A study carried out by Berlin’s Humboldt University has revealed that DJs based outside of Berlin often feel inadequate and paranoid when working around DJs who are based in the city.
Professor B. Humbug, of the University’s Anthropology Department explained the study’s findings, “The electronic music scene in Berlin is really flourishing at the moment. So naturally when large amounts of people with similar tastes and common personality traits come together in one place anthropologists will want to study them,” he explained. “We decided to use Panorama Bar as a base for our ethnographic research, we thought it would give us a good mix of locals and also of outsiders who had come to experience Berlin.”
“The results were fascinating across the board. We came across things like clubbers preferring to take pills with a logo they are familiar with on it, even though they have no idea what it’s made of. Or how a crowd simultaneously throws a fist in the air at the exact moment the DJ drops the bass. These things are really helping us anthropologists to understand the underground music scene and its culture. But for me, the most interesting findings were those made on the DJs themselves,” continued the professor enthusiastically.
“It is no secret that the majority of people outside of the dance music circle see DJs as egotistical maniacs who travel the world, drink the finest champagne, party all night and sleep with beautiful lingerie models. However, this is not always the case. We actually found that DJs who are not based in Berlin feel very intimidated and vulnerable when playing in the city and this can be reflected with paranoid thoughts and feelings of inadequacy. It’s certainly not down to confidence, talent or nationality because we have seen non-German, Berlin-based DJs of similar or less talent play sets confidently, whereas the non Berlin-based DJs sets are often nervous and filled with sloppy schoolboy errors,” he claimed scholarly.
English DJ Alan Fitzpatrick spoke of his experiences of Berlin, “As an aspiring DJ you always want to play a gig in Berlin, the place is a Mecca for talent. They’ve got the best clubs, the best DJs and producers and the biggest labels. It’s quite daunting to have to go and perform in a place like that, it feels like the entire world is watching you.”
The Southampton-based DJ also spoke of his first gig in Panorama Bar, “Probably the worst gig I’ve ever played, I didn’t enjoy it at all. To start with I went into the backstage area and the place was full, wall to wall, with some of the best producers and DJs on earth, straight away I was thinking, ‘Jesus I’m out of my depth here.’ Then I tried to talk to Mano Le Tough and Alle Farben but they weren’t interested in what I had to say, they just continued speaking German to each other.”
“I know those guys speak English, Mano is Irish for peats sake,” bemoaned Fitzpatrick. “Then I started thinking, ‘Do they think I’m a bad DJ? Or does my breath smell? Is that why they wont talk to me?’ It’s really weird in there, all of the Berlin DJs are sitting around laughing and joking, sipping on cocktails and looking relaxed. Then there was myself and all the other DJs pacing the room, sweating and worrying about every little thing that could possibly go wrong, by the time my set came around I was a bag of nerves,” he said apprehensively.
“I got out on stage and I just couldn’t concentrate. Straight away I thought I had lost the crowd. I also thought that Michael Mayer was stealing from my record bag, my mind just wasn’t on the music at all and because of that my set was littered with stupid mistakes. I was constantly thinking, ‘are they gonna like this?’ Or ‘is this a bit too banging?’ Usually I just go out and play without thinking about it and works out fine. I never want to play in Berlin again,” he said acrimoniously.
Dr. Humbug indicated his excitement at the forthcoming release of the study, which is set to be published in the prestigious Anthropological Journal of European Cultures in January of next year.
