MUSIC IS THE ANSWER
LONDON GLOBAL DANCE FESTIVAL
“SATURDAY MORNING STARS”
Well, The London Global Dance Festival (LGDF) is with us and the “official” opening party will take place tonight (Friday 28th May) at Area in Vauxhall, this kick starting event being hosted by “Onyx”, the Friday clubbing phenomenon which was launched back in the summer of 2009 and just seems to be going from strength to strength. So it seems fitting that this award winning brand is where the massive music festival that is LGDF begins and then continues deep into Saturday morning with afterhours club “A.M.” going all international on us and continuing the festivities at Fire where neighbour “Onyx” had left off. And showcasing the global feel to these regular London events will be two D.J.’s, jetting in especially and will both prove a considerable draw and thus deserve our full focus.
First up and playing out at “Onyx” is Dikky Vendatta, a native of The Netherlands and born in Utrecht. Dikky Van Der Van (his real name) started out in the D.J.’ing game back in 2004 and assumed the pseudonym “Vendetta”, not quite an anagram of his surname, but a name that has certainly worked and got him noticed both in his home country and across the border in Belgium, both counties forming the basis of his career behind the decks. Balancing his D.J’ing with a full time desk job with massive European airports handler Avaipartner, which has seen Dikky work in both Amsterdam and now in Brussels, which is his current base, Dikky has been well positioned to carve out a name for himself in the big clubs at both cities, he becoming a virtual household name at both Rapido in Amsterdam and La Demence in Brussels. However, Dikky’s disc spinning had humble beginnings, treading the proverbial boards in the bars of Amsterdam to develop his reputation but the draw of the clubbing scene was too much to resist and with Rapido on his doorstep, he soon started rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in the game, including the internationally acclaimed Chus & Cebellos, Manny Lehman, Fabio White, Juanjo Martin, & Max Morel, as well as names that have truly international careers, but are in themselves household names in London, Gonzalo Rivas & Pagano.
So, in landing a gig at this massive gay club in Holland’s capital city proved to be a real gateway for Dikky, he being a firm favourite with the crowd, more often than not holding down the opening slot in their parties, giving the crowd one of the best reasons to get to the club early and lap up his characteristic uplifting & warm starts to his sets, with groovy uplifting beats, then taking it deeper into more progressive & tech style sounds that work a dream at Rapido, securing him as one of their favourites. And it wasn’t long before he was noticed by club brand Salvation, being swooped up to play at many of their European parties, although when work drew Dikky to Brussels, another major opening was set to supercharge his D.J’ing career, landing a position with massive party La Demence and projecting him to the forefront of the clubbing scene in Brussels, which has since seen him play at virtually every event in the city as well as fitting in parties in Antwerp, which have included Red & Blue and the Gus Deluxe series of events.
However, having firmly established a reputation, his career has seen him travel right across Europe, including Greece, Spain, France, Germany & of course the U.K. where he has guested at London’s Heaven, while, despite having a full time job and all these D.J.’ing commitments, Dikky does also lay down the odd compilation mix here & there, all of which showcase his style of those funky uplifting & groovy sounds with deep dirty beats as well as his talent for mixing, the listening & download figures reading impressively and speaking for themselves, his latest release entitled “Teadance”, which is a nod towards the sets he plays live at La Demence available at http://dikky-vendetta.podomatic.com/. 2010 continues to be busy for Dikky, with regular slots continuing at La Demence & Rapido, playing alongside Steven Redant & Pagano respectively, he has played at Holland’s biggest party weekend Queens Day, is involved with new club night launch Cowboys & Angels in Amsterdam & will be a feature of Zurich’s Pride warm up party Selection-Testosteron, so a busy boy indeed. So, in bringing Dikky across to London for LGDF draws on some of his roots with club brand Salvation of old, yet ties in fantastically with the global feel of the event and the mix of D.J.’s that often play together in clubs across Europe & beyond. Plus, his uplifting style of sound with delightful electro & progressive beats will be an absolute winner and he will definitely play his part in attracting a truly international crowd to London and his top billing at “Onyx” is well deserved.
