Sasha (DJ)

Sasha began his career playing acid house dance music back in 1990, and has become a central figure in the development and popularization of electronic dance music . In 1993, on an international tour and producing a series of mixes, he collaborated with DJ John Digvid . ^[1] Thanks to their choice of tracks and mixing technique, Sasha and Digvid played an important role in the development of progressive trance and house . ^[2]

Sasha released many singles ^[3] , hit the British charts , and remixes to the tracks of such stars as Madonna and The Chemical Brothers . His remix of "Watching Cars Go By" by Felix da Housecat's was nominated for a Grammy in 2004. Sasha’s mixes and works often combine different genres of electronic music, which makes it difficult for critics to attribute him to any particular style, ^[4] including his debut album, Airdrawndagger . ^[five]

After succeeding as a producer and DJ, Sasha worked with such young DJs and producers as Brian Transo and James Zabiela, influencing their musical styles and techniques. He was one of the first to use live sound engineering equipment, helping to popularize technical innovations among DJs who had previously relied on recordings and playback devices . In 2007, Sasha, together with Renaissance Records, formed the label emFire, which exclusively releases his new music.

Sasha was born in Bangor, North Wales on September 4, 1969, but spent most of his youth with his mother in the Welsh city of Sandicroft, Flintshire, North Wales. Sasha’s mother taught French at Harvard High School.

Sasha's early taste was based on Top 40 popular music of the time, such as The The and The Police. After an “idyllic childhood,” at the age of 17 he passed the entrance exams at Empson College. However, he did not like Empson and dropped out of college before graduating. Instead of continuing his studies, Sasha went to Bangor to live with his father and stepmother. Sasha's stepmother made him learn to play the piano, and despite the fact that he did not like these lessons, Sasha subsequently found them to be used in his musical career.

Sasha learned about electronic dance music in 1988 at The Haçienda (Fazenda), a Manchester dance party. The rough sound of Acid House, associated with Sasha's rebellion, he visited Manchester weekly and soon moved to neighboring Disley. Then Sasha bought a lot of Acid House tracks and began to independently learn to mix. The local DJ from the club, where Sasha often visited, announced that he was looking for other DJs to go on a local tour. Sasha volunteered and made his first performance in nearby Stockport. Sasha recalled his debut as follows: “I had never even touched on technology before !: I took the speed control of the track to the volume control, I did not even know where to connect my headphones and I was sure that I was absolutely terrible.”

Soon, Sasha was in debt due to low-paying appearances and the many records that he bought. In order to recoup his music collection, he performed on illegal raves at the Blackburn and Blackpool storage sites. With the help of another local DJ, Jon DaSilva, Sasha got a job at The Haçienda club, where he learned harmonic mixing from DaSilva and pumped the skill of bit-mixing (synchronizing the bits of two simultaneously playing records).

Despite his love for The Haçienda, in 1990, Sasha left to work at Shelley's Laserdrome in Stoke-on-Trent. There he acquired his signature sound by mixing the euphoric Acid House with Italian piano and emotional acapella. Due to its increased popularity and visibility in Shelley's and thanks to the club's promoter working for the magazine, Mixmag showed Sasha on the cover under the heading “SASHA MANIA? “FIRST DJ PINUP?”

In the continuation of his DJ career, Sasha wrote several of his own dance tracks. This, as he later noted, contradicted the understanding of the career of many successful DJs, for whom it was more common to start with writing tracks, and then become DJs.

Along with the signing of a contract for writing music, he created a recording studio, which initially led to a "painful learning curve." Sasha's first products were two singles for Evolution: He released his first single, “Appolonia”, under the name BM: Ex (short for 'The Barry Manilow Experience', a joke with a reference to Sasha's love for the piano), produced by Tom Frederikse on Union City Recordings.

After DJing at Shelley's for several years, Sasha left his position due to the criminalization of the club's location. As a result of his growing reputation, Sasha has been offered jobs at several London and Australian clubs. Instead, he took part in the Renaissance club DJ jam, where the session began with Geoff Oakes at Venue 44 in Mansfield, England.

Later, in 1993, Sasha wrote “Together,” his first single under the pseudonym Sasha. “Together,” produced by Campbell for Pete Tong's FFRR, is featured in the UK Singles Chart under 57. With his success, Sasha began a series of records for Deconstruction Records with the singles “Higher Ground” and “Magic” (Digweed remixed each of them) on The Qat Collection with Frederikse and vocalist Sam Mollison.

• Phillips D. Super DJs: Triumph, Extreme, and Void . - M .: White Apple, 2012 .-- S. 56-74, 229-248. - ISBN 978-5-9903760-1-4 .

• Article “Life and amazing adventures of DJ Sasha”