On The Couch

Local music mixer Bridget Nel(33) aka Dj Funky B from Durban North is taking the country by storm with her cool sounds. Working a full time job as an account manager for a professional hair care brand, she still continues her passion of playing music on the side. The Weekly Gazette-Glenwood caught up with DJ Funky B to ask her a few questions about her life as a DJ: TWG-G: When did you first realise that you wanted to DJ? DJFB: I started DJing at 21, directly after finishing college, where I got my national higher diploma in Journalism.  I had a friend teach me after I begged to learn.  After a week of touching my first turntables ever (vinyl’s back then) I got my first residency at a club called “Long Beach” (a rooftop beach bar on long street in Cape Town).  I started DJing in Cape Town where I lived for four years before relocating to Durban.  TWG-G: How long have you been Djing for? DJFB: I’ve been DJíng for 12 years and it was my full time job for seven year...

2011 was one of THOSE years. You know, the type that makes one look back on having a root canal with fondness and nostalgia. Granted, a root canal is not exactly fun, but atleast it did not entail frenzied, obsessive, week-long conversations about arguably the most boring event of the decade - The Royal Wedding. At one point it became a phenomenon impossible to escape. There was a constant stream of blogs, breaking news updates, tweets, status updates and even fashion reports about Prince William and Kate Middleton. I swear people were even talking like they knew the royal couple personally.  “Oh em gee! Have you heard about Kate’s wedding dress?!?!” says one frenzied woman to another, in the shoe department of some clothing store. “Totally! And have you heard what Will is up to now?” I still have Vietnam type flashbacks, waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, thinking about the royal wedding. However, after much meditation, positive reinforcement and uplifting ma...

SS: In a nutshell, could you briefly explain what audiences can expect from your latest show, Desperate First Ladies? PDU: It's a celebration of women we know, love, fear and fantasize about. I have a chorusline of women since 1982, some well known like Evita and Nowell, some new. There will be 14 women with me. And PW just for fun. SS: How has the experience been working on this performance? PDU: It's always theatrically rewarding to start as a 66 year old man and become a female character who won't admit to age. The show is also unashamedly entertaining. The politics is the petticoat, the fun is the dress. SS: You use the country’s political background as inspiration for your material. Have you ever had a less than enthused political figure or member in the audience take offence? PDU: I have always said if politicians don't like being made fun of, they can resign. I apologize to no one who has been elected to work for me. SS: How and where did it all begin fo...

I had every good intention of writing a cynical and jaded column reviewing 2011. I was even going to tear into Justin Bieber for committing the biggest crime of the decade…releasing a movie and a book about his life (because he has obviously experienced so much in all the three years he has been around on this planet for). However, this was apparently not good enough. Instead I was conned into writing the final installment to my wedding saga. It’s not that I am not excited about my own wedding. It was the best day of my life. It’s just that, after being exposed to constant wedding talk, plans and preparations for the past few weeks, I am somewhat exhausted. However, I wouldn’t want to deprive my readers (aka my News Editor) of all the deviant details of the day, so with no further delay, I present to you a review of my big, fat, half Greek half German wedding. My story begins a few days in advance…on Christmas. An old school friend, came over with a bottle of tequila. This almost i...

SS: You recently completed the book, Labourer or Settler, which is based upon research done for your MA degree. What inspired you to expand this concept into a book? DdB: Only researchers generally read theses so with the 150 anniversary of the arrival of Indians in 2010 and the centenary of the ending of indentured labour in July 2011, I decided it was not only opportune but also highly topical to update and expand the research contained in my original thesis and rewrite it all under a new title. At least now there are hundreds of people who would never have read the thesis but who have now read Labourer or Settler. SS: Could you briefly explain what topics the book touches upon? DdB: The focus is on white settler's need for Indian indentured labour and how that mutated into an antipathy to the labourers obtaining settler status when their contracts ended. So it is not about the individual experiences of Indians. But in that, the Indian presence came to be colony-wide and in...