dblive Joakim

The music you’re about to listen to represents the essence of one of the coolest parties to take place in São Paulo. The Green Sunset party, aka the MIS (Museu da Imagem e do Som) party, takes place once a month in the garden of the foresaid museum located in the Jardins district. It’s a get-together of music-loving, young people and DJs who share a common interest: partying. Music styles include Soul, Disco, Funk, and several other genres combined so as to please an audience as diversified as possible.

On the 14th of this month, French DJ Joakim Bouaziz was the party´s main attraction, and granted his audience a marvelous music selection which you can exclusively listen to here, at deepbeep. Joakim went far beyond the modern, danceable Krautrock style represented by some of his tracks (such as “Lonely Hearts”) and provided the audience with a genuinely novel curatorship combining both old and new dancing tunes. It was so cool to the point of arousing envy among people. And, what’s most important, in such a way that no clubberly bustle could take place, neither an eager for 4×4 tempos, or any kind of obnoxious loop/blip-adoration.

It was quite stimulating to listen to the first part of his set featuring an electro-pop tune by Metronomy mixed with Carly Simon’s “Why?” (an 80’s classic he had twitted as his all-time favorite). Swinging to a lengthy remix of “Just An Illusion” (Imagination) and improvising dancesteps to the insane edit of “Tougher than the Rest”, by Bruce Springsteen – these were some of the most memorable moments propitiated by Joakim with his unexpected, well-humored house music set.

Remarkable was also the way Joakim managed to musically narrate us a story in the second part of his set. Skies were the limit away as you listened to his soulful combination of Donna Summer’s “Last Dance” and Fern Kinney’s “Love Me Tonight” – two disco divas he had the ability to approximate as castanets sounded by. Besides, various Deep House specialties among which a track refraining the word “Africa”, were joyfully performed by Joakim. Not to mention a Spanish-sung Disco hit accompanied by a phat bassline that caused you to feel shivers up and down your spine. It was finally delightful to listen to some alternative rock tunes tailored in an 80’s, obscure minimalistic Wave fashion. And then there was the magnificent duet between “Stuck in the Middle with You” and Paul McCartney’s “Let’em in” – which provided Joakim’s set with a magical, remarkable, Cinema-like atmosphere that goes way beyond any genre definition.

This multi-referenced “return to the origins” propitiated by Joakim’s set offered Paulistanos an opportunity enjoy the public spaces offered to them by their own city. No more of the club-ticket dictatorship! Paulistanos want to dance to daylight – be it in squares, parks, streets – wherever – no matter if there’s rain or sun. As for this issue, worth mentioning is the fact that many other events besides the Green Sunset party are currently going on in São Paulo: music, cinema, arts and several other forms of cultural expression being considered. All of which contribute for the Paulistanos to deeply experience what this harsh metropolis has to offer. Would the year of 2011 be the anticipation of an unforeseen summer of love and dance? Maybe so. Or perhaps this is nothing but a passionate lucubration of mine, as inspired by the memorable moments Joakim provided me with. When there’s good music going on, as it is the case here, our spirits and minds can go far. And our bodies rock accordingly. Enjoy!