DJ Dalai Jamma’s passion for House music developed on the other side of the decks. For years he soaked up the vibe on the dancefloors of New York’s clubs since the mid ‘90s at venues like Spa’s White Room, the legendary Institute, Body & Soul at Vinyl, Shelter and more recently Centro Fly, Le Souk and Cielo. People wanted him at their parties. People wanted to be him (just checking to see if you’re reading). Like a well-seasoned wine, he is now launching a career as a DJ.
You will find Dalai Jamma
starting off the evening with the melodies
of Jorge Ben, Joe Claussell and Bill Withers. Then sliding over
to the
smooth and sexy sounds of Kaskade, Blue Six and Miguel Migs. Then
on to
the Latin-tinged soulful sounds of Louie Vega, Dimitri from Paris and Nicolas
Matar and climaxing with the energetic Vocal House of Cassius, Stardust
and Soulsearcher.
Dalai Jamma has a wide variety of musical interests – from Soul
to Jazz to World to Electronic. He grew up listening to
mostly Soul,
R&B and Disco – music that he could feel in his bones. And in
his heart. And these till today are the foundation of his dance
music
tastes – always deep, always soulful, always danceable.
As great as his passion
is for House Music, so is Dalai Jamma’s
distaste for contemporary Hip Hop, Rap and R&B. He regrets
the
prevalence of such music in today’s night clubs, and largely attributes
it to the lack of rhythm, the lack of soul and the lack of imagination
of the
mass of America. “I want to play
for
people who have rhythm, soul and imagination. People who are
positive and
love music. Not people who go out to hook up to the tireless
grind of Hip
Hop and (c)rap. Not people who have attitude. They should stay at
home or
go to a bar. I would rather have 5 people dancing to the music
that I
love than 200 people dancing to the music that I hate.”
We wish DJ Dalai Jamma luck as he confronts the Hip Hop heavy nightlife of New York. In the meanwhile, we can’t help but let out a cheer in support of his, and Nicolas Matar’s philosophy: “House Music will never die.”