Interview

Dodomundo

Interview by Mateusz Mondalski
Photography by Amie Claire Elizabeth Galbraith in Amsterdam, NL

We had a little chat with Dodomundo – a rising club selector from Vilnius who calls The Hague her new home. The Lithuanian’s mixes online exhibit her contagious passion for high-energy grime, kuduro and r&b awashed with post-club weirdness. Think Príncipe meets Elysia Crampton meets MC Bin Laden. Dovilė Stalioraitytė is already a resident at Bar None and she’s set to play our next L.A.N. Party at Amsterdam’s De School. This might be Dodomundo’s first interview ever and just a brief introspection into her digital reality.

What have you been up to recently?

Settling in here! I just moved to the Netherlands this summer, and have been exploring the country and its cultural landscape. I started working at Sonic Acts two months ago and playing some first shows here, which I feel lucky to have here already. It helps to be welcomed by the Bar None club series where I am playing as their resident DJ every month. Also, still trying to understand how the Dutch food chain starts and ends with bread only.

My musical interests shift constantly, so it’s hard to tell what I’ll be playing in a year or so.

What do you find to be the most exciting thing happening in your life right now?

On both a social and musical level, I feel like I need to re-establish my identity because of the new environment I’m in. It’s an interesting process. However being here also raises some questions, like, what it means to be Eastern-European and how this position is perceived through the real-time Western gaze.

 

What is the story behind your artist name?

I started off playing tropical influenced music, mainly baile-funk and a lot of tracks with Portuguese vocals. There was this one track back then, a remix of Mastiksoul & Gregor Salto’s ‘Toca Bunda’ with the line ‘todo mundo’ repeated in it. The catchiness of the line got me into shouting it like ‘dodo mundo’ cause my nickname had always been ‘dodo’ and I just couldn’t resist not to sing it that way. So when I had to play my first official gig, the promoters asked for my name and I just went with Dodo Mundo – Dodo’s World. It stuck with me. I like how it refers to me creating and presenting my own world with my music and ideas. Sounds corny right? I do enjoy that the name is genderless and with that it removes some of the bias in how people sometimes tend to perceive female artists. It used to even create some confusion online, especially if I wouldn’t use a picture of me.

When I had to play my first official gig, the promoters asked for my name and I just went with Dodo Mundo – Dodo’s World. It stuck with me. I like how it refers to me creating and presenting my own world with my music and ideas.

How did you get into music?

My interest in music started from a young age and took different forms throughout the years. I finished a music school, played the piano and was singing in choirs. Being an ‘alternative’ teen also made its mark to my relationship with music, as I was always trying to listen and search for the weirdest shit out there. When I moved to Vilnius for uni I met a friend who happened to be a DJ. We were always discussing club music and he encouraged me to start DJing as well. In the beginning I had my phases of playing specifics genres, but that quickly shifted to playing more of a mix of styles. Right now I’d say I play a mix of ‘internet’ music, but that doesn’t actually say anything. My musical interests shift constantly, so it’s hard to tell what I’ll be playing in a year or so.

Dodomundo plays L.A.N. Party on 15 December at De School. L.A.N. Party is free for members before midnight. Dodomundo also plays Bar None on 27 January at OT301. Show is free for members.