Yuka

Irina Solobutova - dj, producer, promouter. Yuka is a female DJ now based in Moscow (where she has lived since 1998), but who began her career in distant Bratsk, Siberia. The town - a local industrial center - is probably more famous for what it dumps than what it makes; in the recent past it was listed as one of the thirty most polluted cities in the world. It wouldn't take much persuasion for someone to move on... Yuka's preparation for a shift to the capital's nightclubs was lengthy, however, since music had played an important role in her life since the age of 6. Over time, her passions moved in the direction of painting, sculpture, and design - activities she continues to this day. That initial school-day enthusiasm at the piano would eventually win out, though, and dictate her choice of higher education. Her musical training thus led to a degree from the Irkutsk Arts Institute. Now that she's fully ensconced in Moscow, her music appears regularly through the outlets of three labels: Fullpanda, Pro-Tez. That latter orgniation has also created a series of podcasts in her name for free downloading. The opening broadcast came with a small text that moves swiftly from imaginative fancy to absolute fantasy. In English it reads as follows: "All musicians can be compared to bird-catchers, especially those hunters who'd go looking for songbirds. Some of them would search for a particular type: a nightingale or a lark, perhaps. Others, conversely, would hunt nothing but exotic birds. Once they were caught, the birds would be kept in cages made from sheet music or boxes cut from concert programmes." This tendency towards the ornate and magical is a marked facet of her work. When it come to drinks, however, she's a little more straightforward.