POLAAR is the night for those who love #BASS MUSIC #HOUSE #KUDURO #TRIBAL, from deep to dancefloor hits. At POLAAR, we love every kind of booty shaking music, the diversity the Bass Music offers is huuuge and that’s what we love and want to share through these events.
The first POLAAR happened in september in Paris at le batofar, with Diamond Bass & Baile Funk superstar Leo Justi, and was a success.
For the second episode, in association with french collectiv/bloggers/music lovers Enover, we’re happy to receive BUDJU, from forward thinking french label Chateau Bruyant. Budju is a combination of 2 very talented djs & producers, Douchka & Zoomtronic. They released a fantastic EP on Chateau Bruyant 2 month ago (listen here) and gonna play at les Transmusicales de Rennes. We told you that these guys are good :)
You can check their skills with their latest mixtape:
Lyon artist Canza will also be here, to showcase his talent in house/techno territories.
So please spread the word, and come party with us at la Marquise, Lyon on the 13th of december! It’s only 5 euros :)
September is already here and i’m glad to launch a new serie of gigs at le Batofar called POLAAR.
This new night in Paris will focus on Bass Music in its large sense, from tribal to house, from techno to booty bass, from uk funky to moombahton. There are so many good music, why only focussing on one ? :)
For the first edition, i’m delighted to receive 2 of my heroes: DIAMOND BASS & LEO JUSTI.
Diamond Bass is an portugese artist living in London. His music is representativ of this 2 facts, cos he likes to cross over kuduro/tribal music to uk funky or house, creating something really refreshing and exciting. He regulary signs tunes on Enchufada, Buraka Som Sistema‘s label, which is definitly a good sign.
Leo Justi is Rio new sensation! This young prodigy has recently remixed MIA‘s new single, « Bad Girls », and got loads of interests from MTV IGGY, the Fader, Spin or NY Post. He has created a wicked crossover between Baile Funk & Electro, top quality.
So this new POLAAR event supposed to be VERY cool, come say hi if you’re in Paris this thursday!
Gato Preto is a new Tribal fuelled band from Germany, made of Lee Bass & Gata Misteriosa. I love their project, it is very fresh and these 2 remixes packs prouve it: expect various stuff, from moombahton, to kuduro, to house… This is tribal baby!
You can get all of them for free.
You can also have a look to their amazing video of Tschuduku & the remix i’ve done of the original track.
Xenoglossia(from Greek xenos/ foreigner and glōssa/tongue or language) is the name of this paranormal phenomenon in which a person is able to speak or write a language he or she supposedly could not have acquired by natural means.
Imagine a person who speaks German fluently, but who’s not German, has never studied german, never been to a german-speaking country, and never associated with german speakers or had any other source of exposure to the german language, would be said to exhibit xenoglossy. Weird.
This is actually the impression i got when i’ve finished this tune. I’ve done it in one go, and never expect to do such a hybrid tune. Is it techno ? is it global bass ?
I don’t know and i think i don’t care actually. But for sure it is tribal… and personnal.
I also had the surprising opportunity to work on a video for this tune. The Génard Brothers (as i used to call them – Romain & P-a) are 2 guys from my own city. I met P-a a year ago cos he helped me working on some visuals while i was working on the promotion of RAW. He came back a couple of month later with his brother and they offered me to shoot a video for one of the tune of my choice.
Of course, i couldn’t say no :)
And the result is a very solid & sexy video, really strong quality for a first try (it was their first video ever!!).
I’d like to thank Camille Sellès (camera-woman), Fred Sigaud (light), le Transbordeur (for letting us use their place) and of course, the actress, Kayije. Isn’t she sublime ?
So of course, download the tune, watch the video & please share it with your friends!
So here’s the reason i’ve been so quiet lately: i’ve been invited to teach Ableton Live in Zambia.
Life sometimes gives you some surprises, and this trip was definitly one of them. Zambia is not know as a touristic area, nobody says « my dream in life is to go to Zambia », this is definitly one of the most unknown area in Africa. One of the reason is that after decades of slow developpement, the country is just starting getting richer & richer. The market of copper is getting really big and loads of people from foreign countries start coming investing in different businesses. Most of the tourists you meet are from South Africa, America or Australin. Don’t ask me why, but it is extremely rare to meet European people. It’s a really stable & peaceful country, so i’m sure it’ll explode sometimes soon, especially with such amazing landscapes, rivers, and of course, the amazing Victoria Falls.
The aim of my visit was to teach Ableton Live to some expatriates people. But i had loads of « gifts » during my stay. While i was there, there was the celebration of the 40th anniversary of la Francophonie, and i had no choice than to go to the inauguration (and you know how this kind of VIP events suck) but i had the honnor to meet Zambian minister of Foreign Affairs. After a short chat about my visit, he asked me if i’d be up for playing at the National radio. Of course, i said yes. So things were planed, i had to come mixing at ZNBC the week after.
In Zambia, the most popular music is Afro Pop. Afro Pop is a crossover between dancehall & kwaito, with a very mellow & sexy groove. Most of the vocals have vocoders on the top, and it talks about love and sex. Besides that, you also have David Ghetta or Rihanna, like everywhere else on this globe.
But i had the opportunity to meet some people who were very curious about music in general and they introduced me to some african styles. I’ve discovered Rumba from Congo, of course underground Kuduro from Angola or some electronic music from South Africa. The scene is huge there.
