What it feels like to be Inspired. To bear witness to the mused or be alive musing.
On Saturday, July 18, ERATO debuts at Club Bohemia housed in the downstairs of the Cantab Lounge on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge.
Deep, Afro, Latin, Tech, Funk, Vocal, Disco, Soulful Underground House Music with Any and All sounds moving the DJs and the Crowd! This is Happening. We are going to dance ourselves into Life to the bad a** work of producers, musicians, MC’s, singers and songwriters All. Night. Long.
ERATO is devoted to the remarkable elation moments of inspired action deliver. Inspiration is a driving force and this night is dedicated to the Open and the Striking.
The only way to recognize inspiration is by celebrating those who move us and as this is the case, DJ/Producer/Remixer Leo Alarcon is ERATO’s Very Special First Guest. The productions created in his studio, Playroom Boston, are prolific. His sounds are of no others, his DJ sets bang and his remixes are recognized and requested by others for their original works. Talent in Form.
Leo believes that every piece of music “has a feeling/experience/story to tell or share.” He fell in love with DJ’ing at the home of his childhood friend Francisco Fernandez where he saw his first DJ set up, two turntables and a mixer. “The very first two records I ever touched were Gino Latino and break 4 love (https://youtu.be/FqJJeY-cPu0). I fell in love with rotating different sounds and blending them into one.”
He started DJ’ing on his own while working at the legendary Boston afterhours, Loft 21 (http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/04/nightclubbing-the-loft) after witnessing the relationship between the Loft’s residents, DJ’s Max, Armand and Bruno, and the crowd. Although Hip-Hop, Rap and Reggae were the sounds of his early teens, the sound at Loft 21 “woke something up” in him which hasn’t subsided to this day. “I have a very intimate relationship with music and this medium appealed to me very much.”
He has been influenced by Boston jocks and has studied the dynamics between the crowd and the DJ, “never even considering that my bedroom practices were priming me for what was to come. It was and is an amazing exchange of energies that can make you feel like you’re having an outer body experience while releasing what no longer serves you. It is why I spin. To share my story with you through music to help us move forward and feel great about it.”
As a producer, he aims to convey a feeling or emotion. “We are all the same. We cry, we laugh, we move on. We can relate to each other in some form of way.” He puts together “different sounds and shapes them” into something people can relate to and move from. He considers it an amazing experience to hear his music at a venue and see the positive effect it has on a crowd. “I will never get used to it. It humbles me to the core and fortifies the notion in my heart that we are all connected.”
Poet Lifted Conscious will appear on stage performing her poetry over music produced by Leo Alarcon (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Leo-Alarcon/855088241185205?fref=ts) and recorded at The Playroom. Writing and Song in Form.
ERATO RESIDENTS: T.C.C. (The Couple’s Couple)
T.C.C. are DJs Dende and Mystina.
DJ Mystina was taught about song by her Mother. “My mother was my teacher when I was little. She gave me a voice and with the voice she taught me how to connect with God, my feelings, and the feelings of those other people around me.” She believes that lesson has always been her musical inspiration and further testifies “music for me has always been about feelings. About connection. How a song can make me spiritually connected with the world, life, and people.”
With this knowledge of connection through music, her DJ debut occurred in August of 2013 at Release Your Dance (https://www.facebook.com/ReleaseDanceParty) in Cambridge. She had been quietly DJing before this invitation and it became her first time playing for a live crowd. “I saw the power I had to connect with the people on the floor but the music on my fingertips felt empowering to me. Knowing I could positively impact someone’s life with just the connection of music is what made me really say ‘Okay I’m going to do this, I have to do this and I WANT to never stop doing this!” Partiers who let her know they couldn’t stop dancing to her set and needed that release after a long week were further evidence to her that this is where her love for music belonged.
“The incredible moments I’ve been able to share alongside my soul mate, my best friend, my one true love, being able to share this musical super power with him, to travel to other states and create bigger connections and play alongside other DJs we have looked up to for so long, the relationships I have gained with dancers, are the best experiences that will always be special to me for as long as I live.”
DJ Dende too was raised in a musical family. “One of my biggest influences has to be my Dad.” His father was a backup and sometimes lead singer in a group called The Caribbean Express. Dende learned “the difference between tempos of songs and also the patterns that lie within them” through his Father.
In his teenaged years, while listening to Salsa, Hip-Hop, Reggae and Freestyle, he was introduced to House Music by Capoeirista, Youth Worker and our Brother, Xango. “After learning about it, I was fascinated on the dancing side of it, let alone the music itself.” He watched other dancers until he developed into a dancer himself in the House genre. Then one day… “I got hooked on the music and said to myself I want to be a DJ.” The blessing that is his Mother bought him his first DJ starter set and he “got addicted.” “Music heals and DJing was my escape from reality. I wanted to be the one that makes people dance till they couldn’t dance no more and affect them in a positive way.”
DJing has been “an amazing feeling and amazing experience! I get to DJ with the woman of my life, DJ Mystina, and share our love for music. Our most memorable experience so far was a gig we had in New Jersey. Oh My God, the energy was nothing we have encountered in our journey. So much love in that place that night. All the gigs that we’ve gotten have been a huge blessing.”
T.C.C. has opened for Legends Louie Vega, Anane and Quentin Harris. They have also been guests at dope parties in New York, New Jersey and Boston. They will rock ERATO in their residency.
“We are very thankful for having people like DJ Bruno, Mizont, HH Pete, Steven “Rhythmz” Garcia, Leo Alarcon, Liza Zayas, Adam Gibbons, and soooo many people. We love you all!!!”
In the words of T.C.C., “LET’S DO THIS! LET’S GO!!!!”
Join T.C.C., Manolo’s Daughter, JoJoMa and Guests (Birthday Man!) Leo Alarcon and Lifted Conscious as we begin the season of ERATO for the East Coast House Scene!
This is a 21+ event going DOWN Saturday, July 18, 2015 ~ Doors open at 10:00 p.m. and there is a $10 cover. We celebrate Spark at Club Bohemia at The Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Avenue, Central Square, Cambridge. We look forward to seeing you there!
Liza Zayas is a lover of writing and dancing and celebrates both as a singer and songwriter performing as Luna del Flor. You can hear her collaborative sounds and experience life through her storytelling. She invites you to dance. Her poetry seeks to initiate dialogue by intentionally expressing consequences of love, lust, ego and self-respect