As part of the exhibition STORM WOMEN SCHIRN is, together with Mint Berlin, a network of women active in electronic music, hosting the STORM SALON at SCHIRN CAFÉ. Guesting on November 26: DJ rRoxymore
Patriarchy is embedded much deeper in our society than one might think. It can even be found in scenes that are supposedly emancipated: in club culture, for example. Two years ago, the network female:pressure delivered statistic proof that the androgynous and abstract world of electronic music paradoxically manifests an extreme disproportion between male and female artists.
A community of female, electronic musicians
Their gender-specific evaluation of line-ups from international festivals showed that 84 per cent were male, 8 per cent were mixed and only 8 per cent were female acts. There is a similar discrepancy amongst represented artists of international labels. Several groups counter this situation, such as the berlin-based MINT-Collective – a community of female, electronic musicians. One of them is the French djane and producer rRoxymore.
rRoxymore, who's real name is Hermione Frank, considers music to be art. They are inseparable for her. Next to her work as a producer, she does djing and live sets. In both cases, a predetermined and planned structure is just as important as the power of chance, which she allows to rule a large part of her acts. Improvising and experimenting are thus amongst her most important musical features. They are not only essential to sequences and manipulation, but also for the input of her own voice, with which she creates sounds and effects, as if it was a musical instrument.
Collaborations have played a crucial role in rRoxymore's career
For her whole live, Jazz has been one of rRoxymore's major influences. Her dad – a jazz lover – introduced her to jams and improvised sounds when she is a child. Her taste in music only shifts when she begins to visit raves and listens to trip-hop with her friends. Beginning to work as a DJ in Montpellier in southern France, rRoxymore initially combines jazz, funk, and Brazilian tunes with electronic music, and eventually incorporates disco, house and techno. After living in Paris for several years she moves to Berlin and publishes her debut “Wheel of Fortune“ in 2012. It is a psychedelic, 10-minute track. Not believing in the length of LPs, she publishes the EP 'Precarious/Precious' in 2013, including four new tracks that sound light and groovy.
Collaborations have played a crucial role in her career: They included joint projects, for example with the musician Jam Rostron, who is better known as Planningtorock, with Paula Temple aka. Jaguar Woman, with the experimental musical trio Ekova, or with the painter Jonas Burgert. During her countless travels to clubs, festivals and residencies she spends time in Mexico, in London (playing for example at Fabric or Corsica Studio), in Paris (at Social Club or La machine du Moulin Rouge) and also at Goethe Institut in Pakistan. In Berlin, where rRoxymore lives today, her live acts can be regularly experienced in clubs such as at Boiler Room, Panorama Bar and Kater Blau.