As Black Lives Matter protests rage on in every U.S. state and several other countries, Demuir has given the dance music community a call to action. The Toronto DJ and producer’s new YouTube video, “A Conversation on Race and Dance Music,” delves into the origins of house to make a case for artists leveraging platforms for advocacy.
Demuir begins the video by touching on George Floyd‘s apparent murder. Working backwards from Disco Demolition Night in 1979, he then outlines house’s manifold influences and argues that much of them resulted from struggles faced by people of color. He closes out urging artists to raise awareness among their followers and not shy away from difficult conversations.
George Floyd died of cardiac arrest after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin apparently knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25th, 2020. Chauvin and the three officers accompanying him were fired after footage of the incident leaked. All four were arrested after protests erupted in cities across the U.S. Chauvin’s charge was later upgraded from third to a second-degree murder, and the other three were charged with aiding and abetting.
Minneapolis techno artists DVS1 and Dustin Zahn have also publicly commented on the ensuing Black Lives Matter protests, as have numerous electronic musicians of color.
