Delve into the musical mind of Charisse C with a new playlist

Welcome back to Selections, a series of artist-curated playlists from those in the know.

Charisse C is constantly levelling up. As a DJ and artist, she’s built a reputation with kaleidoscopic sets and songs that connect the dots between the sounds and landscape that make her who she is today.

From her Zimbabwean and South African heritage through to her London roots, and formative moves in music journalism to projects traversing radio and curated events, such as Abantu, she’s been guided along the way by more than just a formidable work ethic and killer instincts. There’s also a desire to follow any and all creative impulses, particularly those that offer an opportunity to uplift, education and inspire through floor-filling music. For Selections, we find her in reflection mode as she takes stock of her own story thus far in the run-up to a forthcoming show at Piano People’s Drumsheds outing, alongside the likes of Musa Keys and Major League DJz.

“Curating this playlist took me on a little trip down memory lane, and I’m going to take you with me,” she begins. “My journey in music began on a blog I started when I was 15 – it was called Authentic Duplicate. This blog led to my first job in music; writing for a digital platform called Certified UK. I used to curate SoundCloud playlists for both spaces – always eclectic, always with an ear to the ground, always with a care for the underground, made with love and curiosity.”

“When I was asked to pull from Bandcamp for this playlist,” she continues, “it took me back to an era that was musically formative for me. Most of you will know me as a DJ and for my work in South African dance music, however a lot of what I play in my sets can’t be found on Bandcamp. So I took a different route with this one, and allowed myself to flow quite candidly with it.”

Describing her Selections as a “little bit of organised chaos” – which, to us, translates to a thoughtful curation of silky tunes extending from the gentle and languid to propulsive dance-alongs by like Kelela, Hagan and her own project The Ascension – her playlist moves back and forth between music she’s currently listening to and playing, songs from this aforementioned era in her life, and the tracks that have been particularly poignant for her as an artist. In short, she dubs it the “‘if you were to plug an aux cord into my brain right now” playlist, which basically says all you need to know.