Holly Lester is an

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

disc jockey from

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

, Northern Ireland. Lester is co-founder of the ''Free The Night'' advocacy organisation aimed at boosting the night-time economy in Northern Ireland.

Career

Lester first started to beat-match at age 14, while growing up in County Armagh. She first came to prominence working as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

in dance venues in the north-west of England, has been a regular "homegrown" performer at the AVA Festival in Belfast, and was in the top 50 of the Guardians pick of the best new music for 2019. Lester has gone on to achieve wider recognition, playing sets across Europe, and in Australia and Indonesia. In 2019 Amy Fielding of

DJ Magazine ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lati ...

called Lester "one of Northern Irelands' most exciting selectors". She was also nominated for a DJ Mag award in 2021 in the ''Underground Hero'' category. Lester has been featured on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

a number of times, including performing mixes in both 2021 and 2022. Her sound has been described by

Resident Advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform established in 2001 and dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. Its editorial team provides news, music and ev ...

as "raw analogue jams" that "rub shoulders with dreamy trance tinged melodies and swirling breakbeats". Lester set up the ''Duality Trax'' record label in 2020, which has released music for artists including Abdul Raeva and Tifra. In August 2021 the label released a compilation, "Visions Vol. 1", in aid of

Doctors Without Borders Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded ...

, which was described by DJ Magazine as a "globetrotting, genre-hopping affair". In 2023 Duality released the follow-up compilation, "Visions Vol. 2", with all proceeds aiding the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.

Free The Night

Lester, along with Boyd Sleator, is the founder of ''Free the Night'', a non-profit organisation which started in 2021 with the aim of improving the night-time economy in Northern Ireland, including making it more "safe, progressive and culturally diverse" and campaigning for improved public transport.

References

External links

* Living people Women musicians from Northern Ireland British electronic dance music DJs Musicians from County Armagh Year of birth missing (living people) {{improve categories, date=May 2024