Yaya

Some notorious electronic music talents have started their careers as percussionists. And so did Yaya, but his tale is different to all the rest. His new release for Desolat takes a unique, upbeat approach to 4/4 beats: combining heartfelt Benin influences - samples from dialogue and traditional ballads - with the stretched-out tension and release of Balearic and the bubbling pops and stutters of tech house, plus the occasional kickback to a Commodore64 high score melody. Raised in Turin, Italy, rhythm was his lifeblood for Yassin Ligali, also known as Yaya, from an early age. His father was the lead vocalist and percussionist for M’Bamina, a band consisting of musicians from Benin, Zaire, Italy and Cameroon. M’Bamina released eight albums, collaborated with artists like Manu Dibango and Salif Keita, were sponsored by Paco Rabanne and played all over Africa, including a show for the presidents of Senegal and France. Their final show was with James Brown in Paris in 1985 - the year Yaya was born. Well-versed in his father’s legacy, Yaya grew up playing drums and djembe, and at the age of 15, began performing as a percussionist in Turin clubs. Just one year later, he was already DJing, playing funk, soul, afrobeat, house and garage. Manu Dibango and Fela Kuti found a spot in his crate next to records by Masters at Work and Dimitri from Paris: contrasts of rhythm and structure that pervade his music to this very day.
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Cipi

Since the early years of his teen age, when the young Cipi used to take delight by enflaming old industrial warehousse crowded by tons of ravers, the voice of his native talent was already spread in the aisles of Turin’s electronic system. In his nowadays sets the heritage of those nights and mornings is clear: Cipi’s sound is an explosion of future techno mixed with dramatic grooves, new house strokes and melodic beats. Just a word is enough to define him as a dj: bomber. In the early 2000s Cipi and a numerous group of boys and a girls establish Crop Circle Unit, a crew of more than twelve musician based in Turin and Vienna ready to rock clubs, raves and stages with hard techno and techhouse along with drum and bass, hip hop and breakbeat. His endless thirst of music makes him hyperactive both on the decks and in the side party organising. His sharp style and his knowledge in the art of shaking ass is noticed and appreciated by the promoters of the florid underground scene of Turin. In 2008 he becomes resident at Doctor Sax, one of the most well known after party in Italy. One year later in 2009 his everyday devotion to music let him go one step beyond: production. Cipi starts to work for the label Deep Sabaudian Noise founded by his friends Pato Donald and Lorenzo Chiabotti. In just a year the label has released tracks by the internationals Federico Grazzini, Matthew Style, Ilario Alicante and Luc Ringeisen. In the fall of 2009, after years of sporadic and unforgettable visits, he gains the residency of one of the most ambit console in town: Savana Potente, where he shares the decks with people like Dubfire, Joris Voorn, Marcel Dettmann, Ellen Allien and Ben Klock. In the same season at Doctor Sax he warms up the console before Argenis Brito and Dandy Jack’s gigs. His debut as a producer is about to be printed for deep sabaudian […]. Finally that voice heard over ten years go testifying his talent will be able to reach the whole electronic universe.
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