A popular Des Moines DJ, producer and cultural curator will headline the second annual Middle of NOWhere Rural Art and Music Festival
The Siriaco “Siricasso” Garcia-backed festival, set for July 12 at The Cellar Winery, is for experienced artists and also for those just starting to show their work in festival environments.
cdisiac will headline the event, a genre-melding phenom who sold out Wooly’s in April. The Middle of NOWhere festival is cdisiac’s first time as an event headliner.
Who is cdisiac?
Born and raised on the north side of Des Moines, Charles Walker is behind cdisiac’s persona.
“My mom always says we were on the west side, but the majority of my memories as a kid were on Washington Street, a couple blocks down from Forest Park,” cdisiac told the Ames Tribune in an email.
cdisiac has DJ’d many events over the years and got his start early in life. At about age 14, he DJ’d an event for about 5,000 people supporting Bernie Sanders’ candidacy for president.
cdisiac’s youth, filled with different genres, was a big influence
As a kid, cdisiac got “the best of both worlds” as he shuffled back and forth between his mom’s and dad’s homes.
“My mom would play a lot of Neo soul and R&B, names like Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Amel Larrieux, Kem were always o in the house,” he said. “But when l’d go over to my dad’s, l’d hear a lot of East Coast and West Coast rap, Detroit, Chicago, and stuff from the South,”
That foundation of enjoying different genres expanded for cdisiac in middle school, when he got into house music.
“In my middle school days, I found out about Kaytranada, and that got me into the SoundCloud era when people were just dropping the craziest flips and remixes,” he said.
He fell in love with house music and “fell into that rabbit hole.” He’s hoping to bring dance music back to the forefront.
“See, what we don’t do anymore in the Black community, we don’t have house parties no more. We don’t have these underground rave and dance scenes no more,” cdisiac said. “We just don’t dance anymore. I feel like that’s what we’re missing nowadays.”
cdisiac was born in 2003, missing out on much of the house party lore. But he hopes that by supporting events and shows like the MON Fest, “maybe we can bring back that 2000s Usher music video feeling and maybe, Just maybe, we can bring back having a genuine good time outside.”
Emmett Phillips will emcee MON Fest, will play host to list of artists
Emmett Phillips returns as emcee for the second annual Middle of NOWhere festival.
Other performers will include Teri Underhill, Rudy Wylde, DJ O’SHEA, Talon Bazille and Ris. Stage manager Kaleb Stevens will run sound for the festival.
A first-generation Liberian American hip hop artist, poet, playwright, actor and educator, Phillips has 12 years of experience. He is also the Career Pathways Program Facilitator for Oak Studio Best Buy Teen Tech Center.
“Siricasso has been a close friend of mine since his days facilitating amazing events in Ames, so I accepted the role of hosting this event for the second time without any hesitation,” Phillips said. “Siri and I both care deeply about uplifting the art scene in Iowa and sharing opportunities with artists who are doing meaningful work, so working on this festival together is completely in alignment for us.
Phillips has performed at the 80/35 music festival and was featured in the world premiere of “American Apollo” with Des Moines Metro Opera, which Iowa PBS filmed.
“The Middle of NOWhere festival employs the universal language of art as a medium for connecting contrasting cultures (rural and urban) that don’t typically get to commune together, (especially not like how MONfest has in mind)!” Phillips said.
Ronna Faaborg covers business and the arts for the Ames Tribune. Reach her at rfaaborg@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: This popular DJ is headlining Siricasso’s 2nd annual Middle of NOWhere Festival. What to know
Reporting by Ronna Faaborg, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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