LADY SHAKA — JOELLA STUDIO

Last month, the Aotearoa powerhouse Lady Shaka, aka Shakaiah Perez, headlined the heaving launch of the BWS Cool Room at City Recital Hall. Alive with excitement, the evening arrived as a celebration of club culture, movement on mass and a bassline that unites. Going b2b with HALFQUEEN, their iconic set charmed the crowd and was a testament to Lady Shaka’s ability to harness an enthralling energy whilst fusing global dance styles and Pasifika rhythms. As a part of the new generation of young Pasifika DJs and producers re-indigenizing mainstream music, Lady Shaka has graced the decks at Boiler Room, Notting Hill Carnival, rinse.fm and most recently performed a joy-filled set at Strawberry Fields.

DJ, producer, interdisciplinary artist and proud femme queen, Lady Shaka today expands her production roots with a new track ‘Good Times’ featuring Rubi Du. The track “celebrat[es] our islander pride from the Caribbean to Cape Verde and the Pacific Islands” by incorporating soukous guitar riffs, marimbas, steel pans and traditional Pate and Pahu drums. Alongside her debut single “E Tu” [2024] and her work as the director and curator of Pulotu Underworld, Lady Shaka is an international force redefining the foundations of storytelling through creative resistance, queer joy and ancestral power.

Astrophe spoke with Lady Shaka about unifying through music and art, challenging the mainstream and creating indigenous Māori and Pacific electronic sounds that reflect her deep connection to the moana (ocean) and the diasporas she belongs to.