Sarah Kubacki’s rustic Carlingwood home is a far cry from her previous residence in the jungle of Ko Phangan. For the 38-year old DJ, teacher and mother, the return to Ottawa is both a homecoming and a new chapter in what has proven to be a fascinating life.
Kubacki spent six years living in Thailand with her partner, Chris, and two young children. Most of that time she spent pursuing her love of music and performing as DJ Sarah Fairy on the island of Ko Phangan, a destination legendary for its natural beauty and constant party scene. She returned to Ottawa two years ago to be closer to the stability of family and the familiar Ottawa community.
“We were living our passions, making art and music, but at the end of the day, you want your kids to have everything you had,” she says.
The DJ’s passion for music and performing has not stoppeded since her return: Sarah Fairy has started making her way into the local scene, including a hit performance at Westboro Beach for last month’s Beach Bash party.
“For me, it’s my easiest means of letting go, just putting on music and moving my body,” she says. “What I love about DJing is helping people to just release everything and dance.”
Her trademark is an elegant set of fairy wings that completes her psychedelic persona, “I believe that I am somehow magically guided to always play the perfect track at the perfect time,” she says, giving a nod to her guardian butterfly, sitting atop her shoulder during sets.
Sarah Fairy got her start as a DJ 10 years ago in Wales. She moved there after finishing university in Canada, since her mother is originally Welsh. In Wales, she found love, became a performer and started a journey that would take her around the world – including winters snowboarding the Alps and summers working on boats in France.
“I went between the Alps and the boats for a few years, a good few years, until I think I tired out a little bit,” she says. After a year living in the Thai jungle, battling snakes, scorpions and centipedes, before eventually being run out of house and home by chickens and ducks, Ottawa just might be the place where this traveller settles down.
“This is home for us now,” she says. “Sometimes it’s not where you are, it’s what you project.”
If you had a chance to groove to DJ Sarah Fairy’s beats at Westboro Beach during the Beach Bash and are wondering where to go to dance to more of her music, she’ll be presenting the first installment of what she hopes will become a monthly Electro Swing party in Ottawa, October 5 at the Atomic Rooster on Bank Street.