TECHNO: Greg Bowes
IN the era of massive warehouse raves and superclubs, DJs have become more tha n just folk who mix records – some have become as big as pop stars. When Boy G eorge DJ’d in Johannesburg last year a 14 000 strong crowd turned up to see hi m, surely as many as he would have attracted in the eighties with his old band Culture Club. Sasha, John Digweed and Erick “More” Morillo are stars of this
calibre, a nd all three arrive in the country this weekend to put needle to vinyl at some potentially huge parties.
When I spoke to Sasha over the phone from his London studio, he was modest abo ut his success. He says he doesn’t think of himself as a celebrity and hates g iving interviews where he has to go on about himself: “They do my head in.” Bu t Sasha is up there in a league of superspinners whose names are guaranteed to draw a crowd pretty much anywhere in the world, and one of the perks of his j
ob is that he’s been able to fly to all corners of it.”
And what’s become an added incentive for world class DJs to do South Africa is the chance to take in a safari. A night in Cape Town, a night in Jo’burg and
a week in the bush.
But in global terms, the boom in club and dance culture has meant that any rec ord company that can afford to can now have their latest pop tune remixed by a premiere floorshaking talent and will be guaranteed of a few extra thousand s
ales.
The emerging mainstream acceptance of electronically produced dance music has also led to “bedroom musicians getting record deals that enable them to surviv e and work from their homes,” says Sasha. And although he says he finds it har der to experiment when he plays in superclubs like Cream, where “mainstream” i s the order of the day, he loves them nonetheless, and he’s always willing to play somet hing surprising.
The brain behind Reel II Real’s anthem I Like to Move It is also spinning in J o’burg and Cape Town this weekend. Although the band have performed live in So uth Africa before, Erick Morillo’s input was limited to a DAT cassette. The s ingle has sold over three million copies so far, but word is that his DJing st yle is far less obvious. He’ll play one-on-one with local lads Nelson at ESP i n Jo’burg tonight, and with Surge in Cape Town tomorrow night, while Sasha plays with cu rrent partner and fellow Englishman John Digweed at two Mother Productions par ties, Wipeout 2097. The first is in Cape Town tonight, 14 February, at the Thr ee Arts Theatre, and the second tomorrow night in Johannesburg at the Electric Workshop in Newtown. And in a first for South Africa, MTV Europe will be film
ing their two specialist dance programmes at the Jo’burg gig. They’ve flown presenter Ed en out for the occasion. All in all, this could be one stomping weekend.