ON THE FL
ON THE FLOOR
Dream warriors I
t’s the middle of November, at the very beginning of the first-ever Dream Valley festival, and it’s hot. So hot, that nearly everyone in the 40,000-strong crowd packed
into the sun-drenched Beto Carrero World amusement park is wearing the kind of clothes you’d expect to see at a Miami pool party in high summer. It’s freezing cold in the US but, season-wise, it’s spring here in Brazil and the sun is going down on another gorgeous day as Green Valley (one of Santa Catarina’s top clubs) resident and Brazilian house DJ Rodrigo takes to the decks on the main stage to open the party. As he cues up his first tune — the Larse vocal mix of Candi Staton’s ‘Hallelujah Anyway’ — one of the organisers grabs him. “We’ve got to make sure the music doesn’t cut too far into the red,” warns the organiser. “The tigers don’t like it.” The tigers, you see, are the kind of real-live, roaring, man-eating beasts you might see on a wildlife show. And they’re running wild in the nature reserve attached to this huge theme park. The problem is, explains the organiser, if the tigers get disturbed, they might kick off and make their way into the theme park to let the scantily-clad, booze-happy festival folk know exactly how pissed off they are. And that’s why, he continues, a sound guy keeps popping over to the “zoo area” with a decibel meter; and to see if the tigers are okay.
If Rodrigo is worried about the tigers, he doesn’t show it. Instead he launches into an uplifting, deep and Latin-infused set that ups the bpms as the sun goes down. Playing classics such as Jaydee’s ‘Plastic Dreams’ alongside newer disco house cuts by the likes of Audiojack, it’s the perfect start to the first day of the first-ever Dream Valley. Hosting some of the world’s hottest DJ talent — including everyone from David Guetta, Hardwell
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djmag.com
Dream Valley is just another reason Brazil’s Southern state of Santa Catarina is so hot right now…
and Hot Chip through to Sneak and Dixon — Dream Valley is an exciting festival offshoot of Santa Catarina club Green Valley. What’s equally exciting is that the line-up is also studded with a string of Brazilian DJs including Gui Boratto, Hot Creations act Digitaria and MYNC collaborator Mario Fischetti. “Brazil is having a bit of a moment with electronic dance music,” says Flow, the female half of the Rio-based girlfriend-and-boyfriend house DJ/ production duo Flow & Zeo. “We’ve been DJing all over Brazil for years but something seems to be happening now.”
Marian ‘Flow’ Meirelles and Jose ‘Zeo’ Guinle (his dad owns the infamous Copacabana Palace hotel in Rio) have been a love-item for 12 years, and a house music DJ duo for nearly as long. More recently, they launched their own Tropical Beats label. They make their own tunes, too. And tonight, they say, they’ll almost definitely drop their new remix of X-Press 2’s ‘The Blast’. While Flow & Zeo take over the Mystery Stage, Aussie twin-girl DJ duo Nervo are about to play in the main arena, called the Dream Stage. Calvin Harris is due on at 1.30am and he’s here already, backstage, knocking back Jagermeisters with three friends he’s brought with him. “We’re going to be playing mostly banging electro house,” says Liv Nervo, one half of the twin-sister pair, who famously co-wrote David Guetta’s Grammy Award-winning single ‘When Love Takes Over’. “We’ll also play ‘The Way We See The World’ and a couple of newer things,” says the other Nervo twin, Mim.
In action, they drop big room, electro house bangers including a fresh mix of Phats & Smalls’ ‘Turn Around’. Doing a one-on-one-off routine, they rock it.
Mim from Nervo
Nervo play for a hi-octane 90 minutes and then, in what seems like a flash, Calvin Harris is onstage. He’s about to start his set when the now-muggy air is ripped open with a thunderclap. Then it starts pouring with the intense kind of tropical rain that’s heavy but warm. It’s wet, but no-one cares, as Calvin pogos around behind the decks dropping big room tunes such as ‘Reload’ by Sebastian Ingrosso & Tommy Trash.
By the time day two kicks in there’s no sign of any more rain. On the Mystery stage, where Sneak and Dixon will play later, Hot Creations stars Digitaria are just starting their set as the sun goes down. The duo — made up of former couple Daniela Caldellas and Daniel Albinati — have come in from Belo Horizonte for their gig. Tonight, they assure DJ Mag, they’re doing a “half-live-half-DJ set” show. “We used to just play live,” says Daniela, as she and Daniel cue up their first tune. “But it got to the point where there was so much good music out there that we couldn’t just play our own.” The pair — who’ve previously released albums on labels including DJ Hell’s International DJ Gigolos and Bulldozer — open with a slice of instrumental, deep, electro-tinged house before Daniela picks up the mic and starts singing the lyrics to their own ‘You Bring Me Down’. Daniela’s voice has a Miss Kittin, electro quality to it, but with more melody. And Digitaria’s DJ/live set continues in a deep, melodic, cool electro
Pics: GILSON DE REZENDE & GABRIEL VANINI
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