard her music and felt like I shared the references. I know for a fact that she loves Aretha and Stevie Wonder, which is what I grew up with, and that she’s a nerd. I know that she’s really, really politically conscious. She’s all of these things that I feel I am too, and one day I’m going to meet her and we’ll be friends and we’ll work together. I just have to put myself in the position where I can!

As someone who suffers from anxiety, has lockdown been especially difficult for you?

It has for many reasons. When you’re given a lot of space to be alone with your own thoughts, pain becomes very loud. Sometimes you really need someone there to shout down what seems logical to you, but wouldn’t be logical to anyone else who heard you speak. There’s something very profound about the aloneness of it all, which gives way to hopelessness. I’ve had so many moments that I know I’ll remember for the rest of my life, both positively and negatively. Things have happened in such extremities that I’m going to be processing it for a very long time.

What are the negatives?

It’s the combination of the pandemic and really going through and unpacking all of the racism that’s been burdening us. It’s one thing to live under systematic oppression for your whole life and another to do it whilst you’re not allowed access to your community. That’s been a very difficult thing to process and work through, because sometimes someone will send you a death threat that’s very graphic and visceral. “I know where your parents work, it’s not hard to find out where you live” – that kind of tone. You’re just left there to look at your phone in your home and maybe no one’s there and you can’t ask for a hug. Maybe you can only call someone and cry at the same time. My access to my therapeutic processes is gone. I write music, I perform and I work it out with other people. How do I deal with the violence towards me not just as a black person but also as a public figure whose face is known, and who can have very specifically targeted things sent to them? How do you do that knowing that you have a family that you want to protect?

Denise Chaila has achieved so much already, but it is clear that she has big visions for her music - and to use her voice to reach as many people as possible. The subject of ambitions was put to her:

Other than becoming friends with Janelle Monae, what goals have you set yourself?

I want to go as far and as fast as makes sense for me. I want to be an international superstar but in a humble way. I want to be at the stage in my career where I can go back to Victoria Falls and buy that statue of Livingstone and drop it in the water. That’s my main goal. I want to be at the point in my career where I can go to the National Museum in London and get back Zimbabwean artefacts. I want to be at that point in my career where I’m able to sit there with my Emmy and my Grammy and my Oscar and my Tony, but also to give other people opportunities. I want my Mom to be able to go back home and have her family plot and buy the deed.

Is that all?

No. I want security, I want ownership, I want recognition so that I can do more, I want to have music that I can just wake up and make. I want to make sure that my children and my children’s children never have to force themselves to fit into the mould of anyone else’s expectations and can just actualise for the rest of their lives too. It’s a marathon, you know?”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Tara Thomas Photography

I was eager to include Denise Chaila in my Spotlight feature as she is a fantastic artist, but she is also someone who has faced discrimination and had to battle prejudice. I hope that there is improvement regarding racial perception and what constitutes Irishness, as it is alarming to read that Chaila was the recipient of racism and poison earlier in the year! I genuinely think she will make a big change in Ireland regarding attitudes and, as one of the finest rappers in the country, many people are opening their eyes to a sensational talent who deserves a lot of respect and support. GO Bravely is a stunning and revealing mixtape that is such a powerful listen and stays with you long after you have heard it. The Irish Times provided their opinion regarding GO Bravely:

“She’s the artist everyone is talking about, a household name for many off the back of a handful of singles. So how did Denise Chaila get here? More importantly, why has her star ascended so quickly?

It’s true that the Zambian-born, Irish-raised rapper has an eloquence, intelligence and ability to engage when it comes to the big issues troubling the world in 2020: gender, racism, culture, the struggle to find your place in an increasingly chaotic life. It’s also true that she has charisma, presence and vocal dexterity required of a hip-hop star in the making. But why her?

Chaila’s debut mixtape (ie a more casual compilation of songs designed to set the scene for an album proper) goes some way to answering those questions, augmenting the promise first heard as a guest MC on on Rusangano Family’s Isn’t Dinner Nice back in 2016. That track lambasted domestic violence and gender inequality in a powerful manner; on her 2019 solo EP Duel Citizenship, she challenged the bigoted custodians of Irish culture and savaged misogynists of the hip-hop scene with just two pithy songs”.

I know there are many who will want an album from Denise Chaila next year, as there is so much momentum right now and she is putting out such phenomenal music. Not only is she a natural artist but, as many witnessed when she was on The Late Late Show, she is such a professional when being interviewed and facing a big television audience. She is definitely armed and ready to conquer E.I.R.E. and, after GO Bravely received such praise, there is going to be huge demand from around the world in terms of gigs. When things start to go back to normal, Chaila will hit the road (one hopes) and she will be taking her music to the masses. This year has been a big one for her in spite of everything. I feel that next year will be an even more successful. Make sure you check out her music, get involved with her social media and…