mar 1999
Full on
au revoir 98, welcome 99 !
by Fred Giteau
international version
deutsche version
taken from mushroom magazine #50 dec 98
Funny situation now as I'm writing you from Serbia where I'm working on my debut concept album with Vaki, a serbian artist and one of the most experienced sound engineers for undergound sounds in Belgrade. Here is life totally different as in western europe and even computers have a completely different configuration. Itīs a nightmare to type a text as letters and symbols are not organized like ours... Here the snow already covered most part of the city and it's an ideal situation to work sounds and patterns ! After some friendly gigs close by, next step will be London with the Source tribe to party for new year `99 at Brixton Academy. The line up is really interesting for the various styles of trance represented shown in three rooms. In the main floor Blue Peter, Mark Allen, myself will perform as DJ's and live acts from Medicine Drum, Quirk and Man With No Name. The second floor is dedicated to the experimental trippy sounds and will be powered by the 21-3 label. Finally the ambient floor will be leaded by english masters of the genre, Tim Healey and Phil Ross. The party will be broadcasted from few big cities in the world and you will get live Tsuyoshi (who just released the amazing Joujouka album) wishing you a happy new year from Sydney !!!!! A party where music and technic will join to celebrate last year from the millenium. All informations on www.rtts.com. Just before this party and after two years of quit, Rex Club is re-opening it's doors monthly to trance music one wednesday with the Hovek Olam Club events. First night will be 9th of december and will present a long set from Mark Allen, a live act from AX.OM and myself as resident. Decoration concept is worked by Mae and Moa the french artists, who already appeared on some big events in Germany like the Matsuri party lately in Cologne or some events produced by Natraj family.
Serbia Benefit in the Berlin Subground
Now, let's go to 22th of january and the mushroom tour including a night dedicated to the serbian underground culture. On a political side, Serbia is suffering of a bad image after recent events in Kosovo. But many artists went there to play and really discovered a fresh and powerful undergound music scene in a constant evolution. Many young artists are getting now a good experience and have no opportunity to express themselves outside their country, but if we could try to compare the scenes, which is difficult for many reasons. The serbian electronic scene could get a dimension as we find in Israel with a strong need of access to parties and music. The situation of the country doesn't permit to the young artists to share with us the music passion. The scene have been growing here incredibily from the last 5 years and the trance scene is today important and many DJ's are coming to play in Serbia. Strangely, after Kosovo events, clubs are filled every week and young people save up their money to party as a need of peace and fun. Thanks to Subground in Berlin and to the support of some international and german artists. The mushroom magazine is doing one night from it's tour to support these yet unknown artists. In order to present the various styles of music and especially on this date, you will find 3 dancefloors. The trancefloor will include DJ Stole from Xperiment DJ-team which are promoting the underground psychedelic sound in Serbia. Stole is a young DJ influenced by the sound of the past 3 years and is playing from vinyls and DAT. The funky groovy house and techno room will introduce you to Marko Nastic and Dejan Milicevic, the two most experienced DJ's fom Belgrade. A special thank to John Acquqviva from Plus 8 records (Canada) who is also supporting the event after spending some wonderful emotional sets in Belgrade. On the chill out, Vlada will play you some relaxing ambient stuff influenced from the trippy trip-hop-sounds. Gordan Paunovic, who is working for independent radio B92 (serbian radio which just got a MTV award) will be there also. B92 have been promoting the underground music scene from the start and is doing a serious job to give access to all culture to the serbian kids and artists.
Solipse
From 9th to 15th of august 1999 the Solipse Festival will take place in Oyara (Hungary). Not far from Belgrade by the way, this unique festival will offer the best of psychedelic music powered by nearly all major artists from the scene to celebrate the total eclipse of the sun over one week !!! More information to come, but you can find nearly everything on www.solipse.com
Merry christmas and a happy new year 1999 !!