The fact that we have a lot of talent at the Heli is indisputable. Every Heli crew member brings their own expertise, but few are as versatile as our mellow jack-of-all-trades, Gigi. You may know her from the evening shifts she worked until recently, always decked out in colorful and stylish Bohemian vintage, although now she is often toiling behind the scenes to make Helicopter visible on social media. If you follow us on Instagram you certainly know her work.
Giggles is part of the family at the Helicopter and used to practice here often in the mythical early years with her then-band Plain Lazy. As such, she has a lot of heart for the place. “It feels like we are part of something very important. Something that is very free, and to which we all contribute our own weirdness.” Amen! She is a little weird, but we love it. Besides, few colleagues have as much patience, sometimes even enthusiasm, for the Captain’s wild/weird plans, which is much appreciated.
Gigi (pronounced, like the letter, ‘G-G’) is a singer, producer and performer. Actually, she is an all-round musician, as she knows a thing or two about everything, from writing, to performing to recording. She sang in the band Golden Boy and until recently she was the frontwoman of the, unfortunately imploded, energetic Nu-Disco band JOBIM, which, among other things, competed for the Amsterdam Pop Prize. Fortunately, its bangers can still be heard on Spotify. Since then, she has started her solo project Piuma Blu, in which the Nu-Disco is influenced by Gigi’s fascination with New Wave and soundscapes, to eventually arrive, stomping and jumping, on a club’s grimey dance floor. I hear we can expect a couple of exciting collabs soon….
Gigi used to suffer from the nagging feeling that she needed to specialize musically. At some point, however, she saw the light; with more than 10,000 hours of musical ventures, she was really just an accomplished jack-of-all-trades. “I had a little bit less imposter syndrome after that.” She applied for the creative artist course at the Haarlem Conservatory of Music. As if that isn’t enough, she is also studying musicology at the UvA. Add to that her knowledge of photography, marketing, management and music technology, and you understand that we are dealing with a music industry expert here.
Gigi, along with Guus, Martijn and I, the organizes the successful Launchpad events and she is always brimming with good ideas. Invariably, she puts her graphic design skills (have I mentionted those?) to work to produce yet another psychedelic poster to attract people to our showcase. By the way, Gigi and I have also been looking for a billionaire to subsidize the Heli and Launchpad for a while now (Space-X would be a fitting sponsor though). Are you a billionaire with a love for the performing arts? Let us know!
Of course, the Gigmistress has more areas of interest than we have space to list here. For example, did you know that she speaks quite a bit of Bahasa Indonesia, her home is a plant palace and she recently changed her favorite color (from red to cobalt blue)? Also nice to know is that she takes damn good analog photos and has heaps of experience capturing gigs. Looking for someone to immortalize your concert and simultaneously win a World Press Photo? Send Gigi a message.
Piumablu op Instagram
Jobim op Spotify
Translated from the original Dutch