Young? Deaf? Want to go raving? Deaf Rave is here

A couple of weeks ago on a night out in Soup Kitchen, Manchester, I found myself chatting to a young man in the smoking area who was wearing a cochlear implant. We soon made BFFs over our shared love of 'romantic techno'. Afterwards, I wondered how young deaf people who didn’t have implants experienced 'going out'.

I started looking around the web and came across DeafRave, external. Founded by Troi Lee (who sometimes goes by DJ Chinaman), 42, himself born deaf, they have been putting on nights for young deaf and hearing impaired people since 2003.

'Organised by deaf people, for deaf people' is their tagline. Lee is responsible for finding funding and venues for these nights. At each of their events, they’ll install staff who can sign, as well as using deaf DJs and MCs.

They’ve hosted events in Fabric, among other clubs. In fact, they were scheduled to put one of their nights on there just before it was closed earlier this year. Troi is hopeful that the reopening could be good news for them.

In terms of the music, bass is important.

“The soundsystem is the same, mixer’s the same, same songs. Deaf people are just on a lively one. Vibration is important too, obviously – we have the bass to the max.”

The crowd can experience the music in different ways, depending on their level of hearing. Troi tells me that one thing which has revolutionized music for the deaf community is technology: different companies now offer tech that can help deaf people feel music. For instance, some of the deaf Rave artists use SubPac, external- a backpack that increases vibration and turns music into a full-body experience. This is what his performers use.

A couple of years ago, they paired with the Midi Music Company, external and moved into helping young, deaf people produce their own tracks.

These MCs usually communicate through spoken and sign language. Troi told me, “It’s bilingual – so you’re getting an impact on lots of audiences.”

One such is MC Geezer, aka Matthew Taylor. One of the DeafRave original crew, he raps in spoken and sign language.

Another is Kidult.

“Kidult is completely deaf, no speech,” Troi told me. “He started making music and rolling with hearing people doing vocals for him – translating over them into sign.”

For Troi, the whole thing started as a passion project. He liked going out and he wanted somewhere he and his mates could go clubbing together.

“After deaf pub, I’d be saying to people, ‘let’s go raving’.”

Deaf-pub was a monthly meet-up of young deaf people organised through social media. Before he started DeafRave, this was the main place for him and his mates to get together.

“No one was interested. Music wasn’t that big a part of their lives, I suppose. So I’d go with my hearing friends. I brought this [DeafRave] into the deaf community and it was like, 'Wow!' Suddenly people realised they could be part of that world too.”

With the development of cochlear implants, more and more people are integrating into the hearing community. Troi is worried about what that may mean.

“We can’t let our culture die out man,” he said.

“DeafRave isn’t just about music, it’s a social thing. It’s a place for deaf people to meet up. We’re an isolated group – no one’s setting anything up for us, so we have to organise ourselves.”

Troi told me DeafRave is basically like any other rave. “We do drink the bar dry. Deaf people are on a lively one.”

There is one big difference though. Loads of the punters are able to communicate across the room by signing - which eliminates the problem of not being able to talk to your mates. But it presents a new one.

“Everyone can hear what you’re saying.”

So what's next? For now, they’re planning to put on another event in the New Year and, in the meantime, they're going to keep on making music with the Midi Music Company.