If you had told Isis Liebers five years ago that she would trade in her white doctor’s coat for headphones and a packed festival agenda, she would probably have laughed at you. And yet that is exactly what happened. Under her stage name Cici Daze, the Eindhoven DJ is rapidly storming the Dutch tech-house scene. She even decided to put her master’s degree in medicine on hold.
“If I don’t get admitted to medical school, I’ll drop everything and become a DJ,” she used to joke to classmates in high school. She never thought that years later she would actually choose the music world.
It started at a young age. Liebers grew up in a musical family. “My grandfather and all his brothers and sisters were in a band together. As a child, I attended rehearsals every week,” she tells Studio040.
Holidays to Ibiza
Holidays also played a role. She regularly visited Ibiza with her family, the island known worldwide for its dance culture. “Even though I was too young to actively party, I was fascinated by the DJs during dinners and on the island.”
Still, it took a while before she was behind the decks herself. That only happened when she moved to Maastricht to study medicine. The corona pandemic largely brought student life to a standstill, but that period turned out to be a turning point.
Liebers saw a large turntable at her student association and decided to experiment. “I thought, hey, I can teach myself that now that I have the time.”
Hours of practice during lockdown
During the lockdowns, she practiced for hours in her student room and taught herself the technique, helped by friends who were already DJing. As soon as the measures relaxed, she seized the opportunity to put into practice what she had learned. Through word of mouth, she was increasingly asked to attend events.
Later she came into contact with a booking agency that introduced her to organizers in the south of the country. Festival programmers saw potential in the young talent.
Combining study and running
In the meantime, her bachelor’s degree in medicine continued ‘as normal’. The third and final year in particular felt like top sport. While the festival season was in full swing and she sometimes had three bookings a week, she had to take exams and take practical training in the hospital.
Yet the Eindhoven native managed to combine both. Her secret? An iron discipline. “When I was at a lecture or in the hospital, the switch turned and I was in a good place. It was the other way around when it came to running.”
Tight planning was necessary. During the day she often sat in the university library from ten in the morning to ten at night. During breaks, she worked on Cici Daze’s social media channels. At night she prepared sets.
And with success: she completed her bachelor’s degree and her DJ career took off enormously. Bookings at festivals such as Tomorrowland, Thuishaven, Solar and Bondgenoot followed each other in rapid succession.
Gap year became final choice
After her bachelor’s degree, she decided to take a gap year to focus fully on music. Producing her own tracks in particular was high on her wish list. She did not return to college after that year. “This was the time to chase my dream and make the most of it.”