House Rules ft Juba

Harmattan Rain’s House Rules ft Juba is a curation her sonic experience of her first time in Ghana. Juba is a DJ from London,  whose love of different types of African and African diasporic music leads her to focus afrobeats, Gqom, kuduro, afrohouse and highlife music. She is part of the Boko! Boko! DJ collective and plays at and organises club nights and events across London and Europe.  Her sets are always upbeat, lively and varied and her love for music and dance always comes through in her energetic delivery of music. She spent time in Accra, Ghana’s capital for the first time in November 2017. listen to her House Rules mix below:

Where are you right now? Describe your surrounds. What do you see? What do you hear? What can you smell?

I am currently sitting on a freezing cold train at 11:30pm on the way back from a nice (Thai) meal with my friends, however the train hasn’t moved for the last 25 minutes, so understandably my patient is wearing thin.
Anyway, I’m looking out of the window right now and all I can see is pitch blackness, as we appear to be stranded in the countryside area just outside London. Next to me I can see a couple wearing cheesy Christmas jumpers and eating cold McDonald’s, which is the nauseating smell that is currently attacking my nose.
As you can tell, I’m not enjoying this journey at all.

 

If you could name this mix what would you call it?

I would name it Jollof Wars.

 

What do you imagine people doing as they listen to this mix?

I would say that the majority of this mix is quite chilled. Therefore I can imagine people happily vibing along to the tracks and every now and then jumping up in excitement, nostalgia or even confusion at a few of my song choices.

 

If this mix were a sweet(confectionary), what would it be?

My mix would be a bag of jelly beans, because overall it’s an enjoyable tasty experience, but also quite varied. And who knows every now and then you may bite into a flavour that you aren’t sure whether you like or not; like some of my selections.

 

You can be one musician for a day. Who are you going to be?

If I could be a musician for a day it would probably be someone like Bjork, not because I’m a mega fan of her music, but because she appears to have a fascinating and eccentric mind and I would love to look at the world through her eyes. However on a less pretentious note, I’d probably be someone like Missy Elliot back in her heyday, so that I could experience that real authentic decadent bad bitch 90’s/early 00’s lifestyle and feel like an absolute boss for 24 hours.

 

Describe the colour yellow to a blind person.

The colour yellow is a mixture of sheer joy, vitality and warmth, mixed with a healthy dosage of youth, essential oils and fresh spring mornings.

 

You’re stuck on an Island and you can only have three things on you. What are those and why?

If I were stuck on an island I would take a solar powered IPod (with headphones), so that I would have a never ending supply of music. I wouldn’t be bothered about not having new songs, because I am one of those annoying people who can listen to tracks an obscene amount of times and not get bored of them. So I could dance to Premier Gaou and Naive (The Kooks) from the island right into my grave.

Secondly I would bring a lifelong supply of shea butter. I have eczema, my hair is brittle and dry lips for me are akin to torture, so an eternal source of moisturisation would be a must. Shea butter is the best most multiple purpose cream on earth, so it would keep me soft and sane.

And finally a pen and paper so that I could write and draw and keep myself mentally stimulated, because a reading book wouldn’t be enough. Also as the solitude drove me deeper and deeper into insanity and I probably forgot how to speak any of the languages I know, I’d be interested to see what I’d come out with. And who knows, maybe some explorers in the future would stumble across my memoirs (next to my skeleton) and they’d make a film about me…

 

Which 3 songs best describe your 2017? 

I’ll describe 3 significant songs for me in 2017:

The first one is ‘Mad Over You’ by Runtown. I’m pretty sure the song was released in 2016, but it really has been my track of the year/decade ever since it first blessed my ears. Everytime I hear it it fills me with a deep nostalgia of my trip to Nigeria at the beginning 2017 and generally it is my favourite recent Afrobeats track, the type that physically hits my soul every time it’s played.

Second would have to be ‘XO Tour Life’ by Lil Uzi Vert.  This summer I went to Fresh Island Festival in Croatia with my cousin and a friend and it was probably one of the most indulgently crazy and fun trips that I’ve had in a while. I remember one night during our habitual 9pm- 8am raving sessions, this song came on and my cousin and I just went mad and danced as if we were possessed.  It was like a revelation and at that moment, I was like ‘Chinwe. You really know how to enjoy life’, so yeah that song just reminds me of sheer enjoyment, which amongst other things, I have to say I’ve had a lot of in 2017.

