We Need To Talk About Aum

Known best for a twisting blend of genres and influences, London-based DJ, Aum, continues to leave ravers tantalised. A unique artist with 10 years of experience and many strings to her bow,  she is recognised widely for her captivating fusion of Caribbean heritage and deep understanding of South London’s bass music culture.

Aum focuses on community and culture. Beyond her own artistic pursuits, she is wholly dedicated to fostering a platform for marginalised artists. Aum Presents The Electronic Diaspora is a series of events showcasing the talent and diversity of global majority musicians. From amapiano and garage to footwork and dubstep, these events offer a rich tapestry of electronic sounds. This year alone, Aum has curated takeovers at both Glastonbury and Boomtown, further amplifying the voices of underrepresented artists within the electronic music scene.

Straight off the back of some exciting international gigs, we jumped into the conversation to find out more…

Aum! You’ve had a busy year. Any highlights?

The last year has been a bit crazy, my hobby of being an artist has really snowballed. I’ve ended up in a DJ career without really meaning to. I’ve always loved DJing but I don’t think I saw it as being at the forefront of my career. Fortunately, it’s taken over from everything, which is really cool. I started 2024 on The Lot Radio in Brooklyn, New York which was an exciting way to enter the new year. March was a busy month for me supporting Mozey at his headline show in London, as well as AMC at his Adrenaline show, Critical Sound in Bristol, Particle’s album launch, and my debut at Planet Wax record shop, a staple in the London music scene. Another highlight of mine was the What’s On Your Mind panel with Turno. It was an honour to be brought in by him and Grace to talk about my life story and my mental health. That was a massive highlight. It was amazing to sit there alongside such incredible people to talk about our lives and struggles. Dani from Crazy P was on the panel after me and I just couldn’t believe how we were worlds and generations apart, but her story resonated with me so much.

Rest in peace, Dani. A memory you will no doubt treasure…

She was incredible! She made me feel so peaceful and I was lucky enough to work with her on a few more occasions over the summer.

This season I’ve also been travelling about with the Critical Sound family across loads of shows including our Summer Sonics event at The Cause and Noisily Festival. As well as performing with Dillinja and The Valve Sound System this year. We’ve done gigs in London, Bristol and at Boomtown. Which was insane. That was the biggest crowd I’ve ever played to. It was pouring down with rain, I was performing out of a gazebo nearly blowing away in the wind. It was probably the most chaotic, fun and stressful set I’ve ever played. There were over 7000 people there, but I was so glad that I couldn’t see the whole crowd. My nerves were already so bad. I’m a really anxious person, I’m trying to manage that more now. I used to be a singer in a gospel choir and I ended up putting singing on hold because of my stage fright. Whereas I saw DJing as hiding behind equipment in order to perform, but as the gigs became more important to me, they also started to get larger in scale and I’m sort of in the public eye now, I have been very nervous and cautious about what I’m doing on stage.

I guess when you’re building a brand up too, people recognise you. They’re coming to see you. Which is great, but adds another layer of pressure?

Yeah exactly, but it’s nice too. I’ve just come back from Tenerife after supporting Chase & Status. Playing to different audiences is difficult, especially if you are playing support to an act like Chase &Status but after the sets I performed there, I got a couple hundred new followers, loads of messages, and made new friends too – shout out Nick, Bridie, Rosco, and Lew – It was nice to have good feedback and relieve some of that internal and external pressure. I don’t necessarily need gratification from other people but it is nice in those situations when you’re warming up for such a major artist who are doing so well at the moment. I’d like to say a special thank you to one of my dear friends, Ben, for having me be a part of the line-up alongside Tailor Jae and Sica ria. If you’re looking for a manager check out Ben Carden-Jones!

Big up Ben… We all need a little bit of validation every now and then, just so we know what we’re doing is alright.

With some gigs, I don’t need that at all because I know the crowd and I know what I’m playing is up their street but I think where I’ve moved to such a heavy jungle sound if I play to a heavy D&B crowd, sometimes I feel like my sound and style gets a bit lost. I have started mixing old school jump up with jungle now to those more drum and bass crowds, I do draw for these tracks to try and engage with that audience more and bring them into my world of music. Old jump up was my bread and butter, that’s what I grew up on- Playaz.

Let’s dive into Aum presents: The Electronic Diaspora. What’s the concept?

Aum presents: The Electronic Diaspora is an event series and concept that I came up with because, to be honest, I was getting sick and tired of promoters telling me that there are no artists of colour to book. It’s a lie. I was tired of getting into these arguments, whether it’s face to face or on social media, I was sick and tired of butting heads and being told one thing when actually, it’s down to their laziness and people being stuck in their ways. So I started the series, which was sort of a protest in my head but also a nice thing to do because I have so many amazing friends of colour who are artists that I wanted to showcase and platform who I feel don’t get the light shined on them. Or, if they do get booked, they’re getting opening slots when actually, they’re primetime DJs. I wanted to showcase and platform the global majority and marginalised artists. I am a woman of colour. I am of mixed heritage and I’ve had many debates with my friends of colour and my white friends too about the importance of having a much wider demographic performing on stage. 

Representation is so important, across the whole scene.

