PREVIEW
SATOSHI TOMIIE
Friday, July 25
Skybar
His signature track "Tears" is still considered an uncontested dancefloor classic that helped to popularize deep house across this globe’s more soulfully based dancefloors.
Even now, a few years after the release of that track, DJ Satoshi Tomiie is as fervent as ever about the music he plays and produces, and he insists that soul is one of the keys to the future success of the global dance music industry.
When "Tears" hit the hardwood, dance music was under the influence of many different and conflicting trends – there was ample evidence that the state of the dancefloor nation was in disarray. The situation hasn’t changed much today, but Tomiie is clear about the cure for what ails us.
"Soul – it comes down to that," he says. "I mean, when you’re playing to 5,000 people, it’s difficult to get the idea, to get the feeling of that down through the crowd."
This is one of the primary reasons that Tomiie would much rather play in smaller venues. He contends that larger crowds don’t participate in an event in the same way that a smaller crowd might. The reasons for this aren’t as elusive to Tomiie as they seem to be to the industry as a whole.
"When the night is so large that all you really are doing is playing to get a crowd off rather than up, that’s a problem – something is lost in that. It doesn’t have a community feeling anymore, but that community is integral to any good night, to this music – people just get bored of the same thing every time."
Although the mass boredom of which Tomiie speaks has led to the closure of the world’s larger venues, all is not lost. Smaller venues are once again gaining momentum in Europe and the U.S. It’s simple enough to understand – smaller rooms require significantly less hype to maintain.
"New York is generating these rooms that at most hold 800 people or so," says Tomiie of his hometown scene. "That’s a good size – only large enough to hold the people that want to be there, but not the people who want to be seen."
If anything, the move to smaller venues has Tomiie excited about the potential for a regeneration of house music, especially after the sharp decline in the industry since 9/11. For Tomiie, the most notable difference can be seen in attitude – or, rather, in the distinct lack of it.
"It’s real people dancing again, not people shopping or expecting the biggest bang. People are singing along, enjoying themselves – I know that’s something that never went away, but I really see the difference again, at least in some clubs and places."
Some of those places are found in centres that one wouldn’t normally associate with house music. A recent jaunt to Buenos Aires introduced Tomiie to throngs of deep house fans who all seemed to know his style by heart.
"It was amazing – larger centres in the States seem to want to be entertained, to be impressed. There, it was like going back to a time where the music just moves people and that’s enough."
It’s in this movement that Tomiie sees the greatest potential and he’s more than pleased that it’s again on the rise.
"Music and DJing – it’s a way to feel, a way to unite people. And even though it’s small, it will remain long after the industry thinks it’s gone or not important. It’s something that you can’t buy or consume – it’s an experience, and that you can’t re-create with corporate money." |
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