An interview with Mafalda (Melodies International)

London-based Portuguese DJ, Mafalda is quickly establishing herself as one of the most tasteful record players in town. Her unique inclination for soul, jazz, bossa and other heartwarming sounds has already shined in various club nights where she’s played with the likes of Sadar Bahar, Floating Points, Antal, Hunee, among others. She appears on NTS regularly and recently played an incredible set for Brazil day on Worldwide FM. Mafalda also co-runs Melodies Int. with Floating Points, a label devoted to unveiling hidden disco gems from the past. And this is only a further testament to her incredible devotion to music. We were lucky enough sit down and have a chat with her about all things music.

How long ago did you come to the UK and what drew you here in the first place?

I came to the UK over 2 years ago. I was here on holidays a couple of months before I moved, I saw Sam (Floating Points) and Sadar Bahar playing at Corsica Studios and I went back home knowing I wanted to move here.

It seems that from a young age you were a fan of Hip Hop and even had your own group! – What was it about Hip Hop that appealed to you at such a young age and who are your favourite old school and new school Hip Hop artists?

I think it was its soul, I loved the samples and the lyrics. When I was listening to it as a kid I’d listen to some American Hip Hop like Wu-Tang and Dr. Dre, but it was mainly Portuguese Hip Hop, small bands that I’d religiously follow. There were and still are a lot of Hip Hop groups and rappers in Portugal, my favourite ones at the time were Dealema, they’re still together and got much bigger.

A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul have a special place in my heart, same with Dilla, Madlib and The Last Poets! New stuff… I can be found listening to Anderson .Paak or Ezra Collective – their new record is so good! Or Rise, a producer from Manchester who has got this beautiful LP from 2011 that I only found about last year (thanks Jamie!), that is so nice! I haven’t been listening to new pure Hip Hop to be honest, it’ll always be something with very strong Jazz or R&B influences, but that’s what it is anyway, isn’t it? I’ve never been good at labelling music.

When did you know that music was going to be the path you wanted to follow, and was there any point that you considered a different career choice? Do you come from a musical family?

Music had always been an important part of my life but I never dreamt of living from it. My family likes music but no one works with music, maybe that’s why it never crossed my mind. I didn’t know it was possible until just before it happened. I studied fashion design, that’s what I was doing before I moved here.

We listened to your incredible selection on Worldwide FM’s Brazil Day and were truly blown away, what is it about Brazilian music that you love so much?

Oh, thank you so much. I don’t know what it is exactly, I feel good when there’s Brazilian music playing, maybe it’s the warmth. I can’t explain because there are so many types of it that I like, Soul, Jazz, Funk, Bossa, Samba, Psych… I love them all but they’re different so I don’t know what it is, I just know it moves me. I remember listening to Brazilian music from an early age with my mum and granny, I have good memories of listening to Elis Regina with them, that might have helped too.

I hear that over 50% of Brazilian music over the years was never digitised, so a lot of the time you don’t have a choice but to go and find it yourself. Have you ever been digging in Brazil ?

Not yet… hopefully I will this year. It’s really hard to find some Brazilian records even in Brazil, but it’s definitely harder in Europe. I’ve been lucky to find some stuff here and in Portugal and having friends bringing me stuff over. I bug people from all over the world to get Brazilian records.

But the longing of holding some records in your hands is part of the fun, along with the discovery of the music itself. You’re always finding stuff you didn’t know, so the fun never stops.

Another of your favourite things about London is its Jazz Dances what’s the best Jazz Dance you’ve ever been too?

The first one I went to was at Plastic People, it was a Blue Note anniversary and Gilles Peterson and Kev Beadle were playing. The energy in the room was unbelievably magic and the music… I had to learn how to dance all over again that night. It was a very special dance.

There was something about that place and those dancers. PP was very dark, so you’d only see smiles and feel love and you didn’t need anything else.

Could you tell us a bit about Melodies International? Is this a genre specific label?

Melodies International has been releasing Soul but we’ve just started, we’ll be doing other things soon.

For those that don’t know could you explain the concept behind Melozine and what sort of content does it contain?

The Melozine is the 16-page fanzine our releases come with. It contains articles and interviews with the bands we’re releasing and other artists we like, track lists from artists and friends from all over the world, pictures, ephemera, reviews, opinions… anything goes! We’re constantly looking for ideas and people to get involved to keep it diverse and exciting.

Have you got any more releases in the pipeline?

We have a beautiful Soul LP coming out this month – Open Soul by Tomorrow’s People – and other singles and LPs coming out this year. 2016 was a slow, learning year, there’ll be more action this year.

Finally I know it’s a hard question but right now what are your top 5 Jazz Albums for listening too?

That’s a hard question indeed, it changes frequently too. Right now, I’ve been listening to A Love Supreme a lot again and Infinity that I got recently too, John Coltrane really is a force for good, his music brings me such peace.

I’ve also been listening to The Blue Yusef Lateef, Alice Coltrane’s Ptah, The El Daoud with Pharoah and Joe Henderson and Michael White’s Pneuma. The Blessing Song and Turya & Ramakrishna are 2 of my favourite songs in the universe, I don’t think anyone could do any wrong after hearing them, they’re real blessings to the spirit.

Follow Mafalda on Facebook and Subscribe to Melodies International here.

© Description by  Luca Schiavoni