The Sunday Mail
THE entertainment industry is a creative sphere in which talent, hard work and passion are remedies for thriving.
These are the qualities possessed by a young female DJ who has been marking her territory in the male dominated night life industry.
Larissa Makahamadze, better known as DJ Lyaness, has been slowly gaining popularity on the club circuit with her dazzling mixing skills. Despite the fact that many female radio DJs are doing well on radio, the same cannot be said for the club scene.
Only very few women, including DJ Naida, have made significant impact.
For the past few months, Lyaness has been on a roll, leaving music lovers yearning for more wherever she plays.
With dancehall being her specialty, the DJ was part of The Red Fox Family but has since been wooed by Legendary Sound boss Smylie, real name Ngoni Machingura, to join the famed sound house.
During the Harare International Carnival Street Party, she showed her skills to the multitudes that converged at the Red Fox stand. During her entire set, she kept the crowd on its feet with dancehall and reggae tunes.
Lyaness sometimes plays on Star FM every Saturday morning during The Breakout Show.
Last week, The Sunday Mail Leisure spoke to the 25-year-old DJ.
Born and bred in Harare, Lyaness started off her educational journey at Alexander Park Primary School before moving to St Johns for her secondary education. That is where she discovered her artistic talents.
From St Johns, she went to Speciss College where she did her advanced level, finishing in 2008.
She then went on to study accounting at the same institution before pursuing administration at ILLSA. Currently, she works for a dental institution in Chitungwiza as an administrative manager.
Lyaness did not start off as a DJ and neither was she into dancehall music, but rather took a hip-hop route.
“At 14, I discovered that I could rap so I started writing songs and l recorded several tracks. However, I did not get to release them. I later on fell in love with dancehall music but instead of entirely crossing over, I was just fusing it with hip-hop.
“When I was doing hip-hop, people were calling me Reezy but when I shifted to dancehall I decided to change it to Lyaness, a name that was inspired by my desire to be on top of the game,” she said.
Drawing inspiration from several friends who had ventured into deejaying earlier, Lyaness decided to trade her microphone for the decks.
“There are several friends of mine who are DJs and every time I would see them mixing, it would fascinate me so I decided to try it out for fun. I later on realised that I could actually be good at it and started practising more with the help of my friends who already knew what they were doing.”
The hard work she put quickly paid off when she managed to fend off competition from 29 other DJs to win the Female DJ Cup Clash that was held at The Basement in September.
“Winning the DJ clash boosted my confidence and I now believe that I can play on any platform.”
Despite specialising in dancehall, Lyaness can also play other genres including Naija music and hip-hop.
The DJ is also into fashion designing, a passion that she also developed at an earlier stage of life.
“When I was little, I used to dress up my dolls with clothes I had sewn myself and as I grew older I would redesign the clothes that my mum bought for me because I always wanted to look different.
“Right now I am working on my own fashion line and I think that as my brand as a DJ grows bigger, my fashion line is also going to be visible.”
The DJ intends to get back into studio to rejuvenate her music career and has high hopes of dominating the entertainment scene from both behind the decks and on the microphone.
