#RvCAsk: apsara

It's been our desire to talk with Apsara. She is one of Indonesia's Techno heroes that will make you dance whole night. After in hiatus for almost a year, Apsara is back to the scene and you can see her performance as resident in Jenja Jakarta. We're so lucky to have a chat with her.

You’ve been in industry for years, what is the significant changes you see from the first time you started until today?
I think when I started DJing, the access to be a DJ was limited (in terms of equipment). For example, for me, I have to save money to buy CDJ and mixer. Now, maybe it’s easier to download software and you can mix music at home. Also, I don’t want to say it was less competition, but back then, DJ care so much more into music. Probably due to it cost a lot in the beginning.

When I first moved here, local DJ was headlining in the club. Every night in the club was a successful night. Right now, it’s shifting to international DJ headlining the club. Local DJ became opening and closing for them. That’s the significant change for me.

You have monthly podcast at Frisky Radio, After Dark. How you selected the songs for it?
Right now I have monthly gigs at Jenja Jakarta. Almost every day I search for new music, or music from fellow DJ. So I select songs for my gigs first. When I played it, I found my favorites and will be included in the podcast. Since the podcast airs every 4th Friday each month, I can select up to 15 songs for the podcast.

Now you’re a resident in Jenja Jakarta, how you prepare your performance each time?
Being a resident, it’s not just I can play whatever I want to play. It’s also find music that match the characteristic of the crowd. I also play in different hours, with different type of crowd. That’s why I prepared music that probably matched the type of the crowd that night.

What makes Jakarta’s nightlife unique compares to other places, in your opinion?
I have to say, it used to be more unique, especially when Stadium Jakarta still open. Kota clubs, back in the days, gave very different vibe than other country. Now it’s less unique, but in a good way. There’s many club with international headliner every weekend so we can see good DJ all the time.

What’s your memorable event? It can be club or festival events.
I have two, actually. First one is Tomorrowland, back in 2010. That is something I can’t forget. Another one is every time I played at Stadium Jakarta. It was big nights for me. I sometimes dreamed about playing in Stadium Jakarta in my sleep. When I woke up, I feel sad. Especially in 2014, right before they closed down, I had I had an amazing birthday gift from the Stadium family, they allowed me to do my own event and chose my own DJ, MC and VJ to play alongside me. I ended up doing an extended set that night, and it was such a memorable experience because it has a great turn out, unbelievable response from the crowd and all my friends were there. It is such a great experience for me and something I will never forget.
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Now you’re a mother. How motherhood effect you as a DJ?
Still tough for me to find my personal time. Since my baby was born, I still couldn’t find time to produce music for a year. So hard for me to go out now, because I always get inspiration from watching other DJ play, especially international DJ I’ve never seen before. However I can have another comeback soon, since the baby is getting bigger now. I have project with Reno from KOMA, so it’s gonna be something. 

Check out Apsara's latest track. Don't forget to catch her performance at Jenja Jakarta.