ayebatonye
Ayebatonye Abrakas is a DJ, artist, curator and Founder/Creative Director of Irregular Fit of Nigerian heritage settled on Gadigal Land.
Enamoured by music since a young age, Ayebatonye has been involved with music in many different manifestations. At age 7 she began learning the keyboard and was heavily involved with choirs, musicals and bands (including a Tegan and Sara cover band) throughout her schooling years. With a keen ear for music, djing was a natural progression for her.
Ayebatonye began DJing in 2011 after being drawn in by the allure of creating new sounds through mixing tracks together. In the last ten years she’s cultivated her own unique sound and is best known for her bold and eclectic sonic stylings. Not one to stick to any genre, Ayebatonye’s entrancing sets blend together an array of global electronic sounds rich with afro rhythms, deep percussive drum beats, house, techno, jersey club and more. Her range with sets has led to her supporting iconic artists including The Illustrious Blacks, Marcellus Pittman, Tygapaw, Claire Morgan, CC:Disco!, SPFDJ, Tom Trago and an invitation from the Underground Resistance to open their show at Tresor, Berlin.
Music and community are the threads that connect all the facets of her work, and it was noticing a lack of access to electronic music for communities of colour that led to the formation of Irregular Fit in 2018. Irregular Fit is a DIY arts platform that centres Bla(c)k, Brown and People of colour who engage with the arts as both artists and audience members. The ethos that guides the arts platform is contributing to opportunities for equity and access in the arts and music ecologies. Since its inception Irregular Fit has run free beginner DJ workshops, hosted events, facilitated research and community engagement projects with support from respected institutions including The Red Rattler Theatre, Beats by Dre, City of Sydney, Inner West Council and Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
Ayebatonye frequently contributes her knowledge and experience on issues within and beyond Australia’s arts community providing sage social commentary through her online platforms, speaking engagements and new podcast series Four to the Floor: Exploring the Bl(c)k roots of contemporary music, a series dedicated to pay homage to Bla(c)k artists past and present who have contributed to the music world abundantly.
Ayebatonye is former Board member of the Red Rattler Theatre, is part of the Australia Council for the Arts Future Leaders 2020-2021 cohort and works as the City Manager of Sydney for Resident Advisor .
LINKS
AGENT
Glyn Hill: glyn@watartists.com