Interview with Nymra & Sofisticated

You two are coming through to Toronto for the long weekend to perform at Electric Islands Season 6 Opener, are you excited for the show?

Yes! We are so excited to get the chance to play Electric Island. Since our first gig in Toronto in 2012 for The Anja Schneider boat cruise, many super gigs have come along, giving us the chance to share amazing moments with our lovely Toronto friends. This one is special because we are getting great exposure out of it, and we get the chance to share the decks with big names. Happy girls!

Do you find there are any major differences between festivals in Toronto and those in your hometown of Montreal?

Actually the difference that we think there is is that we have many chances as local DJ’s to shine. In Montreal, we have the Piknic Electronik that has had a b-stage since forever and events every weekend of the summer. Also, we have a club called Salon Daomé where for 6 nights a week for the past 14 years, locals have had an amazing place to play. We believe that opening a b-stage at Electric Island is a real good thing for their local artists.

The two of you have been friends since your early teens, at what point did you decide to start making music together and why?

We got into it pretty late in our lives. Without unveiling any secrets on our age 🙂 it was in our early 30’s that we both moved to Montreal from the suburbs and met a group of friends that introduced us to Electronic Music. Within that group, two influential DJs from Montreal helped us fulfill our curiosity for the thing. Rapidly, we decided to buy equipment and jam in our living rooms. At the time we were neighbors, so every night after work and on weekends we were together jamming and practicing.

You’ve played festivals around the world, which have been a few of your favourites?

Well, because it was a friend from Montreal that was in charge, we played for Piknic Electronik across the ocean, our gig at Piknic Electronik in Barcelona in 2013 is the one. Sharing the decks on a super sunny day in that beautiful city with Nina Kraviz & Jus-Ed was just perfect.

On your musical travels, you two have met other artists from around the globe. Can you tell us about how you integrate that into your show “High Heels Prohibited”?

Well, one of them we fell in love with was when we travelled to Berlin in 2010. Grünbox was playing Panorama Bar at the time. His energy and smile was contagious. We made a deal with him that we would book him and it worked. We also had YokoO as a guest at our show in 2014, his first time in Montreal. For him we got the chance to have the cue from our good friends of Nature of Music from Toronto. They said, you’ll love him… they were right!

What are the last three artists you’ve listened to?

Dj Tennis, Francesca Lombardo and we discovered a girl called Salomé that we enjoyed a lot.

What can we expect for your performance at Electric Island this weekend?

Since we are opening the event and we feel that it will be the time when people are going to be arriving mostly, we have in mind to have a “welcoming” kind of set. Nothing too banging, but something that makes you want to get a drink and start moving your butt and feet.

What else do you have planned for the summer? Any big shows or new music?

Every 4th Friday of the month we will pursue our High Heels Prohibited residency at Salon Daomé, which has recently relocated and renovated. The place and sound is now at level 2.0. Next one will be May 25th for our 8th anniversary. We will be pumped for that one after this coming weekend. Also, we’ll have the chance to close Piknic Electronik season on September 30th with Henrik Schwarz. We feel lucky and spoiled to still have such spotlight! Fingers crossed for the time coming!

You can purchase tickets to see Nymra & Sofisticated this Sunday here http://electricisland.to/ 

Photos by: Jasmine Van Heister