Swiss tech pioneer, Ibiza veteran and Cadenza Music label founder – and UAE regular – Luciano will be behind the decks at Blue Marlin Ibiza UAE for New Year’s Eve. We checked in with the 37-year-old maestro.
Any idea how many times you’ve played the UAE now?
aNo, no, I don’t remember, but I know that I’ve been a lot of times and I’ve always enjoyed coming there. I think the crowd – there’s no bad crowd – it’s different. People come from all corners of the world, it’s just building up and you have something very special and magical.
So why Abu Dhabi for NYE?
Because I’m in Asia on holiday with my family. Every year we have a family tradition; we avoid Christmas, we run away as far as we can. And on the way back we’ll stop in the UAE.
There’s some pretty steep competition: David Guetta, Martin Garrix and Richie Hawtin are all playing that night ...
Is that good to know or bad to know? I don’t care, I do my thing. Music is something that is given to me. I’m lucky enough to do something I love and I just do it with the best intention and all my heart. I’m not thinking too much.
Why did “techno” suddenly become such a buzz word this year?
It’s impossible to say techno is cool or uncool. It’s just so much part of the present. It’s everywhere – TV commercials, whatever. I would say techno is the culture of today.
The DJs took over – but is electronic music in a better or worse place than five years ago?
It’s in both a better and worse place. Our music is more popular, but the problem is a few years ago people were still making the distinction between deep house, techno or house – now everybody calls everything “underground music”. Those genres that were co-existing for a long time in the real culture are completely mixed up now. It got more popular, but it also got more commercial. And it is very sad, because 15 years ago all this was still making a difference. Today there are very few producers who can give real, proper opinions.
Where do you think the music is heading, going into next year and beyond?
It’s going to continue this way, there’s no other way to go. Dance music is something that keeps everybody together. There’s no reason why it should finish – except if there is a major electricity crash in the world ... Which would be good for the environment and it might not be so bad for humans, too. I think in every aspect – whether politics, music, art – a big question mark we all have in our heads is how far we can go and when this will all stop. We are pushing resources and at one point it’s going to turn back to the source. The only thing we know is that we always somehow survive and regenerate out of nothing. That’s the magic and power of life.
Luciano performs at Blue Marlin Ibiza UAE, Ghantoot. Doors open at 7pm. Ladies Dh650 and men Dh850 from dubai.platinumlist.net
rgarratt@thenational.ae
