raeza
KLANGANGRIFF // RAWMANTIQUE
APRIL 27 2022
RAEZA
It’s common to mix music with other art forms, and in RAEZA’s case, he’s bouncing between the worlds of cerebral techno and the neat lines of architecture. But he’s involved in other realms, like the interdisciplinary Klangangriff collective and Dresden-based queer platform Rawmantique. Basically, he’s doing cool things right now.
Since learning to DJ four years ago, RAEZA’s played Berlin’s favourite bathroom twice, and he’s adding more bookings to his diary, including solo and B2Bs sets in Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam and Leipzig.
In a way, it’s not a surprise to discover that REAZA is studying architecture. If you listen to his podcasts for Bipølar., re:flect radar and mixes on HÖR Radio with Hanni G, you can hear tight mixing and a style of techno that’s clean but tends to go in multiple avenues, like some of his architectural work below—sprawling but neat, created with a razor-sharp eye.
As part of NYXXX’s monthly residency on Threads Radio, RAEZA’s session for us airs on Thursday at 18:00 GMT. It’s the perfect introduction to his shimmering sound, but to get to know him on a personal level, we have a chat with RAEZA about his roots in alternative rock, his final year in architecture and what’s next for him over the coming weeks. 🖤
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Hello RAEZA, please introduce yourself to the world?
My name is Cédric (aka RÆZA, or Bebou, or Tigrou, whatever you want haha). I'm a 24 year-old artist, born in Madagascar and raised in France. At the moment I'm in Berlin but I live in Strasbourg. I'm writing this interview in my best friend’s room (Beatrice), with a nice ambient music background to put me in a good mood.
I started DJing in Vienna in 2018, until now when a lot of very good things happened and my life evolved a lot. In the meantime, I study architecture between Strasbourg and Dresden. This is my last year, by the way, I will (hopefully) graduate in September, after 6 years of quite a difficult rollercoaster. But if I got to this point, it's obviously partly thanks to my family, my friends and all the people who support me in all the projects I do, and for which I am very grateful, because without this moral support, my path would have been different.
I am as passionate about architecture as I am about music, and it has made me grow personally and professionally.
One of RAEZA’s architectural sketches
At the moment I am still exploring, experimenting and combining these two fields, which I find very interesting and rewarding. I would like to continue this after my studies of course, not necessarily as an architect, but as an artist, designer and scenographer—a path that has been close to my heart for some time now.
Apart from that, I think I'm in a very good mood today. I'm slowly getting ready for my gig tonight, and I'm getting ready to do some cardio soon (not what you think lol!). I've started doing my little "cardio" sessions since the beginning of Covid in my room, i.e. dancing (almost) everyday on up-tempo music for 30 minutes non-stop, in order to have a good start or end to my day. ☺️
RAEZA SUNRAYS 📸 @philigerography
Before techno came into your life, what sort of music were you into? Or maybe you were always into this genre, even as an innocent child? Unlikely, but still…
I listened to a lot of alternative rock, post-punk, garage rock, indie rock, but also a lot of classical music because I played the piano for a few years.
Besides, I had a band for about two years with some friends from high school called "Midway" and I was one of the singers. It was very cute, I have very good memories of those years.
Whilst creeping on your Insta, I saw you are listed as the co-founder of Klangangriff. What inspired you to help start this collective, and who else is behind it? What kind of projects do you do in Klangangriff?
Exactly, I’m one of the co-founders of KA!
So it was in 2019, in Vienna. We were a group of four friends, three of whom were already DJs/producers (Yakkushi, Gast! and Dj Chteuf).
We all had an ultimate desire to be much more involved in the nightlife scene and the Vienna scene inspired us a lot and pushed us forward.
In the beginning, we only focused on the music part. Then a new resident joined us (Geisterstimme) and the collective grew a lot. Five more creative and talented members joined us (Claire-Marie, Joséphine, Bastien, Sheila and Chiara). All members of the collective are based all over Europe.
This is how we oriented the collective towards a more interdisciplinary field, connecting music to artistic research and design. We started with a podcast series (which is still going on), as well as a series of intimate events at the Dual club in Vienna. When we could finally breathe a bit more with this pandemic, we started collaborating with other collectives to organise events or raves in the different places of residence of each member of the collective (Geneva, Paris and Vienna etc...)
Some projects and collaborations have unfortunately been put on hold because of the pandemic but they will see the light of day soon during this year, and it looks very exciting by the way, I can't say more for the moment, oopsi! 😌
Tell us about your involvement with the Rawmantique platform and how it is different to Klangangriff?
Since the end of 2020, I have become a resident of the Dresden-based queer collective Rawmantique, founded by Rakans.
It is a platform that highlights and celebrates the Contemporary Queer Culture that showcases queer talents.
I am so grateful to be part of a community that believes in me and what I do, that gives me the opportunity to really express myself, to experiment with all my abilities as an artist and architect: to experiment with music of course, but also to reflect on various issues concerning our contemporary challenges such as the question of the inclusion of the queer and marginalised community in society, a subject I am also working a lot on as a future architect and would like to pursue later on in my life of course!!
What I appreciate most is the group dynamic we have. It's a family. We learn from each other every day to move forward.
RAEZA & HANNI G 📸 @thekristofkovacs
I’ve seen you on HÖR twice now, dancing in near-perfect synchronicity with your B2B partner Hanni G. How did you both meet, and when did you realise you shared the same twirling techno vibe?
Hanni is my "pas de deux" partner, so talented!!
We met in Dresden when I lived there, through mutual friends.
We started to hang out a lot immediately during the pandemic, and then we started to play together at home like literally two kids. By being around each other almost every day with our friend’s circle in Dresden, we have actually evolved and developed our musical universe almost in the same direction.
That's why we thought we had to try out these B2B sessions and make it happen. We felt that we could combine our two worlds quite easily. And it even worked very well! 😄
Beatrice is another name you’ve played B2B with; what do you enjoy about collaborating with her?
I could totally write a book about Beatrice and I. The title would be "Cece + Bea = Love" haha! So you can already imagine the content of the story.
She is my little angel. It's crazy because neither of us knew that one day we would collaborate in music. And yet it was only obvious from the very first day we met.
I mean, I think we know each other inside out, we communicate a lot, and the fact that we combine our two thoughts with music, it's just a match. This relationship and collaboration is just a firework for me.
Everything is easy going and we learn a lot from each other on a personal and musical level. She is definitely one of my inspirations.
RAEZA & BEATRICE
Tell us about some of the trax included in your NYXXX mix for Threads Radio. Any artists you want to big-up in there?
Mattia Trani, Donato Dozzy, Rony Group, Marcal, Hedström & Pflug & Egotot, Dustin Zahn, Elias, Confusion, TWR72.
Where can we find you next?
29.04 // Rawmantique — Club Paula, DRESDEN
01.05 // Bodies — ÆDEN, BERLIN
20.05 // TBA — PARIS
27.05 // Rawmantique XXL — LEIPZIG
I’ll let the surprise for the summer gigs…
Tell us a secret that no one knows about you…until now.
Someone once told me that sometimes I sleep with my eyes open.
But only the people who sleep with me know that…🌚
Tune into RAEZA this Thursday on Threads Radio 18:00 GMT [NYXXX’s monthly residency]