It really is. There was a festival I went to recently where there was a full female lineup on one of the nights, and there were no women of colour on the line up. That really cut me deep considering the amount of women of colour that started and have contributed to drum & bass, DJ Flight, Kemistry, Jenna G, Chickaboo, Rachel Wallace, and Eva Lazarus, just to name a few. It started from black men and women, then the white community was brought into it. That time and era was amazing. The 90s and the noughties had such mixed demographics on their line ups. I don’t know what’s happened over time. Anyway, there were no women of colour on this line up even though it stated they were representing women in D&B, then I looked around me and I realised I was also the only woman of colour in the crowd too, and I’m mixed race, I’m fairer skinned. I felt so ostracised and isolated. I was upset. Even now talking about it, it makes me feel upset. I wanted to leave that day. From having these strong emotions, I wanted to channel my anger and frustration into something positive rather than arguing about it with people online and in person. I’ve seen people come at it from that angle and it doesn’t do anything. If someone has core beliefs and values that what they’re doing isn’t wrong, and they truly believe they’re not ostracising a group of people, you’re not going to change them by arguing with them until you’re blue in the face.

This is a positive and productive way of doing it. You’re literally showing them, rather than telling them, that there are artists of colour that they can book.

Exactly. This is why I’m doing it. Starting the club night has been incredible though because I’ve now made so many new friends from marginalised communities, whether that’s the queer community, the black community, the asian community. I’ve actually opened up my roster of friendships because I do feel like I have isolated myself a lot from my black heritage over the years. I moved from London when I was 13 and didn’t move back until I was 18. For 6 years I was in Dorset, which is a really white place. I went from being one of the whitest kids at my school in South London to one of the blackest kids in my school in Dorset, so I ended up being so withdrawn from my heritage, and not celebrating my blackness enough and really engrossing myself in my culture. It’s taken a few years for me to find my feet but it’s been really nice to open up my platform and life from doing this. So, although I’ve had to do the work, it’s been an amazing journey. It’s also opened up so many opportunities for me personally. I want to thank Katie Marshall for giving me a space to host an Aum Presents at Glastonbury, which was incredible. And Dan Tsu at The Rum Shack, Glastonbury is definitely another highlight of my year. I hope the series keeps getting bigger and more recognised. Everything is going in the right direction.

Talk to us about some of the artists you’ve booked!

Mia Koden came down for the first event, who used to be part of Sicaria Sound. We had Ehua. We had Jamiu who is a close friend of mine, he helped me pick the name ‘The Electronic Diaspora’. We were trying to be careful not to be so ‘We’re black, and we make music, and we’re playing here!’ The Electronic Diaspora is more vague because it’s not about strictly being black or brown, it’s about heritage, What is your diaspora? So yeah, big up Jamiu. My friend AMA came down, she’s a new mummy now too so that’s lovely. Verbz and Mantmast were hosting, two supportive men in music. That is something I want to shout about, there are good men in music. The bad do outweigh the good, in my opinion, and statistically speaking, but there are lots of really good men in music. Jack Workforce for example, goes above and beyond for women in music. He goes above and beyond as a friend and as a mentor. Manchester promoter Rich Reason is another good man in music, doing amazing things for his community and the wider demographic. Dogger too, he’s a great friend of mine and supports me in some of my best moments and worst. I’d like to mention Rob Cracknell and Tom Hoyle for their support this year in all aspects of my career from being on stage to behind the scenes. They have both really nurtured all the business hats I like to wear.

Artists I’d love to mention and put the spotlight on are; Peppa Sounds, Chy, Pablo Gyal, Gold Tooth, Sicaria, Salo, Q Sermon, Akira, Missy P, Local Citizen, Rose Bud, and so many more. I can’t wait to eventually work with them all in the near future.

It’s important to big up everyone who is fighting for change and actively helping the scene progress in a healthy way.

It’s a community effort and I do have so much positive support from the wider white community too, which is great. Something I would like to mention is that I’ve heard too many people saying that the rave is just for music and that we need to keep politics out of it. I don’t actually know what planet these people live on but music has always been a political movement. From the mods & rockers in the 50s and 60s to the hippies during the 60s and 70s in a field dropping acid and smoking to the origins of Glastonbury, these were political movements. It was a statement. House and techno in the early 80s, early 90s in America was a statement for the black queer community to stand up for their rights and their movements, creating safe open spaces for their people. And in the 90s and the noughties, drum and bass and jungle were the same thing, making changes. It was a movement for the black and poorer communities in the UK. So specifically for white males in drum and bass – who are mostly ravers – to go out of their way to tell artists who are living and breathing this community that the dance and industry isn’t the place to talk about politics, I find that frustrating. Telling women off for talking about the lack of diversity is wrong, telling people of colour off for talking about the lack of diversity is wrong. People saying we shouldn’t be doing fundraisers or wearing t-shirts for Palestine and the Middle East. That is literally what our platforms are for. It’s what music was made for. People are almost being drawn away from what raving, music, parties, and gatherings were really for, are what they have been about for many decades, so I want to remind people, educate people and give opportunities to those who deserve them. It’s important to me. 

Up and coming shows, and engagements…Friday October 18. I have Critical Sound, Fabric 25 at of course Fabric London, the iconic club celebrating its 25th birthday, a venue very close to my heart and career in music. On Saturday 19. I have a guest mix airing on BBC Radio 1 on Charlie Tee’s show, big thank you for having me. Next week I will be making my Berlin debut at a club night called Magma, the location is secret which I find very fitting, I have my all-black outfit at the ready! Over the winter months, I’ll be heading out of Europe and over to Aotearoa, New Zealand with a stop or two on the way so keep an eye out.