Exemple of Rumba
exemple of Kuduro
Exemple of Zambia Afro Pop (or Kwaito)
Let’s be clear: what we call Global Bass here means absolutely nothing there. Of course. But even kuduro is pretty unknown in Zambia, even if Angola is next to it. I first was very surprised, but really, Zambia is a huge country, and it’s normal they’re doing their own thing. Do we actually know what’s going on on the spanish scene for example ? We all have the same shitty music (Lady Gaga & co) but we also have our own things.
I also had the chance to play in a club called News Cafe, one of the trendiest place in Lusaka. The dj was very good (Nano Untouchable) and he played some very good south african music (but unfortunately most of the people left the dancefloor – which proves how difficult it is to play more underground music).
So what was the response of my music ?
really surprising :)
To be honnest with you, when i accepted to play at the gig, i didn’t know what to expect. There was 50% chance people gonna love it or hate it. But actually it went… crazy! When i started, there was a kind of transition, where all the girls left the dancefloor (they love it slower in the tempo ;) but men started dancing and after 10minutes it evoluates as a…. dance fight!! In the african way. This was AMAZING! I love the way african people dance, it is REALLY sexy, really physical, sometimes even porn, this is proper adult dancing (sorry, i tried to find a video on youtube, but couldn’t find anything interesting…)
So yeah, it made men crazy, i had loads of people coming at me saying they loved this sound, that it was really unknown there. I had the same kind of reactions with the radio show. And it made me very proud to be honnest.
There’s only a small pourcentage of people having TV in Zambia. So everybody’s listening to radio. So i think it is very surreal that i’ve played my music to people in the bush, or in bars in the middle of nowhere in Zambia. This makes me really happy.
So yeah, i’d recommend people to go visit this country. People are very friendly (they have this reputation in the whole continent to be the nicest people in Africa), landscapes are amazing, and there are loads of things to discover and to share.
Here are some more pics about my visit. Hope it’ll make you want to visit ;)
The Victoria Falls. Eden on earth.
The Victoria Falls from the top. Danger!
A bridge going from Zambia to Zimbabwe.
On our way to Livingstone by bus…
I had the chance to meet an amazing percussion & dancers band who explained & showed me the traditionnal dances & music you could find in this part of Africa.
With my friend Romain. PUUUULLL UUUP!
Rock’n roll on the Zambese baby ;)
Bye Bye Lusaka.
Unfortunately i don’t have any footage from the gig at the News Café, cos there was not light at all. But i have witnesses if you don’t believe me ;)
So yeah, this trip to Zambia makes me want to discover more of the african country. Who knows which country will come next ?
I’m back again!! I’m really sorry, i’ve been really shit lately to write on my blog cos there are some many things happening at the moment, it’s crazy! You’ll know more about it very soon, i’m actually preparing a long post about what happened these last couple of weeks ;)
But for now, let’s enjoy some fresh music! I’m very happy to tell you my remix of « Party crasher » from top belgium band the Peas Project is now available in good record shops!
The original tune is a very addictive kuduresque dance tune, with amazing vocals, so when they asked me if i was up for remixing it, i said « Hell Yeah!! ». The result is a moombahton remix, keeping the vocal flavor pretty identical, but with a slower twist. If you like sexy booty shaking music, i think this one is for you.
With „Antenna Of Tallinn Remixed“ Bert On Beats returns with a big bang. The original album release, „Antenna Of Tallinn“ being considered as one of the major tropical bass albums of 2011, now gets its appropriate remix treatment.
Containing fourteen reworks, „Antenna Of Tallinn Remixed“ is a big package. Remixes come from a wide range of hot 2011 tickets such as Munchi, Neki Stranac, Schlachthofbronx or Big Dope P, upcoming talent such as Woz, Julius Sylvest, Max Le Daron, as well as established names like Diamond Bass, Ku Bo or Raiden amongst others. I feel very honoured to feature on this album, sharing the tracklisting with such prestigious names, all of them are my favorite artists at the moment.
1. Girl Ninja (Hortus Musicus Remix)
2. Bone Dat (Munchi´s ´Nope This Ain´t Moombathon Dude`Trap Bubbling Rmx)
3. Suomo (Ku Bo Remix)
4. Bone Dat (Daniel Haaksman Remix)
5. Alemão feat. MC Gi (Schlachthofbronx Remix)
6. Zonin (Woz Remix)
7. Zulu Power (Raiden Remix)
8. Chega Mais feat. MC Gi (Julius Sylvest Remix)
9. Kelewele feat. Anbuley (Neki Stranac Remix)
10. Shika feat. Anbuley (Flore Faya Remix)
11. Gun Clap (Max Le Daron Remix)
12. Gun Clap (Big Dope P Remix)
13. Chega Mais feat. MC GI (Tambour Battant Remix)
14. Bone Dat (Diamond Bass Remix)
Buy it on BeatportBert on Beats – Shika feat. Anbuley (Flore Faya Remix) by Flore
Xenoglossia is the putative paranormal phenomenon in which a person is able to speak or write a language he or she supposedly could not have acquired by natural means.
It was the feeling Flore had while writting this tune, which is actually a bit different from the kind of music she’s used to…
I’m happy to announce the second episode of POLAAR, this time hosted in Lyon at la Marquise.
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