All focus the turns to “A.M.” when one of Spain’s most talented stars takes Fire by storm. D.J. Luque (first name Juan) is probably one of the country’s best know gay disc jockey’s and has been in the business since 1980, so that’s a staggering 30 years of spinning discs and making music, during which time he has played in pretty much every groundbreaking & important club in his native Madrid, including Pacha, Sundance, Divino, Circus, Empire & of course, Amnesia Madrid, spreading the unique Luque musical word wherever he went and attracting hoards of followers of his very uplifting electro tainted euro style house. In 2002 he secured a long term residency at Heaven in Madrid and whilst many doors had already been opened for the well established Mr Luque, the world suddenly became his veritable oyster, with an amazing list of gigs & appearances which soon followed, not only in a string of clubs, but with the country’s biggest brands, for Pacha, seeing him play for them in Barcelona, Ibiza, & Valencia, for Space in both Barcelona & Ibiza and for Space of Sound back in his home town, other massive clubbing brands on his sparkling C.V. including Salvation & Souvenir. Not surprisingly, the feverish pace of bookings increased yet further, seeing Juan jetting across the globe, playing in destinations like Columbia, Brazil, the USA, Russia, France and also occasionally in the UK, fitting in trips with his tight schedule back home & the ever developing demand for his services on the white isle, where Juan now shares home time with Madrid, his ties with Heaven seeing him play for their weekly summer event at Pacha Ibiza.
All this international exposure has seen him play alongside some real superstars of the D.J. scene, including David Morales, Freddie Le Grand, Hector Romero, Juanjo Martin, J Louis, & Steve Lawler, but it was his building associations with D.J. Vitti and J Velarde that would springboard Juan into the production game with prolific results. 2008 saw the trio experiment on a number of tracks in the studio although one stood head & shoulders above the rest and as soon as it was released stormed up the Spanish dance charts, becoming the biggest hit of the year, “Sundays At Heaven” soon attracting international acclaim and hitting the dancefloors right across the world, the track still stirring up the crowd & getting airplay two years down the line, thus making it an absolute classic. This was always going to be a hard act to follow and the year saw a further four releases with Velardi & Luque breaking out in 2009 with a record which was set to emulate the magic of “Sunday’s”, their new track “Serious Emotions” getting worldwide support and re-capturing the dizzy heights of success of its predecessor, confirming both artists as real tore de forces in the production game. With plenty of future projects, the partnership of Velarde & Luque was assured, even laying down a whole host of remixes, including tracks by pop artists Erasure & The Sugarbabes, working with dance vocal diva’s Jocelyn Brown & Giovanna, as well as even giving our very own combo of Steve Pitron & Max Sanna’s massive Bodyswerve remix track further treatment, their latest promo work entitled “So Lone” which received critical acclaim at this year’s winter music conference in Miami, very indicative of the magical sound of Velardi & Luque, the track drenched with deep vocals and euro beats that should see it become another smash hit for the two and is still available in promo form at http://soundcloud.com/luquedjx/velarde-luque-so-lone-promo-wmc-2010.
Back behind the decks and Mr Luque’s seemingly unstoppable career continues, his insatiable desire to get audiences going with his angelic uplifting, vocal tinged electro & euro style house, seeing him continue to play right across Spain, strong associations remaining with Pacha, seeing him play in Gerona & Valencia, with Space Of Sound, where he continues with a monthly residency for their “Too Much Revolution” night, although it is with Space Ibiza’s Cafe Ole which is getting all the attention at the moment, Juan right in the thick of all the action and not only will he be featuring in the whole summer season on the white isle, but is also touring with the brand, touching on Barcelona in May & Moscow in June, before bedding back down in Ibiza for the rest of the summer. Other projects include tours of Columbia & Bolivia, as well as summer warm up festivals in Alicante & Barcelona, so rather than slowing down, the pace of his career seems, if anything, to be picking up even more. And Juan will be jetting into London on the weekend on the main LGDF festival, squeezing in an appearance among his tight schedule and is going to be a massive draw. You can expect his bag of tune tolls to be full of both new vocal drenched & uplifting sounds as well as nodding back to those classic tunes that made it big in both 2008 & 2009, so his set in amongst the LGDF series of events should prove a real treat.
