Arveene Juthan
A London Irish Story as told to Anna Johnston
I had the pleasure of having a “virtual” sit down with DJ/ Producer/Booker/ Gentleman Arveene Juthan over Zoom. He told me all about his compelling London Irish Story.
“I was born and grew up in Dublin. My Dad is South African-Indian from Natal and my mother is from Co. Westmeath, Ireland. I had a typical 80’s childhood playing video games and obsession with Star Wars and Nike. There weren’t a lot of people who looked like me in Dublin at that point, so you’d pretty much know all the other kids who did. But there was a large community of South African Indians in Dublin because Kader Asmal (South African Politician) had landed in Ireland in the late 70’s and founded the Irish Anti-Apartheid movement. My father was member the ANC (African National Congress). He had studied in London in the late 60s and Kader had invited a bunch of the ANC guys over to Ireland because it was more sympathetic to what was happening in South Africa than it was in the UK and there were less spies. A lot of them made the trip over, settled, integrated, married Irish women, setting up shops and businesses. Post 1990, some returned home to SA. Like Kader who, when Nelson Mandela was released took a seat on Mandela's council.
I have vivid memories of standing on ANC picket lines in the mid 80s. There was such a strong community, with many who had allegiances with and the support of local Irish politicians. My Dad often told me the story of him going to meet my grandparents in Westmeath back in 1969, which he says was a positive experience, he was welcomed openly by my grandfather. That always gave me a huge amount of respect for him. He was a great Cavan man. My grandfather’s reaction isn’t always the case, as I definitely experienced racism as a child. Although, I know people who have experienced it far worse than me. I was the six-foot-two guy who played a lot of sports, who was able to defend himself. That wasn’t always the case for a lot of people I knew who suffered more than me. We’re currently going through a lot of change and struggling between what’s acceptable to say and what’s not. I think that’s a good thing.
“There should be struggle when change is happening as it helps us face uncomfortable issues, that can tend to be swept or avoided.”
My first memory of London was visiting my uncle Pat as a child, on a layover to South Africa. Pat was your typical Irishman in London with all the trimmings. He was a builder, who came to London looking for work, like a lot of Irish due to the recession back home. I started coming to London regularly at 16 as my sister had moved over here. When my DJ career took off, London was the best place to buy records. I’d fly over to once a month to trawl the record stores for the freshest and rarest tunes. At 19, I moved to London for an internship at BMG records as part of my course at Ballyfermot Senior College, where I was studying music management and sound production. During that internship I was living for free in a mate’s house in Mile End. It was one of those large houses on Tredegar Square with about 15 people living in it at a time and you’d almost meet new people every day. Back then I’d fly home to Ireland on the weekends as my DJ career was starting to kick off. Ireland’s nightlife was amazing at that time, the mid to late 90’s.
“I was booked to DJ at the MTV Music Awards along with Carl Cox and Darren Emerson.
So, Dublin really was the epicentre of cool at that point, having its moment in the sunlight.”
By 2010, I had relocated back to London full time because Ireland was starting to fall apart a bit with the collapse of Celtic Tiger. I guess bar covid, London never really stops and that’s the amazing thing about it. There’s always something happening, something fresh and new being created. It’s also really important for me to move about, shaking things up to keep my enthusiasm for creating music.
The distance between London and Ireland is so small now. It’s faster to get to London from Dublin than it is to get to Derry, you know! I’ve been travelling back and forth for years so both are home now. Being Irish in London is great right now. There’s an abundance of Irish talent and culture here and also an awareness of identity. Being in London and seeing people that look like me in positions of power really gives me confidence. Ireland is catching up, but still has a long way to go. I left Ireland because I wanted to go to clubs like Fabric, Phonox or Ministry of Sound. There was no club like that in Ireland, sadly there still isn’t. Ireland also has these archaic licensing laws which has killed off a lot of the money in the industry. When I began going to clubs there were places open until 4 or 5 in the morning. And then it changed because of this fear around clubbing culture, there were a few news articles that “kids were losing their minds in clubs” causing a sense of mass hysteria among those looking in, when really that wasn’t happening at all. The Irish government really doesn’t fund nightlife as an industry as they don’t see its relevance in modern culture, when Club culture is massive part of youth culture today. I’m hoping that’s beginning to change.
“I’d consider relocating to Ireland full time if it becomes more open to the electronic music scene and invests in it.”
I think Ireland would benefit culturally from unshackling the industry and having an open club scene with a lot less laws around licensing and opening times and I think a lot less of that community would have to leave to make a career based around that particular art for themselves.”
Listen to Arveene’s NYE Mix here or follow Arveene’s work through his Instagram @arveene
