esta si! esta no! talking to XIMO BAYO eñaut gantxegi
I eñaut gantxegi We met up in Armilla in Granada and any fears or prejudices we might have had quickly disappeared. Ximo is a bang-on, fun-loving bloke. Many 'artists' would love to be as natural as he is. When did Ximo Bayo start as a DJ?
I should start by saying that I'm involved in all of this by chance really. I was actually a motor-cross driver and I didn't start going to discotheques until I was 21 years old. I I had an accident and while my leg was in plaster I went along to a local disco to stand in for the resident DJ who was off in some competition somewhere. I was supposed to be on for an hour but I stayed on for the whole night. The DJ came back and he asked for more money. They kicked him out and offered me the gig. You could say I'm a 'victim' really.
When did all of this happen?
In Valencia at the start of the 80s. I was working in a discotheque for foreign tourists and I would play mostly funk music. It was funk that thought me how to be a DJ and how to mix two records. That period of time was basically a part of my schooling as a DJ. I slowly started to realise that I wanted to do something else. It's not that I wanted to be better than the rest, I just wanted to be different. I wanted to create my own style.
As all of this was going on you were taken by the whole "Wakalao" scene.
Probably so. At that time in Valencia (at the end of the 80s) many DJs started playing alternative electronic music that was being played hardly anywhere else in Spain then. Valencia was about a year ahead of everywhere else. The people there really specialised in what they were doing. That said, none of this happened in a conscious sort of way. Us Valencians are pretty hopeless at getting ourselves organised. Ha, ha...
All the same, a lot of people believe that the whole thing ended up being smothered by the whole drugs thing.
That's true unfortunately. Hypocrisy causes things to regarded in a far too simplistic way. I personally lived through the whole thing and the demonising process we went through was totally unreal. Whatever about drug-talking and the other crazy stuff that went on, thousands and thousands of people had a really good time with the whole scene. I think that people are more aggressive nowadays. There's no empathy with the person beside you.
Anything you'd like to add to finish?
Well, I'd like to thank the friends who are and have been with me all throughout this: Misael (my virtual husband), the folks at Caixa Negra, and of course, all of you, for making what do make sense. Hu-ha!!
I should start by saying that I'm involved in all of this by chance really. I was actually a motor-cross driver and I didn't start going to discotheques until I was 21 years old. I I had an accident and while my leg was in plaster I went along to a local disco to stand in for the resident DJ who was off in some competition somewhere. I was supposed to be on for an hour but I stayed on for the whole night. The DJ came back and he asked for more money. They kicked him out and offered me the gig. You could say I'm a 'victim' really.
When did all of this happen?
In Valencia at the start of the 80s. I was working in a discotheque for foreign tourists and I would play mostly funk music. It was funk that thought me how to be a DJ and how to mix two records. That period of time was basically a part of my schooling as a DJ. I slowly started to realise that I wanted to do something else. It's not that I wanted to be better than the rest, I just wanted to be different. I wanted to create my own style.
As all of this was going on you were taken by the whole "Wakalao" scene.
Probably so. At that time in Valencia (at the end of the 80s) many DJs started playing alternative electronic music that was being played hardly anywhere else in Spain then. Valencia was about a year ahead of everywhere else. The people there really specialised in what they were doing. That said, none of this happened in a conscious sort of way. Us Valencians are pretty hopeless at getting ourselves organised. Ha, ha...
All the same, a lot of people believe that the whole thing ended up being smothered by the whole drugs thing.
That's true unfortunately. Hypocrisy causes things to regarded in a far too simplistic way. I personally lived through the whole thing and the demonising process we went through was totally unreal. Whatever about drug-talking and the other crazy stuff that went on, thousands and thousands of people had a really good time with the whole scene. I think that people are more aggressive nowadays. There's no empathy with the person beside you.
Anything you'd like to add to finish?
Well, I'd like to thank the friends who are and have been with me all throughout this: Misael (my virtual husband), the folks at Caixa Negra, and of course, all of you, for making what do make sense. Hu-ha!!
