Beata Pozitiva - Electro, Experimental, eclectic - DJ Sets

FROM THE HEART - A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

My father was a Hungarian refugee who moved to the UK with my Austro-Hungarian mother and thus, I am the firstborn British offspring. Music was the one thing that helped me through my teenaged years and has been an ongoing love affair ever since. I started off by listening to everything I could on the radio: metal, rock and English pop like Slade, Wizzard, The Bay City Rollers,David Cassidy and Marc Bolan and T/rex. That was in the seventies... Read more FROM THE HEART - A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

My father was a Hungarian refugee who moved to the UK with my Austro-Hungarian mother and thus, I am the firstborn British offspring. Music was the one thing that helped me through my teenaged years and has been an ongoing love affair ever since. I started off by listening to everything I could on the radio: metal, rock and English pop like Slade, Wizzard, The Bay City Rollers,David Cassidy and Marc Bolan and T/rex. That was in the seventies when everyone in the UK was wearing flares, platform shoes and highwaisted trousers and glamour was in its element.

One night I was lying under the duvet listening to pirate radio station 208 radio Luxemburg when suddenly 'Anarchy in the UK' by the Sex Pistols came on. My whole body filled with adrenalin and a kind of positive rebellion, and I knew this was what I'd been waiting for! The next day I pierced my ears as many times as possible -with a safety pin, of course- ripped my T-shirt, dyed my hair and hitched to London.

Punk was great! So many barriers were broken down, socially as well as musically. London at the time was full of squatted houses and brilliant venues to see bands, and I don't think that the creativity and positivity that came out of the original punk movement has been repeated since. The whole thing was incredibly honest; everyone talked freely and straightforwardly to one other, no introductions were needed and it didn't matter where you came from, just who you were. Musically, training and status was also irrelevant, what was important was the feeling, the idea, and the will to do it, as well as the acceptance and embracing of chaos,chance, and the idea of breaking down to build anew. So this was when I started singing in bands and making mix tapes, because suddenly it wasn't just something out of reach that the chosen few on the glossy pop pages could do, but something that anyone who loved music and sound could use as a form of expressing themselves. The other big step during this time was that a lot of small independent labels started up, meaning one had many more chances for both performing and recording.

The early and mid/eighties then meandered into a 'gothic', 'industrial' and 'new romantic' scene, which involved dressing up, wearing make-up whether one was male or female, socialising in clubs and, indeed, club toilets, going to lots of performances, whether musical, poetical, or abstract, and also introduced the extended use of the sampler and electronic keyboard by way of bands such as Depeche mode,Classix Nouveaux, Bauhaus, Der Plan, DAF, Cabaret Voltaire, Depeche Mode and the Virgin Prunes. Then there was music from the likes of Zev, Test Department and Einstuerzende Neubauten, who used 'found' instruments obtained, for example, from building sites or those of their own invention. At the same time, another great place to hang out were gay clubs, which played brilliant disco and dance music. Promoters such as Philip Sallon brought hugely varied crowds together by putting on ecelectic club nights featuring the whole spectrum of music. This was when I started interviewing bands and musicians I liked and writing reviews for various music publications, both as a way to supplement my income and as a way of meeting people I was inspired by. I also trained as an actress in London and ensuingly appeared regularly on both stage and TV, but music remained my first and foremost love.

I had a band called 'ZingZang' which was myself and Chris Mann, which consisted of a sampler, drumkit, vocals and stacks of video screens which featured scratch videos myself and accomplice VJQJ put together in time to the music.

In the latter part of the eighties the rave and DJ culture came into its own; this was when DJ's started scratching and really mixing tracks together, and suddenly one didn't even need a band to create, one could do it all oneself in a bedroom with a couple of decks and a machine!

My first public appearance as a DJ was in the Ecstasy club in Berlin; the English DJ who'd been booked to play never came, so I was asked to step in! It was fun, but I was still more into the energy of a live band, and subsequently formed the legendary band Szeki Kurva which consisted of Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, DJ and sampler. I was the frontwoman and co-writer. The music was an Anglo-Hungarian cocktail of Folk/Punk/Dance/Pop/Muffin and, despite its success, saw a sad end in 1997.

The split coincided with my moving to Budapest, and, as well as becoming the singer of the Budapest Jazz Quartet, presenting classic jazz songs and chansons in English, German and Hungarian, I found myself DJ-ing more and more, as a way of staying in touch with and exploring the music.

I worked as an actress in Budapests English theatre company for a year and was then offered a job at the world service section of the Hungarian state radio, where I worked as researcher, reporter and presenter and learnt how to cut and edit a programme for radio.

At the same time,Tilos radio, Hungaries only truly underground, nonprofit, uncensored and therefore controversial radio took me on as their first woman DJ, which was a big step since there were next to no females behind the decks at the time, and one of the reasons I was determined to keep at it was to show other women that they could do it, which is why I formed the somewhat radically named "Vagina Sound System" collective which consisted of female DeeJays and musicians.

I also started putting on my own parties and events in Budapest, London and Vienna combining folk, fusion and dance music from Hungary and other CEE regions and for 2 years worked as head of A + R for internet portal Xenomusic.com signing artists from the region and organising promotion parties.

I have now been at Tilos for 8 years and still find it it unique, in that all decisions are made democratically via collective voting. It is also highly important re freedom of speech in an excommunist country where the board of Radio and TV broadcasting is still archaically run.

I have always, and still do, write poems, lyrics and melodies and regularly perform these live. Right now I am working solo and with Fagan / Hall of Londons Pure-mint label.

My taste in music is totally eclectic, and I have now been collecting music - mainly on vinyl - for over twenty years, so I do lots of different sets. I think being a DJ, performer or presenter, as indeed an artist of any kind, is a big responsibility, because you have the power to influence people not only through your music but also through your style and views. Therefore it is really important that your inner motivation is genuine and you stay true to yourself!"

Tilos radio 90.30 FM Budapest _ www.tilos.hu / djk / Beata Pozitiva _ free downloads of songs and mixes
Icecream / Positive Vibes every saturday 15.00 _ 16.30 on tilos Show less