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In 2004 while composing the music for the film “PURE”, I remixed a track by Suns of Arqa — pioneers of World Beat & Global Dub. Founded in 1979 in Manchester, England by Wadada, for the debut album he enlisted seminal dub producer Adrian Sherwood. Together they made history. This was the first fusion of Classical Indian Raga with Dub Reggae and the birth of a new genre.
The remix’s success led to an invitation to join the band. Over the years, I produced 20 tracks with them, contributing to six of their albums. I performed with them at major European festivals including Glastonbury (UK) in 2005 & 2008 and Télérama Dub Festival (Paris).
Located on a 1000 acre farm in Avalon where the King Arthur & Holy Grail legends originated, Glastonbury boasts 175,000 spectators and over 100 stages with the biggest artists, bands & DJ’s in the world. It is truly mind blowing!
Suns of Arqa were discovered by Peter Gabriel in 1982, who booked them to perform at WOMAD, prompting Wadada to assemble a live band that included Jamaican dub poet Prince Far-I. The band expanded their sound to incorporate electronic and Celtic influences, collaborating with artists such as The Orb, 808 State, Youth, A Guy Called Gerald, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Zion Train, Muslimgauze and producer John Leckie.
Leckie got his start as an engineer at Abbey Road Studios in 1970. His credits include masterpieces like Pink Floyd “Wish You Were Here”, Radiohead “The Bends”, The Verve “A Storm in Heaven”, the Stone Roses debut and the first P.I.L. single “Public Image”.
He produced the original version of the song I remixed, recording bansuri flute master Raghunath Seth at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. What an honor it was to collaborate with such great talents!
Meanwhile in Montreal I held auditions and eventually discovered Geeta Sparkle. I recorded her soaring vocals, interwoven with Seth’s flute, my beat production and guitar textures. Together we created the climactic finale of the film. It was released on the film’s soundtrack CD and included on the Suns of Arqa album “Hallucinasia”.
For the band’s 25th anniversary DVD “Hindu Pict” we created a video of Geeta & I performing our remix live. The concert took place at Montréal’s Société des Arts Technologiques during Nuit Blanche, I hired Moment Factory to provide the immersive visuals, who paired me with the talented video artist Johnny Ranger. He performed as a VJ with us & crafted a stunning music video from the performance. A bootleg version of the music video ripped from the DVD was watched over 100,000 times on Youtube before it got taken down!
I still have recordings of many unreleased collaborations with Suns of Arqa. Sadly, Wadada passed away in 2021 before we could complete them. I remain deeply grateful to have been part of his musical legacy — a visionary artist who helped reshape global fusion music. R.I.P.
In 1995 I began performing live. In 1997 I started DJ’ing. I’ve played countless concerts, festivals and raves in Europe, North America and Latin America. My favorite type of performance is a Festival Closing Set. I’ve done seven of these now and it’s a role I absolutely thrive in. In fact I’ve written a bit of a manifesto about how to perform one successfully!
A closing set is about creating a unique final moment that truly stands apart from what happened so far at the fest. The challenge is that everyone is exhausted and has very little left in the tank. So like a special surprise guest who is summoned when the orgy is ending, my mandate is to rally the drained masses and stimulate one last, glorious hurrah!
This is playoff DJ’ing : Game 7, overtime, everything left on the dance floor. You have to give a legit performance that will inspire the people & resuscitate the party. But closing sets are usually in the daytime so you don’t have fancy stage lights & video projections backing you up. You have to own the stage and make some magic happen through the sheer force & charisma of your stage presence.
So many DJs take themselves—and the music—far too seriously. They don’t dance, they don’t even make eye contact with the audience! They have forgotten that at its core, a festival is a party. It’s meant to be fun! Luckily I don’t have that problem I’m a party starter! So I incite the crowd with my manic stage presence. Jumping, dancing and shouting while dropping irresistibly funky tunes to create a party atmosphere of absurd, anarchic fun.
I proudly break all the unwritten rules, an antidote to stiff, gate keeping vibes. I make the effort to connect with everyone, to egg them on so we can feed off each other’s energy and truly let loose. Let’s get weird! Let’s get silly! Let’s be so fully alive that Death trembles at the thought of trying to take one of us!
Fair Warning : if the audience doesn’t organically start a mosh pit, I’ll jump in the crowd and get it started myself!
Musically my closing sets are a love letter to sample culture: leaping across genres like 50s Rock, Soul, Motown, Blues, Disco, Reggae, Hip Hop, Funk, Balkan, Latin, Punk and Metal mashed up with Ghetto Funk, Breaks, Bass House, UKG, DnB and Swing N Bass.
Big sing-along Anthems, Funky Beats and Bad Ass Bass from the bowels of Hell ! Ravers often tell me they never truly appreciated Bass Music until they saw me perform. I make it accessible to everyone. And that’s the ultimate goal of a closing set:
Uniting all the musical factions of our tribe on the same dance floor for a final unforgettable romp together. Before we have to pack it all up and return to reality….
Broadcasting monthly on CKUT 90.3 FM and LaFaceB.Live, GUAPO spreads his musical madness across the airwaves!
On fiercely independent station CKUT 90.3 FM he co-hosts The Magic Roundabout. Created by OG Godfather DJ & Radio Host Andy Williams, who assembled a stellar team of cerebral DJ’s from around the world as co-hosts. Guapo takes charge the first Sunday of every month, delivering two hours of the latest underground bass music sounds.
Since 2022 Guapo host shows for Radio La Face B. Currently on the last Thursday of every month he co-hosts Y FAIT CHAUD. exploring soulful House Music with an Afro Latin Caribbean Brazilian flavor.
Previously he was a co-host of the eclectic show Pépites and he created the world music show Global Grooves. In each episode he explored the musical traditions of a region, combining it with electronic music : India, Brazil, Latin America, West Africa, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia Minor.