So, we will definitely be in for a veritable feat of magnificent music in the hands of these two international talents who will both be playing in the early hours of Saturday morning & whom we are sure will shine at both their respective parties, leaving the crowds craving for more and well & truly engrossed in the whole London Global Dance Festival as it progresses to the next set of events on Sunday. Therefore make sure you make it down to both “Onyx” & “A.M” and start your LGDF festivities off in true international style. (DISCO MATT)
LONDON GLOBAL DANCE FESTIVAL
“SATURDAY MORNING STARS”
Well, The London Global Dance Festival (LGDF) is with us and the “official” opening party will take place tonight (Friday 28th May) at Area in Vauxhall, this kick starting event being hosted by “Onyx”, the Friday clubbing phenomenon which was launched back in the summer of 2009 and just seems to be going from strength to strength. So it seems fitting that this award winning brand is where the massive music festival that is LGDF begins and then continues deep into Saturday morning with afterhours club “A.M.” going all international on us and continuing the festivities at Fire where neighbour “Onyx” had left off. And showcasing the global feel to these regular London events will be two D.J.’s, jetting in especially and will both prove a considerable draw and thus deserve our full focus.
First up and playing out at “Onyx” is Dikky Vendatta, a native of The Netherlands and born in Utrecht. Dikky Van Der Van (his real name) started out in the D.J.’ing game back in 2004 and assumed the pseudonym “Vendetta”, not quite an anagram of his surname, but a name that has certainly worked and got him noticed both in his home country and across the border in Belgium, both counties forming the basis of his career behind the decks. Balancing his D.J’ing with a full time desk job with massive European airports handler Avaipartner, which has seen Dikky work in both Amsterdam and now in Brussels, which is his current base, Dikky has been well positioned to carve out a name for himself in the big clubs at both cities, he becoming a virtual household name at both Rapido in Amsterdam and La Demence in Brussels. However, Dikky’s disc spinning had humble beginnings, treading the proverbial boards in the bars of Amsterdam to develop his reputation but the draw of the clubbing scene was too much to resist and with Rapido on his doorstep, he soon started rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in the game, including the internationally acclaimed Chus & Cebellos, Manny Lehman, Fabio White, Juanjo Martin, & Max Morel, as well as names that have truly international careers, but are in themselves household names in London, Gonzalo Rivas & Pagano.
So, in landing a gig at this massive gay club in Holland’s capital city proved to be a real gateway for Dikky, he being a firm favourite with the crowd, more often than not holding down the opening slot in their parties, giving the crowd one of the best reasons to get to the club early and lap up his characteristic uplifting & warm starts to his sets, with groovy uplifting beats, then taking it deeper into more progressive & tech style sounds that work a dream at Rapido, securing him as one of their favourites. And it wasn’t long before he was noticed by club brand Salvation, being swooped up to play at many of their European parties, although when work drew Dikky to Brussels, another major opening was set to supercharge his D.J’ing career, landing a position with massive party La Demence and projecting him to the forefront of the clubbing scene in Brussels, which has since seen him play at virtually every event in the city as well as fitting in parties in Antwerp, which have included Red & Blue and the Gus Deluxe series of events.
However, having firmly established a reputation, his career has seen him travel right across Europe, including Greece, Spain, France, Germany & of course the U.K. where he has guested at London’s Heaven, while, despite having a full time job and all these D.J.’ing commitments, Dikky does also lay down the odd compilation mix here & there, all of which showcase his style of those funky uplifting & groovy sounds with deep dirty beats as well as his talent for mixing, the listening & download figures reading impressively and speaking for themselves, his latest release entitled “Teadance”, which is a nod towards the sets he plays live at La Demence available at http://dikky-vendetta.podomatic.com/. 2010 continues to be busy for Dikky, with regular slots continuing at La Demence & Rapido, playing alongside Steven Redant & Pagano respectively, he has played at Holland’s biggest party weekend Queens Day, is involved with new club night launch Cowboys & Angels in Amsterdam & will be a feature of Zurich’s Pride warm up party Selection-Testosteron, so a busy boy indeed. So, in bringing Dikky across to London for LGDF draws on some of his roots with club brand Salvation of old, yet ties in fantastically with the global feel of the event and the mix of D.J.’s that often play together in clubs across Europe & beyond. Plus, his uplifting style of sound with delightful electro & progressive beats will be an absolute winner and he will definitely play his part in attracting a truly international crowd to London and his top billing at “Onyx” is well deserved.
