Johnny D interview: From Etritrea to electronica

Johnny D interview: From Etritrea to electronica

18 February, 2008 | 12.15PM

• Section: Music News Topics: Berlin
• Written by: Ben Raven

Meet Johnny D, the breakthrough producer behind some of Berlin’s favourite new dancefloor slaying records.

Announcing your arrival onto the electronic music scene is no easy feat.

Johnny D, thanks to a seismic debut release and club hit follow up has made it look effortless.

Since dropping his ‘Manipulation EP’ in November 2007, Berlin and the rest of the underground dance scene around the world has been rinsing his tracks and asking the question: who is Johnny D? 

For an unknown producer his speedy rise to prominence suggests he could be one of the scene’s most promising new artists.

Each track he’s hit us with so far is defined by his mature production style, suggesting it was crafted by an established artist operating under a pseudonym, rather than a 28-year-old rookie producer from Mannheim near Frankfurt in Germany.

It’s impossible to pass a night at Watergate or Panorama Bar and not hear one of his tracks being played and as the new promo barrage of his releases begins to land in the postbags of DJs everywhere this onslaught is set to continue.

Next up from him is a new EP on Oslo at the end of February, remixes for labels like Sushitech, Gabriel Ananda’s Bambusbeats and Matt Tolfrey’s Leftroom as well as a new single for a Deep Vibes label compilation in April.

His style is characterised by organic beats, huge slabs of funk and dancefloor pressure of a kind not being exerted by anyone else in house music.

Sounds like it’s about time you met Johnny D.

You were born in Mannheim, in Germany but your parents are from Eritrea. Tell us about life growing up as an African immigrant in Germany.

Before the war ended in 1992, there were many benefit parties everywhere Eritrean refugees lived organized by their own to help the people left behind in Eritrea who had not been able to escape the war.

I was still a little kid and can remember that the parties were really impulsive and went on until the morning.

The lyrics of the songs were filled with stories about the war and were very passionate.

The songs could sometimes last for 20 to 30 minutes and people danced all night long.

This had a great influence on me and my understanding of music and parties.

Why did your parents move to Mannheim?

My family found political asylum in Germany and my father found work as a mechanic.

My mother had small jobs here and there and studied at the same time.

Now she’s a nurse in a hospital back in Eritrea and my father also moved back to run a garage.

What’s it like there?

I’ve been four times.

The first was after the war in 1992 and the last was in 2002.

The country is still in a poor state and the political situation is still bad.

People are poor but generous and have a natural kindness that you don’t find so much these days.

We have nine different clans with their own different languages and culture.

50% of the people belong to my clan, the Tigrinia people.

Tigrinia is also the language of the country.

The alphabet includes more than 300 letters and has its own script and is one of the world’s oldest written languages.

How did find yourself making electronic music?

Drum & bass was big in the early 1990s in Mannheim and provided my first contact with the music.

A friend took me to a party at the age of 12 and I was stunned by the sound and how people danced to it.

After this, I got mixtapes from everywhere possible.

My older brother was a dancer at the Loft Club and brought house mixtapes home for me to listen to and my sister bought me my first set of turntables when I was 13.

After awhile I wanted to make music myself and bought a computer and midi keyboard.

I learned mostly by myself.

Fortunately, today, it’s not as hard to start making music as it was in the 1980s or 1990s.

Do you play any instruments?

I don’t, but I’m always trying to improve my playing or imitate acoustic instruments as much as I can with my midi keyboard.

I want to learn to play piano properly and could imagine myself playing in an electronic jazz band.

The longer I live the more my mind is opening up to other kinds of music and the more music I make the better I understand it.

I listen to every kind of music, if its electronic or not, it only has to have a groove or soul for me to like it.

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To find out more about Johnny D visit: www.myspace.com/johnnydjohnny

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