My last song of 2017 is ‘I Used To Love Him’, which reminds me of the album listening parties that I started throwing in London this year called ListenIn. During the first event, I played the whole of ‘The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill’ (on vinyl) and this was my favourite song from the album. I guess ‘I Used To Love Him’ is significant for 2017 because it represents me actually making something happen: I am guilty of having loads of ideas, but often not actualising them, which can be very frustrating and feel quite paralysing. So ListenIn was a step in the right direction for me.

 

Name 2 musicians people should look out for (African)

I found out about a musician called Mabiisi recently on my trip to Ghana and since then I have been hooked. He has been around for a while, but I would definitely recommend him, he has a unique voice (to me) and also is very innovative in how he makes instruments. For example he made the Kologo, that I saw him play, out of an empty oil drum and mop stick; I really appreciate this creative vision and also how he turns something unattractive i.e. rubbish, into something of beauty.  I’ve also been liking what Niniola has been doing recently with her Nigerian take on Afrohouse. I am a massive Afrohouse fan and always hungry to hear different variations of it, so I am excited to see what she will come up with in the coming years.

 

When was the last time you got into a fight and why?

The last time I got into a fight was at Nottinghill Carnival this year. A man who was clearly off his face on drugs, kept on being really inappropriate with women.  At one point he tried to make me his target and drunkenly stumbled up to me; to which I retaliated with a firm push accompanied by a load of expletives. I tend to underestimate my strength, so naturally I sent him flying flying head first into a sturdy metal fence. Needless to say his face was covered in blood and the paramedics had to treat him. I actually felt a bit bad, as it had not been my intention to commit GBH (Grievous Bodily Harm) on the man…however, to be fair, if he had been more sober he probably wouldn’t have fallen so spectacularly and wouldn’t have deserved a push in the first place. I don’t know if that counts as a fight, but it was the last altercation I was involved in.

 

Which weather type best describes you? Rainy or Harmattan?

I would be the rainy season. I live in the UK so I am not well acquainted with the rainy season/harmattan in West Africa, however from my experience (mainly during visits to Nigeria) the Harmattan is the dry and dusty season, which is unbearably hot at times. In comparison the wet season, despite being heavy and humid, offers respite in the form of regular downpour and it is also a period of greenness and abundance. I would therefore like to think that I am not dry and unbearable, but more on the healthy and relieving side of things. Also I love the heavy rains of the wet season, because unlike in the UK it actually heats up after it precipitates, so you aren’t freezing cold and damp for the rest of the day. (I am still that excitable person who goes out and dances in the torrential downpour).

 

What has 2017 taught you?

2017 has taught me to put my words into action, set ambitious yet attainable goals and to be proactive in obtaining them.  I have had a few surprises this year (both good and bad) and so, as cliche as it sounds, 2017 has reiterated to me that nothing (apart from death) is guaranteed to any of us; that we aren’t ‘owed’ anything by life and that we should try to make the most of whatever hand life deals us. I think 2017 has also shown me that things do not always happen when you want them to, but if you continue to work hard you will begin to see the fruits of your labour when the time is right. This is something that I have to regularly remind myself as my own personal motivation.

 

Catch Juba’ s vibe here:

 

TRACKLIST

Paq- Ga Tsidzi O ft Kobla Jnr

Gafacci x Moni -Juana ft Joey B

BiQoMusic-Palm Wine Music ft Ansah Live & Tano Jackson

Wutah-Bronya

KaySo- Lovey ft Papa Chie

Paq- Headache

Becca- Na Wash ft Patoranking

Medikal- Too Risky ft Sister Debby

StoneBwoy-Hero

Darkovibes-Tomorrow

Kofi Nti & Ofori Amponsah- Odo Nwom

Mina- Ringtone Riddim (Instrumental) ft Gafacci

Davido- FIA

King Promise-Oh Yeah

Runtown- Mad Over You

Ebony- Sponsor

R2Bees- Plantain Chips

StoneBwoy- Baafira ft Sarkodie

Shatta Wale-Dem Confuse

VIP- Ahomka Wo Mu

M.anifest- B.E.A.R

Shatta Wale- Kaikai

Sarkodie- A Star

Daddy Lumba- Aben Wo Ha

Sarkodie- Megye Wo Girl ft Shatta Wale

Burna Boy- On A Very Good Day ft Wande Coal

Mabiisi- Pagba (Rosario & DJ Nax Afro Soul Remix)

Article Wan- Yen Papi ft Edem

Mabiisi- King (DJ Satellite Instrumental Mix)

Jowaa- Banku Dade

Olamide- Wo!!

Mina- Make Money ft Bryte

Yaw Siki- Jeggings Party

Gasmilla- Abootadoi

DJ Flexx- Eggplant Remix