All focus the turns to “A.M.” when one of Spain’s most talented stars takes Fire by storm. D.J. Luque (first name Juan) is probably one of the country’s best know gay disc jockey’s and has been in the business since 1980, so that’s a staggering 30 years of spinning discs and making music, during which time he has played in pretty much every groundbreaking & important club in his native Madrid, including Pacha, Sundance, Divino, Circus, Empire & of course, Amnesia Madrid, spreading the unique Luque musical word wherever he went and attracting hoards of followers of his very uplifting electro tainted euro style house. In 2002 he secured a long term residency at Heaven in Madrid and whilst many doors had already been opened for the well established Mr Luque, the world suddenly became his veritable oyster, with an amazing list of gigs & appearances which soon followed, not only in a string of clubs, but with the country’s biggest brands, for Pacha, seeing him play for them in Barcelona, Ibiza, & Valencia, for Space in both Barcelona & Ibiza and for Space of Sound back in his home town, other massive clubbing brands on his sparkling C.V. including Salvation & Souvenir. Not surprisingly, the feverish pace of bookings increased yet further, seeing Juan jetting across the globe, playing in destinations like Columbia, Brazil, the USA, Russia, France and also occasionally in the UK, fitting in trips with his tight schedule back home & the ever developing demand for his services on the white isle, where Juan now shares home time with Madrid, his ties with Heaven seeing him play for their weekly summer event at Pacha Ibiza.
All this international exposure has seen him play alongside some real superstars of the D.J. scene, including David Morales, Freddie Le Grand, Hector Romero, Juanjo Martin, J Louis, & Steve Lawler, but it was his building associations with D.J. Vitti and J Velarde that would springboard Juan into the production game with prolific results. 2008 saw the trio experiment on a number of tracks in the studio although one stood head & shoulders above the rest and as soon as it was released stormed up the Spanish dance charts, becoming the biggest hit of the year, “Sundays At Heaven” soon attracting international acclaim and hitting the dancefloors right across the world, the track still stirring up the crowd & getting airplay two years down the line, thus making it an absolute classic. This was always going to be a hard act to follow and the year saw a further four releases with Velardi & Luque breaking out in 2009 with a record which was set to emulate the magic of “Sunday’s”, their new track “Serious Emotions” getting worldwide support and re-capturing the dizzy heights of success of its predecessor, confirming both artists as real tore de forces in the production game. With plenty of future projects, the partnership of Velarde & Luque was assured, even laying down a whole host of remixes, including tracks by pop artists Erasure & The Sugarbabes, working with dance vocal diva’s Jocelyn Brown & Giovanna, as well as even giving our very own combo of Steve Pitron & Max Sanna’s massive Bodyswerve remix track further treatment, their latest promo work entitled “So Lone” which received critical acclaim at this year’s winter music conference in Miami, very indicative of the magical sound of Velardi & Luque, the track drenched with deep vocals and euro beats that should see it become another smash hit for the two and is still available in promo form at http://soundcloud.com/luquedjx/velarde-luque-so-lone-promo-wmc-2010.
Back behind the decks and Mr Luque’s seemingly unstoppable career continues, his insatiable desire to get audiences going with his angelic uplifting, vocal tinged electro & euro style house, seeing him continue to play right across Spain, strong associations remaining with Pacha, seeing him play in Gerona & Valencia, with Space Of Sound, where he continues with a monthly residency for their “Too Much Revolution” night, although it is with Space Ibiza’s Cafe Ole which is getting all the attention at the moment, Juan right in the thick of all the action and not only will he be featuring in the whole summer season on the white isle, but is also touring with the brand, touching on Barcelona in May & Moscow in June, before bedding back down in Ibiza for the rest of the summer. Other projects include tours of Columbia & Bolivia, as well as summer warm up festivals in Alicante & Barcelona, so rather than slowing down, the pace of his career seems, if anything, to be picking up even more. And Juan will be jetting into London on the weekend on the main LGDF festival, squeezing in an appearance among his tight schedule and is going to be a massive draw. You can expect his bag of tune tolls to be full of both new vocal drenched & uplifting sounds as well as nodding back to those classic tunes that made it big in both 2008 & 2009, so his set in amongst the LGDF series of events should prove a real treat.
So, we will definitely be in for a veritable feat of magnificent music in the hands of these two international talents who will both be playing in the early hours of Saturday morning & whom we are sure will shine at both their respective parties, leaving the crowds craving for more and well & truly engrossed in the whole London Global Dance Festival as it progresses to the next set of events on Sunday. Therefore make sure you make it down to both “Onyx” & “A.M” and start your LGDF festivities off in true international style. (DISCO MATT)
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