Q&A special: Rave for Haiti

Amongst all the musical benefits for the victims of the Haiti earthquake, one club event which took place on Wednesday night in London stands out as a small, but powerful, beacon of hope. Not because it could rival Jay Z and U2 for levels of funds raised, but because it represented levels of commitment, self-motivation and unity among the capital's multi-ethnic youth subcultures that flies in the face of scare stories about gang violence, drugs, educational failure and all the rest of it. Raising well over £10,000 for Haitians, the entire event on Wednesday night at the club Den/Centro was pulled together in a mere three days by journalist and activist Chantelle Fiddy, promoters SOMEnight, and DJ Stanza of the Watford-based dubstep and grime label True Tiger, and went without hitch despite featuring on its diverse bill many grime rappers and DJs who find it difficult to perform in London due to police pressure on promoters. theartsdesk spoke to a dazed but happy Chantelle Fiddy yesterday to discuss the ramifications of the event.

JOE MUGGS: Everyone else is amazed by how quickly this came together, Chantelle, but are you? Were there any times in the last few days when you thought it wasn't going to happen?

CHANTELLE FIDDY: Never. I wouldn't have got myself or [youth activism organisation/magazine] Ctrl.Alt.Shift involved if I didn't trust that SOMEnight, True Tiger and ourselves could all pull it off. And once I set my mind to something I give it everything I've got as I don't want to disappoint myself, as well as others. Having a good team around you helps too, of course.

What has been the biggest thing you've had to overcome? I've seen discussion on Twitter that suggested managers were a bigger problem than artist egos - is that true?

There were literally a very few people whose attitudes were surprising, but never the artists. We often forget how many bad decisions are made on behalf of artists, who are often none the wiser. Thankfully we were able to rely on the personal relationships all of us had with the DJs, artists, agencies and management to make this happen in just a few days. The biggest problem was sleep - I think Stanza and I managed about three hours' sleep a night from Sunday to Wednesday.

Apart from the sheer magnitude of the carnage in Haiti, why do you think this has seized the imagination of the club music community when other disasters haven't?

A natural disaster of this magnitude isn't commonplace, and in the same way we couldn't quite fathom the devastation cause by the Boxing Day tsunami, it reminds us of our own mortality and the helpless feelings we have at times like this. Anyone who's seen the news or been on the internet can't have avoided been touched by it in some way. Another answer is that some people talk, other people do. Everyone's busy but if you get the right people, with the right work ethic and intentions, as we did, you're able to provide people with a platform on which to offer support.

Targeting people who may not necessarily be aligned to a charity or make donations makes sense too. Ultimately, that's what Ctrl.Alt.Shift is about, breaking down conventional models to bring about global and social change. I think a lot of the acts saw they could help reach out to the clubbing community and make a difference by donating their celebrity and time, as well as money, in getting as many people as possible to realise this urgent need to get financial aid to Haiti. And we made a point of only asking for £5 minimum donation on the door. Some people think that's cheap, but it was deliberate, because we wanted to be inclusive of people who might not be able to give as much as you or I, to make everybody realise that they could be a part of this effort.

The urban music world in London is traditionally seen as quite factional and competitive, especially since the violence and media panic that dogged So Solid and then the grime scene; do you feel that there's a flag to fly for the idea that the scene can actually actually more unified than people might think?

While, yes, admittedly there is an element of competitiveness, there's always been an unspoken togetherness as urban music has been the underdog of the music world for so many years. However, with few club nights to display this togetherness and fewer and fewer media outlets, only those who really absorb themselves in the scene would see where the bonds lie. But I definitely think since the grime boys like Tinchy and Chipmunk have gained commercial success there's been a consciously greater show made to be supportive and to shout about people's successes. Negativity just breeds negativity after all.

Likewise the dance and urban scenes are generally seen by outsiders as materialistic and hedonistic; is this a chance to prove that they're more than that?

Like any scene it's different strokes for different folks. I'm into this music but I wouldn't consider myself materialistic or hedonistic, unless three Red Bulls after midnight counts. That's like saying everyone into house music lives off MDMA. There was definitely a realisation amongst all the promoters that doing this event would look great for the scene and prove yet again that this music doesn't equate to shoot-outs at dawn.

I've been noting lately and particularly over the last two years how the barriers between "dance" and "urban" appear to be dissolving - do you think that's fair to say?  And do you think this event represents that?

Definitely, I'd agree. When I did the club night Straight Outta Bethnal [a successful club that ran for two years before it was closed due to police pressure in 2006], the point was to provide a setting for grime which was both authentic and accessible to those who wouldn't go to a strictly grime rave, which, let's face it, can prove daunting. But to get the fashion set and newbies in we mixed up the music over different floors.

Around this time the VICE pub [the Old Blue Last in Shoreditch, owned by VICE magazine] opened too and they did a similar thing, heavily supporting grime as well as every weird and wonderful genre under the sun. With it proving very difficult to throw strictly grime nights in London, it became the norm to mix it up. This was when the scenes really started to cross-pollinate, with MCs hooking up with producers they might not have otherwise. On the flipside, grime producers were seeing the commercial viability of these tunes. Why lose all the MCs to dance producers if you can produce a money-maker too? The rave for Haiti felt to be like a real snapshot of what's going on in grime, dubstep, indie electro, drum and bass and the rest right now. Call me greedy but in terms of what I hear on a night out, I'd much rather a bit of everything anyway.

Aside from funds for the people affected in Haiti, what do you think you can take out of this club night?

We had so many young people volunteer their services via Twitter that it doesn't take a genius to work out that this generation want to play a role in making things better, you just need to present it in a way that's creative, inspiring and boosts their position too. I also think once people feel they've been involved in making a difference they'll look, in varying degrees, for more opportunities to do so in the future. We've already had loads of new members sign up to Ctrl.Alt.Shift's website stating they're doing so because of the rave experience. Likewise, we're not short of artists wanting to get involved. We've had Tinchy Stryder, who's one of the biggest pop stars in the country, protesting outside the Russian embassy at 8am before, so anything's possible, right?

More info: Ctrl.AltLT.Shift