Empress Lyaness

Empress Lyaness the rocking female club DJ

By Silence Charumbira

Showbiz Editor

Just over a year ago, Larissa Makahamadze never perceived herself behind the decks with a whole club grooving to jams under her control.

Let alone have a whole country when she played on radio.

Now she is probably the most promising disc jockey in the capital playing at one if the most sought after scenes; Private Lounge where she attests, the one month she has been there has been eye opening.

Now going by the name Empress Lyaness, the 26 year old says she feels at home behind the decks.

“I have always been into music, singing in choirs, dramas and everything artistic; but I never thought one day I would be a DJ. In fact, I started off as a hip hop rapper and one day a friend advised me to try dancehall and it worked. Everyone loved it,” said Empress Lyaness with a coy shooting from beneath her dreadlocks.

Yet she was not done as she went on to fall for the decks and went on to win a clash for female DJs at Basement, a Harare club just two months later.

She was to work with Star FM as a mix DJ under the tutelage of DJ Kenny aka Black Spider where she ended up getting her own slots some as long as three hours.

Then a year later she found herself at the Private Lounge this June.

Empress Lyaness said spending time at the club has helped her get rid of some misconceptions that she had before she started working there.

“Just like any other person I came here with a lot of misconceptions but I now fully understand what kind of people the girls are. We understand each other so much that I can even tell when one gets onto the dance floor what kind of music they need,” she said.

“The majority of the girls have various talents and are just normal people with passions like everyone else. I anticipate their needs even from just looking at their lingerie and it has opened my mind.”

Empress Lyaness confessed her work has made her decide to forget about matters of the heart until she has learnt all there is to learn in her trade.

The DJ also works with United Kingdom based Yami Radio which has broadened her horizons.