{"id":66617,"date":"2026-07-06T23:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T15:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=66617"},"modified":"2026-07-06T23:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T15:06:15","slug":"how-asias-women-djs-are-turning-the-tables-in-a-male-dominated-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=66617","title":{"rendered":"How Asia\u2019s women DJs are turning the tables in a male-dominated world"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/07\/06\/2e310c50-dbc1-4d1d-970d-8959648559dc_95536a0c.jpg?itok=XQ9VPvVm&amp;v=1783323580\" \/><\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" id=\"\">\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Camille Banzon\u2019s journey to becoming a pioneer of the underground music scene in the Philippines was defined by necessity from the outset. A decade ago, when running a hostel on the island of <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Siargao<\/span>, she learned the basics of DJing so she could play music at the parties she hosted.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">By the time she was forced to relocate to Manila in 2021 after a devastating typhoon, she was already developing her own sound. She was heavily influenced by the fast-paced energetic bass and jungle music that emerged from the UK in the 1990s, layering it with traditional music from the Philippines.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Banzon, whose artist name is Ezzrei, organised her first bass music night in Manila in 2023 because the clubs, which she describes as having a \u201cmonopoly\u201d on nightlife, would not let her play the music she liked. Her night became a success and famous DJs started offering to play for free. According to Banzon, 39, the number of bass music nights has increased across the Philippines over the past five years.<\/p>\n<figure xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" data-qa=\"Component-StyledFigure\" class=\"css-19yzsmk e1t6i3s46\"><default:svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"42\" height=\"29\" viewbox=\"0 0 42 29\" fill=\"none\" data-qa=\"Component-StyledQuoteIcon\" class=\"css-0 e1t6i3s47\"><default:path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M-0.000289917 9.38348L4.75373 4.78444L9.42532 0.104248V9.38348H18.9334L18.9334 28.1042H-0.000289917V9.38348ZM22.457 9.38332L27.1301 4.78428L31.8826 0.104086L31.8826 9.38332H41.3906V28.1041L22.457 28.1041L22.457 9.38332Z\" fill=\"black\"\/><\/default:svg><\/p>\n<blockquote data-qa=\"Component-StyledBlockquote\" class=\"css-1twxibn e1t6i3s45\"><p>Starting anything as a woman is a difficult reality. But the movement caught on \u2026 I\u2019m building a legacy<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The odds were stacked against Banzon playing an influential role in the country\u2019s nascent bass music scene. Globally, the genre of drum and bass has the lowest proportion of women signed to labels, at only 5 per cent. Banzon experienced what she calls \u201ccultural erasure\u201d when the men she worked alongside refused to acknowledge her central role in platforming bass music in Manila.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cIn a space where there\u2019s a history of oppression, starting anything as a woman is a difficult reality,\u201d she says. \u201cBut the movement caught on and I\u2019m really proud. I\u2019m building a legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Banzon is now part of a regional network of female DJs who have bypassed traditional gatekeepers to build their own following. In late May, she travelled to Hong Kong where Li Meng de Bakker organised a collaboration between her own bass collective Feed the Dragon and Banzon\u2019s Continuum Bass.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThat night was so special for me,\u201d Banzon says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/arts\/article\/3359103\/how-asias-women-djs-are-turning-tables-male-dominated-world?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Camille Banzon\u2019s journey to becoming a pioneer of the underground music scene in the Philippines was defined by necessity from the outset. A decade ago,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[4876,14168,21140,4039,6213,274,526],"class_list":["post-66617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-asias","tag-djs","tag-maledominated","tag-tables","tag-turning","tag-women","tag-world","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/66618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}