Behind the Decks: DJ Showcase

Now that Behind the Decks, our 5-week DJ workshop series, is coming to a close, our participants are ready to show off the skills they’ve acquired and refined with the help of their Nia Centre for the Arts facilitator 999ADJ and mentors (Sudaneeya, Paul Chin and Chinelo) from the black-owned DJ studio Estrelar Sound.

This DJ showcase will be split between two rooms, each with a distinct vibe: one calmer, more relaxed environment, and the other one high-energy, danceable space guaranteed to bring you to your feet.

Nine DJs will be going back-to-back on 30-minute sets each, all of them with their own unique style and genre — from Amapiano, Deep House, Drum n’ Bass to Afrobeats, Baile Funk and Dancehall.

Come ready to dance, or just to kick back and enjoy the atmosphere.

---

Meet the DJs

Adeline Manga is a multidisciplinary artist of Congolese and Cameroonian heritage working across sound, movement, and visual storytelling. Their practice blends screen printing, film photography, collage, and DJing to create textured, immersive experiences. Rooted in a deep reverence for rhythm, memory, and ancestral connection, their work explores how different mediums can speak to one another, creating layered and immersive experiences.  Trained in dance under the mentorship of Leah Totten and through sessions with teachers such as Lineen Doung, Derrick Johnson, and Tatiana Parker, their movement practice informs the fluidity and rhythm present in their work. They create to honour their lineage while imagining expansive, liberatory futures.

---

Shaingel is an emerging, Toronto-based DJ who aims to bring to the dance floor that tingling sensation you feel when you listen to a loved song for the very first time. Be prepared to experience a sound journey that blends bouncin’ club edits, full-bodied bassy beats from baile funk, electro to gqom, ghettotech, and everything that makes him — and invites you – to shake some booty.

---

KINJO is a Kenyan DJ based in Toronto, who’s intentionally curated set aims to take audiences on a sonic journey showcasing Afrocentric sounds, such as Amapiano, Gqom, Afrohouse, and Deep house as well as highlighting genres from the diaspora. They strive to harness the power of music to build community, celebrate culture, foster unity, and emote joy as a form of resistance.

---

Yamari (Kriol-Miskita/Afro-Indigenous Caribbean) credits her music influences to intimate and faraway memories –  from her dad’s old tapes and CDs and evenings spent near the sea, to dusty bus rides and anime soundtracks. She explores sounds that center around (but are not limited to) the Americas and the Black diaspora. Always expect the unexpected from her sets.

---

kyera mapp is a self-taught visual designer and playlist curator who loves blending design, music, and storytelling. She’s all about staying curious, building community, and creating work that connects people in meaningful ways. Follow her work on Instagram @kyeramapp.

---

Ngoma is an emerging DJ who has tasked herself with witnessing, criticizing, loving, sharing and learning through the world around her. Through music she hopes to connect to an intrinsic unity between us all. She loves to blend between whatever genre achieves this connection but lately has been focused on House, Footwork, Gqom and Disco Funk.

---

​​Prepare for Djemanic! I’m not just here to drop beats; I’m here to drop jaws (with my amazing music, of course!). With a past life in personal training, I know how to get a crowd moving – though now it’s less about burpees and more about boogying. My goal? To bring the smiles and the tunes, proving that laughter is the best bass drop.

---

Noah Ferguson is a DJ well versed in Hip Hop, R&B, and House Music whilst being open to picking up and playing other genres. Noah has a deep passion for music and a keen ear for reading crowds. Building up experience from DJing events for a variety of different age groups and demographics, Noah is always able to bring up the energy and get the crowd moving.