DJ Of The Issue: Sunna Ben

Sunna Ben is a tattooed musical mastermind and Grapevine’s DJ of the issue. She is part of the duo Sunsura and a member of Reykjavíkurdætur.

Catch Sunna Ben’s DJ set May 20th at Prikið, May 21st at Dúfnahólar 10 and May 28th at Tívolí.

When did you start DJing?

I was asked to DJ a few times before I gathered the courage to try it out, to be honest. For a while I supplied some of my DJ friends with music to play every now and then. In 2012 some friends borrowed my iPod for an exhibition opening and a girl who was looking for someone to DJ at a hip-hop party tracked the iPod owner down and convinced me to take the gig. I did, and everything’s been snowballing from there onward.

What styles do you play?

I started out playing old-school hip-hop exclusively, but I’ve since broadened my selection greatly. These days I most often play hip-hop and R&B dancefloor classics mixed together with fresh new stuff. Sometimes I take on pop-music themed gigs which I also really enjoy, and once in a blue moon I do soul and disco sets.

What’s your favourite Reykjavík venue to play?

I’m a diehard Prikið girl myself and have been going there ever since I even started going out. I had also daydreamed about playing there for years before I started doing warm-up slots in 2012. Now I play at least one long gig there each month, usually with my friend DJ Sura under the name SunSura. We’re playing there next Friday! Check it!

What kind of gear do you use when playing?

I use my Macbook pro and a Traktor S2 controller with Traktor software. I’ve been taking Ableton classes lately and have just starting to experiment with Ableton as a DJ tool. We’ll see how that goes.

If you were an audio effect, which one would you be?

That’s a hard one! Ping Pong, because I’m all over the place.

What kind of crowd is the best crowd in your opinion?

I just want to see people dance, the more dancing the better.

What are your five essential tracks of the moment?

“One Dance” by Drake, “Enginn Mórall” by Aron Can, ”Famous” by Kanye West, “Panda” by Desiigner and “Gold Digger” by Kanye West and Jamie Foxx, it works pretty much every time.

Check out Sunna’s website here.