Kitties wanna Dance
Culture & Music
Words:
Haylee Lunt
Haylee Lunt
Today we’re joined by COYU, an electronic music artist based in Barcelona, well known for his official remixes for Moby and Fatboy Slim. His motto is “kitties wanna dance”, and his love for cats can be seen through his Suara imprint. Besides his record label he has a non profit organisation Suara Foundation & cat house for helping the abandoned and street cats of Barcelona. This is located at the same place of his Suara store, which sells feline themed clothing and vinyls, and can be found at the headquarters of the foundation in el El Born (Ciutat Vella).
We were touched when in your video about Suara, you describe giving back the love and affection cats have given you, can you tell us a particular occasion you really felt that from a cat?
Everytime. There’s no occasion where you cannot feel the heat of a cat. They are amazing creatures. Their company is the best medicine you can take. Come to our cat house and I’m sure you will know what I’m talking about.
Why did the problem of stray cats get particularly bad in Barcelona? What other cities in Europe are most affected? What can governments do to prevent this?
We’re based in Barcelona and we fight against this terrible affliction here. But this situation is not just bad here in Barcelona but around the World. Seeing them homeless makes me sick, they need to be neutered and spend their lives in the comfort of a proper home. We are the voice of the animals, so we have to take care of their rights and fight against animal cruelty. Fortunately society is changing and we can already see animalist parties on politics defending them. Love to see animal parties with members at the Parliament of Portugal or Netherlands. Here in Spain we still have a lot of work to do but there’s an animalist party called PACMA that year after year are getting more support (I’m one of their supporters for many years) and I’m sure they will get their first seat on Catalan & Spanish Parliament very soon.
We would love to hear more about your own personal cats! Do you get attached to the ones you look after in the home and feel sad when their adopted? How do you not fall in love with them all?
We have 8 cats at the cat house now and 5 of them are ready to be adopted. Some of them have been at the cat house for almost a year and I’ve a very personal connection with them. I’m gonna be extremely devastated when Nina, Tiga or Cassy find finally a home, but at the same time I’ll be very happy for them because I know they will be happy with their new family. We don’t give our cats to the first to ask us, we’re very strict with the selection of the people who adopt our cats. It needs to be the right family and the cat needs to be the right one for them as well. The candidate needs to answer us a questionnary first and then meet us at the cat house and spend some time with us and the cat. That’s completely basic for us. We need to be sure the cat will have a pleasant life.
Is there a particular link between cats, techno and house or do you just really like them?
I don’t know why but when I’m working at the studio making some noise (I mean music :P) there’s always a cat by my side.
Have you ever seen a cat dance before? We have
Really? Tell me more 🙂
What other unexpected talents have you found them to have through bringing music and cats together?
I didn’t find any unexpected talent to be honest, but before being in touch with cats I thought they weren’t truthful and affectionate animals. I was wrong. Like everybody that has never had experience with them. Cats are amazing and we will keep working to give the chance for people to know more about them.
What kind of work goes into the organisation and foundation that we don’t get to see online? Can you give us a behind the scenes glimpse?
People only see what we do at the cat house, but the 90% of our work has been dedicated to collaborate with different cat associations and shelters to help them to pay their bills and assist to their cats, basically neutering & vaccinate them.
You also run a clothing label and store, how did the idea for that come about? Who creates the designs for the clothes?
GaAs is the master behind the designs, not just the clothes but also the record covers. He started working with us 9 years ago and after getting great support to our covers we decided open an online store and sell our cat fashion was the right move for us.
What was it like to open your first store?
It was a very moving day. It was the first time that owned something physical for my own. It feels good to mix some of your passions, techno, fashion and cats and have it all in one place.
What came first, the record label, fashion or the foundation?
Record label 2008, Foundation 2011, Online Store 2013, Store 2016 and Cat House 2017. Who knows what’s coming next 🙂
Your clothing line includes some British references to the queen and David bowie, when you extend the foundation will it move to the U.K.?
We have lotta work to do here in Barcelona. We prefer to keep our work here before extending it to other cities. I’m sure there are amazing cat associations and shelters in UK helping animals to have a better life. But at the same time we’re always up to collaborate with everybody who love animals.
Click to listen to Suara’s Caturday Night playlist
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