Onze laatste liverecensie.
Onze laatste albumrecensie.
Ons laatste interview.
Onze laatste video.
Why did you decide writing the history of the dj?
"Simple. There had been so many books coming out in the UK celebrating and
documenting dance music culture, yet few of them had really concentrated on
the person at the centre of this revolution - the DJ. We had both lived in
New York (it's also where we first met), and were well aware of the strong
oral traditions that already existed there among older DJs, so it seemed an
obvious way of telling the story of dance music's rise."
Most young people will, when hearing the word dj, immediately think of a guy in a club spinning records. What would your description of deejay be?
"Well, at his worst (forgive me for using the masculine here, but most DJs
have been men) he is nothing more than a musical waiter, playing the most
obviously popular records, or the tunes his crowd have requested. At his
best, he is someone who takes things further; who gives the crowd something
he is sure they will love, even if they have never heard it before. It's
about transmitting your personality through someone else's records,
something you don't need a microphone for if you have any ability."
As I said, most will envision a guy behind a turntable. Why do you think most deejays are male? Is the scene changing, accepting female deejays?
"Most DJs were make originally, because most of the interesting and/or good
clubs were male gay clubs. However, that is beginning to change now, since
it has crossed over into straight clubs. It's noticeable that most of the
female DJs emerging are usually from relatively newer musical forms (i.e.
drum and bass) where there are less preconceptions of what a DJ should be."
You went out looking for the deejays, so they could tell their story. How did deejays react? Were they always willing to tell their story? Any weird experiences?
"Since a lot of the DJs we tracked down had never been heard of for quite
some time, most of them were firstly surprised that anyone had even
remembered them and also pleased that someone wanted to tell their story.
No weird experiences to report, I'm afraid."
What makes a deejay like Grandmaster Flash stand out among the million
other recordspinning guys?
"Grandmaster Flash stands out as one of the truly great DJs because he made a quantum leap in what existing DJs were doing. Although Kool Herc was the first DJ to play only the breaks from records (the break is where the track breaks down to just the rhythm), he didn't pay much mind to keeping the beat flowing at the same tempo; his mixing was very slapdash. What Flash did was to take the concept of mixing breaks, and fuse it with the beat-mixing that the disco DJs were doing in New York at that time. He spent two or three years perfecting this technique in his house on his own. It takes a lot of confidence in what you're doing to spend that much time on something."
One of the *talents* has to be: a tendency to be a trainspotter. Certainly in Northern Soul, you have exceptionally obsessional deejays. What would be the craziest story you ever heard?
"Most of them are unprintable. One guy is alleged to have tricked his way
into the Tamla Motown vaults and stolen what was then believed to be the
only copy of a record (it was never released)."
In your eyes (or would that be to your ears?) what is the best ever deejay and why.
"David Mancuso at the Loft in New York because he accidentally created what
has since become the blueprint for every modern club in the world. And also
for his connoisseurship of music, and high fidelity stereo equipment (he
was instrumental in creating tweeter arrays, which regulate the high end (or
treble) of a recording)."
Half a decade ago, the deejay was everyone's idol. Now his popularity seems to be waning. How do you see the future of deejaying?
"I don't think his popularity is waning at all. I think we've just become
used to how popular he is. Our big DJs in the UK are regularly featured in
all kinds of magazines and newspapers, from columnists in big tabloids like
The Sun, to features on the interior decor of their loft apartments in DIY
magazines. The future of the DJ rests in the new technology that is
springing up all the time. Using CDs as part of the performance, using MP3
formats, incorporating video and digital visual apparatus into existing
aural formats. Because dance music is so technology obsessed (which
explains why so many DJs have an unhealthy interest in movies like Star Wars), I'd
like to think that the DJ's place is secure, even if the boundaries of what
a DJ actually does expand."
For me, looking from the outside, it is all so confusing. You have Jungle, Garage, Ambient even Illbient... Why use all these subgenres? Can you, as a deejay, even distinguish between all these different genres?
"Shorthand words for genres like trip hop are a handy device for journalists
to be able to explain to their readers roughly how a record might sound.
Most good DJs shouldn't really care about what category the records they
pick are classified as, only whether they fit together well with the rest
of his records. Good music is about feel more than it is about rigid
classification."
In many ways it seems techno, as well hip hop, lead a similar path as rockmusic. From being a rebel or punk to being accepted by the industry and public. Do you think those genres being commercialised, has been positive?
"I don't think there has ever been an instance of large scale investment in
any style of music that hasn't led to it being utterly ruined, and I don't
think dance music is any different. Most of the dance music being churned
out by major labels in this country is among the least interesting music
coming out over here. I find most of the interesting material (in any of
the genres, including hip hop) that I hear almost always comes from the margins
of the industry, from small labels, little cottage industries that operate
outside of the mainstream. Creativity comes from hunger, not a large bank
account."
I guess, the deejays brought back vinyl out of the vaults. I read somewhere you can now deejay with CDs?!? Is that possible?
"The advent of the CD DJ has been with us for several years, but up until
recently when affordable CD burners became available, I don't think there
was anything particularly innovative or creative about it. I use CDs in my
DJ work all the time, because I can make a track in the studio, put it on
to a CD and play it immediately. Previously, I would have had to cut an
acetate at a cost of about (£50), now I can do it for £1. Most clubs I work in now
have at least one CD deck, along with the regular turntables."
Why do you think cities like Chigago, New York and London have been such a breeding ground for deejaying?
"I think it only takes one maverick person to transform the culture of a
city. In Chicago they had Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles. In New York, they
had David Mancuso, Francis Grasso and Larry Levan, and in London we have
had a strong club culture for decades (possibly as a result of having
government controlled radio, it was the only way to hear new and interesting music).
There are a lot of really good DJs in, for example, Glasgow, the reason
being that they all grew up listening to older jocks like Harri and Slam."
Even though you have a lot of pioneering deejays in America (like Derrick May), techno isn't as accepted as in Europe. Why is that?
"Even though it is a black American musical form, I think that the pioneers
in Detroit were so heavily influenced by European electronic music like
Kraftwerk, that it seemed like a radical departure from traditional black
music forms in the States. It may also go some way to explaining why it has
been so readily accepted in Europe."
Many people don't see the deejay as a real musician, because he doesn't create anything completely new. Do you see yourself as a musician?
"Of course he is a musician. Only instead of guitars or keyboards, he uses
records, and instead of notes and chords, he creates a narrative thread by
the order in which he plays his records. Also, the majority of dance
records coming out these days are made by DJs anyway. Who knows better than a DJ
who to make a dancefloor move?"
If someone would ask you what the top five deejay records are, what would you recommend?
"I don't know. It depends whether you mean to five favourite records for
DJs, or made by DJs, either way I'm not sure if I could reduce it down to five!"
After having finished the book, did your opinion on deejaying change in any way?
"No. It only reinforced and confirmed our opinions."
http://www.kindamuzik.net/achtergrond/709/everbody-wants-to-be-the-dj/493/
Meer op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/709
Deel dit artikel: