Let’s go to Poland and meet Elbert. DJ and beginner producer, graduate from the School of Modern Music. He has been seen playing various styles of house music all over Poland since 2019, currently mostly in Wrocław.
When and how did you start Djing?
I started Djing about 7 years ago, and the main reason was my passion about music and the fact that I wanted to share it with people. I was always surprised and amazed by the amount of music that was being made and I had a feeling that not a lot of people even knew or at least not a lot of people cared about that. Of course, all of it started by going to parties and sharing music with friends and then I obviously bought a little controller and started playing with friends at home and then somehow a couple of years later when I got a little bit better technically, I was booked for my first gig. It was in 2019 and it’s been happening ever since. This first gig was a charity party so we weren’t paid for it and all the money from the party went to rescued pigs.
If we say that Poland is a Techno country we’re not exaggerating; so how did you end up playing the groovy and trippy Rominimal in a place so influenced by Bass?
I played techno only once, and it was during my second gig ever so my first one was 100% house music and the second one was Techno and then a few hundred more gigs after that it was only house. I have always preferred softer music, I would say, Techno was always too much for me and it just wasn’t my vibe. As for Minimal, well I can say that I fell completely in love when I heard Traumer playing on the roof of Pralnia, the club. It was my first meeting with micro drops and that set definitely changed my attitude about house music and all music in general. Apart from this party, we have good Rominimal djs in Wroclaw and Poland in general, Gogan and Schrill from Kooky Music, K pod and Keczup are from Wroclaw and are one of my favorites, although I wouldn’t have Keczup’s music under the Minimal genre or any other genre really, but he was one of my first inspirations in the music I am playing today, especially in terms of playing something new, fresh, surprising and different to what everyone else is playing. I am happy that he is giving this scene in Wroclaw some well needed hope.
Do you consider Wroclaw/Poland’s audience as an easy one to educate and influence in terms of music?
I think that if people were to be emerged in other genres than Techno and one type of House, they would start to like other things. If the DJs and promoters would give a chance to more diversity in music genres, the public will behave differently towards it. It is what they’re used to hearing and what they consider to be the proper rhythm and drop, expecting the same sounding bass over and over again. And that is my advice to new DJs in Wroclaw and in the rest of the world; always play what you feel like playing and to never comply with the system or how things are set around you. Keczup for example, which I mentioned before is very courageous in that sense, playing music people might not be familiar with, yet doing it so effortlessly and with so much confidence that there is always a big crowd in front of him even if he never plays their common music.
Are you listening to mixes from other Djs?
I listen to a lot of sets, maybe a few per week. As I said before, I am and I will always be amazed by all the new music being made so I like to stay updated. I love listening to local Djs’ sets such as the names I mentioned before which are all inspiring to me. I also play their music, which is something I am very happy about. If someone had told me a few years ago that there would be a local Dj playing some niche house, especially from other local Djs music in a local pub, I wouldn’t believe them. I am happy to have been able to make this dream of mine come true, and a special thanks to DoJutra the pub, for being open to different genres of music and for allowing us Djs to express ourselves freely.
If you could sum up your sound in three words?
Element Of Surprise, would that work? ☺
