Local DJ proves herself beyond limitations
She said while she celebrates her milestones, she felt the industry needed to embrace women and give the same respect as male counterparts, which she cited was as a long road ahead for women.
When Covid-19 hit South African shores almost two years ago, Botle Kayamba lost her job as a fitness trainer.
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Little did she know that her life would become what it is today, “A dream,” as she described it to the Urban News team.
Kayamba who is popularly known as Miss Bee in the DJ’ing scene is defying societal norms and well on her way to becoming a household name.
The 40-year-old DJ who is also a mother of one and a personal trainer shared her rising journey in a male dominated industry.
The Sebokong born DJ who comes from a musical family, singing in choirs around her community, remembered her late uncle, Kopang Tladi who was a guitarist for the Sankomota group led by the late Tshepo Tshola during the 80’s as her fondest memories of music.
She explained that music was always embedded in her body but her passion for spinning the decks was ignited after watching a local music show that featured various DJ’s mid-pandemic that she realized that it was time to pursue a long forgotten dream.
“After losing my job, it was still level five and we were home all the time. We religiously watched Lockdown House Party every Friday.
Seeing female DJs doing their thing so passionately really spoke to me and the stars aligned.
I thought this is one thing I have always been passionate about,” she recalled adding that in a short space, she was using the virtual DJ app to create her own workout mixes.
A year later after completing a short course in DJ’ing in July 2021, the DJ sensation’s short career started citing she wants to inspire women to go after their dreams and not be afraid of what people have to say.
“You know when they say life begins at 40, well this is my chance,” she said in a chuckle.
“We live in a society that often dictates the standards and what is deemed acceptable as far as how women should behave in a certain way, however for me, because I love it so much, I don’t allow being 40 to define me and not go after my dreams. I am living my dream.”
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The Top 10 SmirnOff Shaya Ingoma finalist recently released her debut single, in December 2021 titled ‘Time to fly’ and has gone on to play alongside some of South Africans big industry names and pioneers such as DJ Fresh and DJ Zinhle to name but a few.
She said while she celebrates her milestones, she felt the industry needed to embrace women and give the same respect as male counterparts, which she cited was as a long road ahead for women.
“Most of them will look at you and they have made up their made. They think we are just there to be a slay queen and possess no skill which is far from the truth.
“Even to this day, when I play, a guy will walk up to the booth, just to see if I know what I am doing,” she lambasted.
“Another issue that many of us still face as female DJs is the preferential treatment given to male DJs, while we constantly have to renegotiate rates because we are women.”
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Kayamba said more was needed to be done to advance transformation and fair representation across the board citing they too demand to be given the respect shown to their male counterparts.
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