Business Insider - AFP, Shaun Tandon, 4 May 2015
German DJ Paul van Dyk poses on January 30, 2012 in Cannes, southeastern France (AFP/File Valery Hache) |
New York
(AFP) - He is unlikely to be named a Middle East peace negotiator, but DJ
superstar Paul van Dyk says that his music in a way has succeeded where
politics has failed.
"The
Politics of Dancing 3," the German DJ's latest album which was released
Monday, brings together artists from around the Middle East in a sign of how
electronic music has increasingly become global.
Van Dyk --
often considered a pioneer of trance music, although he dislikes the
categorization -- brought both established and emerging DJs into the studio for
the album, which is driven by fast-paced driving beats and catchy, accelerating
melodies.
"The collaborations
I did, they very clearly show how uniting music is," van Dyk told AFP in
New York, where ahead of the album's release he played a six-hour set at a
Brooklyn warehouse.
"Someone
from Israel could never travel to Lebanon, and definitely has big issues going
to Egypt or other places, so musically we don't have those boundaries.
"We
are miles ahead in terms of the 'politics of dancing,' compared with the
politics out there," he said.
Range of
collaborations
"The
Politics of Dancing 3," van Dyk's seventh studio album, features a
collaboration with Aly and Fila, the Egyptian duo who have emerged as one of
trance's biggest acts, as well as a separate track with the Israeli trance duo
Las Salinas.
Van Dyk
also worked with star Turkish DJ Ummet Ozcan and emerging Egyptian DJ Mohamed
Ragab, and brought in vocals from Singaporean singer and former television
talent contestant Daphne Khoo.
Van Dyk's
previous two installments of "The Politics of Dancing" consisted of
mixes but the latest album has only one such track -- his remix of "Around
the Garden" by Algerian DJ Mino Safy, which van Dyk said captivated him
when he first heard it.
Van Dyk
said he selected artists for their music and that his political point was
incidental rather than deliberate. The album also features European DJs
including Giuseppe Ottaviani and Michael Tsukerman.
Still, van
Dyk said he was struck about how two of his friends -- one from Tel Aviv and
the other from Beirut -- bonded when they met in the Spanish clubbing island of
Ibiza.
"They
could have otherwise never met each other. And they just say, 'Look, we are
just like any young people. We want healthy, peaceful living. Why can't we have
this with our countries being so close?'"
Upfront
about drugs
Raised
behind the Iron Curtain in East Berlin, the 43-year-old van Dyk became a major
force in electronic music during the boom in clubbing in the 1990s and gained
wider exposure through his work with New Order.
The
original inspiration for "The Politics of Dancing" series came not
from the Middle East -- or from the unconnected 1983 song of the same name by
the British New Wave band Re-Flex --but from New York, where authorities
cracked down on the thriving clubbing scene in the late 1990s as part of then
mayor Rudy Giuliani's law-and-order approach.
"I was
trying to explain, it's not just people getting drunk and dancing. It is
actually a youth culture that unites people from all these different cultural
or religious backgrounds," van Dyk said.
With
electronic music growing rapidly, van Dyk said it was important to acknowledge
the pitfalls -- particularly drug overdoses.
Van Dyk
said that the problem was especially acute in the United States due to clubs'
strict prohibitions against admitting young people under 21, who take the scene
underground.
"If I
were to have children, I would want them when they were 15 or 16 going to a
club in a safe environment and having a good time rather than going to an open
field.
"It's
almost pathetic that one is preferred over the other here, but the wrong way
around, I believe," he said.
Van Dyk
said that he was not entirely comfortable serving as a role model, but hoped
nevertheless to set an example.
"I got
into contact with electronic music as a teenager in front of the radio in East
Berlin," he said.
"I
never really made that connection that I had to take drugs to enjoy the
music."
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