Cosmic Disco

Beppe Loda’s live mix from Sankeys in Manchester for his UK DJ debut!

Posted on 11. Apr, 2007 by baggy in Articles, Mixes we didn't make

Firstly Cosmic Disco would like to give a BIG, BIG! thankyou to a true gentleman in Beppe Loda for taking time from his busy schedule to travel across Europe, joining us in Manchester for what was unbelievably his debut UK performance.

From start to finish, having Beppe in our home city of Manchester was an adventure that spawned memories sure to stay with us for some time to come. From first picking him up at Liverpool airport (After driving to Blackpool where the flight had been re-directed due to heavy fog!) looking shattered after a 16hr journey from Verona, to saying our goodbye’s before departing for his 2nd gig in London, it will be hard to meet such a charismatic, honest and true explorer of mindblowing music ever again.

Baggy and THP had the pleasure of taking Beppe on a tour of a few of their (Secret!) favourite record shops where he was delighted to find a few (Very rare) records he had been searching for, for quite some time. Queue Beppe rolling around the floor giving ‘We Are Not Worthy’ style Mexican waves to the shock of the record shop assistant. The record in question was a track (We cannot remember the title) by a group called ‘Piranhas’ which apparently goes for over 150 euros in Italy, of which we were paying a mere £2 per 12″!

Being the big hearted guy he is, Beppe did’nt think twice to pull out dozens of Afro-Classics and Slo-Mo Electronica/New Wave for both Baggy and THP. As we were skimming through tracks we would hear “Hey, guys. Do you ‘ave thiz? Listen, listen! Afro classic!!!”. Beppe’s sheer enthusiasm for music after over 30 years dedicated record collecting was nothing other than inspiring. Simply being in the same room as this man selecting some of the most amazing music for us to listen to will shape our listening habits for years to come.

In retrospect, Beppe spent far more time pulling out records for us rather than looking for tracks himself. We can honestly say it seemed as though he got more pleasure from sharing music than finding his own tracks. Beppe was pulling out all kinds of records he thought we may find interesting simply having heard one of our mixes we had playing in the background en-route to the shops. We have to say his instincts were spot on, finding tracks we would have missed quite easily.

In return we also considered it an honour to hand over copies of tracks (We had to insist!) that we managed to dig out that Beppe himself was immersed with upon hearing. These are gifts we are sure Beppe will get as much, if not more pleasure from as we would ourselves!

After spending a couple of enjoyable (At times hilarious) days in the company of Beppe Loda we now think of him as the ‘Human Synthesizer’ due to the sheer number of sounds and noises that come from his mouth as he best describes the rhythms and effects from dozens of tracks we listened to over the weekend.

Another memorable moment is when Beppe is behind the decks you can sense him getting into his set as he starts to play ‘Air Drums’, particulary during the heavily percussive Afro tracks.

Not only is Beppe an education to listen to live but he is also an entertaining performer behind the turntables.

Beppe’s experience and knowledge of all types of music is frighteningly extensive and his nature is to share this with all those who take similar, vested interest in all things musical.

We found it amazing just how much we could communicate through music alone. None more so apparent as when actually conversing. Beppe’s knowledge of the English language was very limited but we parted company feeling as though we had understood every word Beppe said, taking valuable lessons by simply being in his company, observing his body language and expressions during the short period he was with us.

Inbetween bouts of Karate, teaching Beppe to speak ‘Mancunian’ and taking turns listening to hundreds of cuts of vinyl we could only stand back and be in awe of what this guy has contributed to dance music and DJ culture, not only in his home country of Italy but much further afield as his life’s work is finally (And deservingly) becoming more apparent to people all over the globe.

As more and more people delve deeper into the history of DJ/Music culture we have no doubt that Beppe will be finallly credited in as much, if not higher asteem as other pioneering DJ’s such as Danielle Baldelli (Who took to the limelight after the efforts of Beppe before him.) as it was down to the sheer musical dedication during the early 1970’s (Alongside Moz-Art) that laid the foundations for other Italian DJ’s such as Baldelli to shine and prosper into the 1980’s.

We left Beppe at Blackpool feeling as though we have been blessed to have been in the company of one of DJ culture’s great figures. Upon reflection we can only compare Beppe’s outlook on music (And life) to that of the dozens of books, articles and films we have absorbed on David Mancuso.

Beppe is currently an unsung hero of the Afro/Cosmic scene (Beppe himself refuses to use the word ‘Cosmic’. “Cosmic does not exist!”) and If anyone out there deserves to have their story documented so more people can be inspired to learn more about all the great, yet to be discovered music out there then we couldn’t think of anyone more fitting than Beppe Loda. We only dipped our toes into the ocean of stories this man must have and can only hope someone out there can document this in ways we cannot.

Beppe is a true gentleman in every sense of the word and to us is a ‘Real’ living legend.

Below is a recording of Beppe’s 2hr DJ set taken from his UK debut at Sankeys from the hours of 0100-0300 on the morning of Saturday 7th April 2007.

Cosmic Disco would like to personally thank each and every person who made the effort to hear Beppe in the flesh (Especially those down the front, you know who you are!) experiencing music totally unique to that offered on a weekly basis in Manchester. Your support was very much appreciated and we very much hoped you took something back from the music Beppe selected.

Pop on your headphones, close your eyes and imagine yourself immersed on the dancefloor, losing yourself in music selected and mixed by one of the world’s true DJ pioneers.

Beppe has a compilation of Typhoon and Slo-Mo classics due to be released on Compost Records very soon. When we have more information, we will post details here! If you like Beppe’s music, why not let him know what you think by hitting him up at http://www.myspace.com/beppeloda

Enjoy!

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