Episode 6 – Tygapaw

When she was 19 years old, she moved from Jamaica to New York in order to study design. At that point Dion McKenzie, aka Tygapaw, had already been producing electronic music and eventually became an important part of the New York club scene. As a black queer artist, this allowed her to break free from the pressures of the conservative Jamaican society, constricted by religion and marked by colonialism. Although her experience in the US wasn’t just positive either, since it’s also a place where some still have more freedom than others. Despite these obstacles, she managed to start her own night Fake Accent which celebrates queer people present in the club scene and creates a safer space for them and their audiences. Her other event No Badmind focused on Carribean trans* and queer POCs. Since 2017 Tygapaw has published three EPs and several singles exploring identity, nurturing self-esteem as well as dealing with toxic relationships and violence.
Her newest album Get Free is published under the label of the mexican collective N.A.A.F.I. and its main theme is empowerment. In Tygapaw’s case this is another step in the process of healing and unlearning self-doubt.
What was the journey of Tygapaw’s exploration of the afro-american roots of techno music? What are her experiences with establishing oneself within the music scene as a black queer person? And how is she rebuilding relationships with her body and her ancestry?

tygapaw.bandcamp.com

LIST OF REFERENCES

TYGAPAW – Get Free Intro - ft. Mandy Harris Williams
TYGAPAW – Untitled Fantasy
TYGAPAW – In Their Fear They Plotted Her Destruction
TYGAPAW – No Boderation
JUAN ATKINS – Urban Tropics
New Dance Show – TV show excerpt (1990)
TYGAPAW – So It Go
TYGAPAW – BLACK WOMXN EXPERIENCE
TYGAPAW – Ownland
TYGAPAW – Scene 1 - Unseen
TYGAPAW – Thank You ft. Mandy Harris Williams

Concept & narration: Mary C
Title music: Mary C
Translation: Dora Rodriguez
Dubbing: Zeynab Gueye
Visuals: Vladyslav Afanasiev & Jan Brož

MY EMANCIPATION DON’T FIT IN YOUR EQUATION

Podcast series that maps the revolutionary and emancipatory thoughts in current music presented by Mary C and Institute of Anxiety.

Let’s explore revolutionary thoughts and strong emotions in contemporary music, that have the power to move our society. They have always been here but are very often neglected. However, there still are places where they thrive, where new provocative and strong realities emerge and where new pop music arises, along with new revolutions.

Let’s explore the process of evolution and emancipation of electronic dance music and rap.
How do artists, especially those from african diaspora, create? Is it even possible to create when the art should be an absence of fear? What can artists help us learn and unlearn and how can we become connected and free ourselves through listening? Meet the artists who produce music as well as important knowledge, bring communities together and organize a variety of initiatives. How does their emancipation diverge from the current normative equation? The title of the podcast is inspired by Lauryn Hill’s lyrics 'My emancipation don't fit your equation.' appears in her song Lost Ones.

Marie Čtveráčková aka Mary C is a curator, musician, music journalist, producer, and cofounder of ZVUK and Synth Library Prague. From 2011 to 2020 she worked at public Czech Radio Wave as the creator and host of Scéna s Mary C (The Scene with Mary C), which focused primarily on rap, its context, and its contemporary forms. As a curator and lecturer at Synth Library Prague she is currently focusing on informal music education and music technology. In 2018 she founded the collective Trigger, which aims to connect women and trans* people in electronic music. She is interested in the potential of community organizing and inspired by feminist theory as well as the knowledge of Hip Hop culture.