Earlier this year, 90s legends Dub Pistols were on tour, supported by two very special rising stars currently making waves in the music industry: Kaya Fyah, daughter of Congo Natty aka Rebel MC and DJ Amiah, who is the daughter of Dub Pistol’s lead singer, Barry Ashworth. Despite their undisputed heritage, both women are determined to establish their own creative identities. Ahead of performing at Mucky Weekender, Dub Pistol’s joyful end-of-summer festival held each year in at Vicarage Farm near Winchester, they have also recently collaborated to make music together.
Tell us about your recent tour supporting Dub Pistols.
Kaya: I was quite nervous about working with new people, but ultimately Amiah put so much work in. She’s obviously been around Dub Pistols for many years, but I'd just seen them perform once, years ago at a festival. There were a lot of teething issues; we did our first couple of sets and we realised that some songs weren't sitting in the right places, so we moved them around and got to a place where we were super impressed. We had only met twice before, so we also had to build a friendship, and with that friendship we built a sisterhood, because we bonded in a special way.
Amiah: Just adding to what Kaya said. It was such an amazing experience from the start. Obviously, like she said, we didn't really know each other. We thought we got it all sorted but after every performance we learned something. Yes, there were tears and there were times where we could have banged our heads together, but we got through it. We spent a lot of time with each other ,and we were always there for each other if we needed support.
Amiah, you’ve described Time Will Tell, the song you both made together with Zylo, as “a powerful and deeply personal track…that speaks to the journey of overcoming hardship, emerging stronger, and finally finding the peace and freedom to live authentically”. Was it your first collaboration?
Amiah: Kaya was coming to my house for a week to do tour prep. I said to her as I picked her up from the station, ‘okay, not only have we got a set to plan for the tour but we’re going to be making a tune’. And that's what we came up with. Kaya, do you want to say a little bit about what it's about?
Kaya: We made that tune after we had that first night together, talking about life. We really have shared a lot of the same life experiences, in very different ways. We both have a dream of being successful musicians, and when I started writing the track, ‘only time will tell, young darling’, it was like blossoming from the caterpillar to the butterfly – not worrying about the past and just focusing on the positives of the future.
We sat there once we had finished it, and repeated it on a loop, And the line ‘turn from ashes into flames again’ is one of my favourite lines I've ever written. Obviously, my name is Kaya and I've been called Kaya Fyah my whole life by both sides of my family but it’s only in the last year and a bit that I really took on the name as an artist. It's an interesting line, because I have really gone from ashes to reigniting who I am through sobriety. Being Kaya Fyah means more than just a name – it's a promise to myself that the fire in me needs to stay alive.
Kaya, can I ask how you managed to overcome your issues with addiction?
Kaya: I could cry just talking about it. [My partner] saved my life, literally. Our love, and wanting to be a mum, and to be a good example, and have more substance through my music. I needed to be the example. The only way to be that was to actually change the things that were ruining my life. Drinking and doing drugs was just self-destruct mode.
My dad had a massive influence on this as well. Because obviously he's Rastafari. Spiritually, being more in tune with myself has been part of this.
You both have very cool dads who also work in the industry. How does that play out?
Kaya: I'm 30 now, and from the age of 14, I've been actively in the raves and all of the commotion of ‘party hard’. My dad wouldn’t tell me off or reprimand me, but he'd guide me and that's something I now admire and understand. Like, ‘Kaya, you need to start moving more consciously and get in tune with yourself.’ My mum is totally opposite. You don't really listen to your parents until you get a lot older, but it's all good. It's all a learning curve. I would like a moment to say that I really want to thank my mother, my father, my grandmother and my grandfather.
Amiah: There’s not really been much guidance from Barry. When my mum got with him I was about 14, so I've been going with him to the raves and the festivals, and it just became normal. It was the proper rock and roll kind of lifestyle that that we were living. He's calmed down a lot now, but it's been great experiencing Barry's performances and seeing how the whole band work. Throughout the years, to see the reactions from the crowds, because if you see a Dub Pistols performance, it’s special.
Kaya, you describe yourself as a junglist. What does that mean?
Kaya: So for me personally, jungle is almost like a way of life. To be a true junglist is not just about the music, it’s about a spiritual frequency. When I hear this new wave of chaotic sounds from the ‘jump up’ era incorporated into – quote, unquote – jungle tunes, it's just not jungle anymore.
I grew up with my Pops, knowing him and his music to the max and everything else was background noise. He brought me up surrounded by the teachings of Rastafari and it's all one thing for me. My dad says it's like the cousins are reggae, dub and jungle. It's a special thing.
And you’re a storyteller?
Kaya: All of my music is personal stories, it always has been. I've always been someone that writes from personal experience. I write a lot about self-belief and self-discovery and reaching for the stars. And just don't worry about what other people have to say. If they have to be negative about you, just continue. Don't worry about that.
Amiah, DJing is talked about as a very male dominated industry. How have you found it?
Amiah: I’ve not actually experienced any problems. I have been in situations where I’ve been booked literally to tick a box because they need a female on the lineup, but I'm actually okay about it. I'm happy to be that box! I've never found any issues, I've been really lucky to have always been treated with respect.
I think we have come a long way over the last few years – you do see a fair amount of females on lineups now, and more female producers. I think if you've got talent, you've got talent. I try not to focus so much on gender.
Tell me your guaranteed floor fillers.
Amiah: As in my DJ sets? Every set I do will take people on a journey. I am a massive junglist: I love jungle, old skool drum’n’bass, 90s era. I'm not into this new style of jungle, which, like Kaya was saying, isn't the frequency of jungle. I want to keep the jungle roots alive in my set, so I will play a brand-new track along with an old skool 90s jungle track. There are certain tracks that I will always put in my set; MA2 Hearing is Believing is one of my favourites. It can go over any vocal and everybody knows it; it's a great tune.
And what do you listen to for your own pleasure?
Kaya: I listen to a lot of different types of music. Amiah is hilarious. She loves to listen to, like, the old mix tapes of actual rave recordings.
Amiah: I listen to them on SoundCloud and every hair on my body just stands up.
To find out more about Kaya and Amiah visit linktr.ee/kayafyah and linktr.ee/DJ_AMIAH
For more information and to book tickets to Mucky Weekender, visit mucky-weekender.co.uk
