donwella
Artist
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Bio
donwella // multi-genre DJ // London & Cape Town Ella Weldon aka Donwella is a multi-genre DJ and social researcher from London. Donwella started DJing whilst living in Cape Town, blending the sounds of London’s party culture and the jazz, hip-hop and soul she grew up around with Kwaito and South African dance music. After holding residencies with Cape Town’s hip-hop collective Selective Hearing, back home in London, Donwella’s monthly show on Balamii was selected as one of the station’s top shows of the year and she’s becoming a regular across dancefloors and festivals across the UK - playing sets at NTs Loft, Jumbi, The Standard, Tola Peckham, Cafe Avalon, Fox & Firkin, and Secret Garden Party and Basket of Light festival to name a few. Through her eclectic, loose, and soulful sets, Donwella expresses the depth and breadth of her love for music and delves into the rhythmic connections between different genres - sailing through a spectrum of music - from broken beat, to samba, highlife, baile funk, dancehall, soulful UK garage, timeless hip-hop and loads more in between. Donwella brings people together in intimate and well-loved parties and helps organise a participatory festival with the music collective Coop Audio, where she teaches DJ workshops for aspiring womxn selectors.
Music style
Broken Beat, Semba, Dancehall