Born 24 years ago, and with a short trajectory, but breaking the mold, DJ Monik is forever polishing her skills to become one of the best female DJ in Latin America. Her base influence in getting involved in music from her childhood was her father, who was a musician. Later, that same vocation what was drove Monik to percussion and guitar. When she was 17, she went for her first time to a “RAVE” party where the headliners were Jimmy Van M and DJ Sasha. The latter was her favorite and years after became her inspiration. During that same year, she starts working in one of the most important radio stations in Costa Rica, 979 Conexion, where the first electronic music show in the country was broadcasted. Later, she ended up taking over the whole show.
In 2003 she received her first set of DJ equipment that saw this DJ grow with a genre called progressive trance.. very much like Oakenfold and Alexander Coe’s style. Monik’s metamorphosis took several years, changing styles, and sounds. She has also worked with production. Her genre was drum ‘n bass, with the percussion she always carried in her blood. In 2004 she continues with electronic music and she is given the opportunity to warm up the dance floor for 2 local DJ’s at a club called Café 83 Sur. In November of that same year, she becomes a resident DJ for the first time at a Lounge called “Bajarse al Moro”.
In 2005 she has no option but to put aside the electronic sounds she so loved to pursue an academic career, but years later she returns with lots of energy and dedication, and with a different sound.This time around she comes with a melodic-progressive style (progressive house) with influences from DJ’s like Tarkan, V-Sag, G-Pal and more. Also, she works in tandem with D.U.B which is shorthand for Deep Underground Beats : spreading their influential music thru the events in Costa Rica and worldwide.Not satisfied with only being a DJ, she started new projects as a Producer, using her own vocals and also, she has Tracks released on beatport. Monik also Has been invited to be a guest DJ in one of the most important Online Radios worldwide, frisky radio by Dj tarkan and Andrew k. Living on the edge to Europe, in Turkey, having new musical projects and starting her own F.M. radio show, also recently named Resident at one of the best Clubs in Central America: Club Stage in Guatemala.
In her short time being a DJ in Costa Rica, DJ Monik shared turntables with Dj’s like : : Sandra Collins (Usa) , DJ Tarkan (Turkey), Sultan (Canada), Ale Reeves (Chile), Tom Swayer (Panamá), Sergio Mixx (Panamá), Fabio Garcés (Colombia), Eric Prestinary (costa rica), Iván Gafer (costa rica) and many more.
Though it´s been only a short time in his career as Dj Lippa has proved to be ahead of his time. He was first exposed to the electronic sound when attended the club Regina 51. He fell in love with the more darker and influential sounds of the underground movement. That style was transmitted by the lights of Danny Howells, Steve Lawler, Satoshi Tomiie, DeepDish, just to mention a few.
He started in the scene playing the sound of progressive tribal house, influenced by producer such as Pillavin and Zimbardo, Tony Thomas, Dj Nukem, Chab, and many more. He started his residency in Club Cafe 83 in 2003 where he started to play along side Ivan Gafer, Monik , and Ares. His style has caught the liking of his friends bywhich he later found himself playing in Costa Rica´s own club Vertigo for the first time. That same year he had the chance to part take in events in venues such as Club Bash, Club Boogie, Bajarse al Moro, Cafe 83 Sur, Vertigo Lounge, Club Oh, Van Gogh and many more.
As his style progressed he became more and more interested in the Minimal movement in Germany. He was hypnotized by the sounds of Dominik Eulberg, Robag Wruhme, The Wighnomy Brs, Alter Ego, Onur Oezer, and Afternoon Coffee Boys. He incorporated minimal in his sets given them a more eerie and mysterious sound.
His colleagues Ares, Ivan Gafer, and Monik have always supported him. Together they formed a collaboration called D.U.B short for deep underground beats. This union helped promote their unique style to the masses. Supported by the likes of Club Vertigo they made their debut for Vertigo´s third anniversary party. That was the beginningof a legacy! They later continued to promote the infamous D.U.B Sessions and their new venture Sunset Sessions.
Their efforts to continue to bring to the people a new concept of electronic music within all different styles will flourish as time goes by. One thing is for sure they will continue to expose the people to different concepts and help the scene stay strong within Costa Rica.
Andre Campos Romero was born in Costa Rica, in May 2, 1990. He is known by the nickname “Nochi” at the electronic environment . He studied at the Conservatorio De Castella, an artistic institution in San Jose, Costa Rica, where he begun studying different areas of music as piano, guitar, and percussion. But at the end, he graduated in the artistic area focused in Painting and Sculpture, due to the influence of his father Marco Antonio Campos, a well-known costa rican sculptor who has won several prizes and recognitions for his works.
Nochi is a musician with tendency to percussion and wind instruments where trumpet is his favorite. As a musician, he has participated in duets, including live performances where he has mixed acoustics music with his DJ sets. He has a lot of influences besides synthesized music. He loves other kinds of music as Jazz, Ska, Dub, Reggae, Soul, Funk, and Latin rhythms. He unfolds easily mixing minimal, deep house, and tech house without leaving behind elements of dubstep and drum n” bass injecting energy and creating a scale of mixed sounds.
Most Djs in Costa Rica used to dedicate themselves to one kind of music. However, Nochi has a lot of influences aside of electronic. As a faithful lover of Jazz, Ska, Reggae; he loves to combine in his sets a great variety of music as Techhouse, House, Minimal, Depp House, Tribal, Ambient, Techno, creating a very particular own personal style in his sets, which is well accepted by his public at parties, opening doors to the most important discos and clubs in Costa Rica.
Nochi is growing as Dj. He brings people to a great musical journey though different genres of electronic music and chill out. Thus he has done duets with live music. One example, was the show held at the Kashmir Lounge and the popular, five-stars Melia Conchal Hotel with percussionist Kendall Berrocal. Both merged rhythms of chill out, down tempo, hip hop among others, with latin, African and Arabic percussion combining this way the DJ art with live percussion.
Late 2003 after hearing a lot of sets of the main local and worldwide djs, Ivan Gafer decided to start a new journey into sounds & rhythms. From this moment on, he started to play in many clubs and bars including the world famous Club Vértigo and most important places of the electronic scene of Costa Rica. Since 2004 he experiment with every different genre of electronic music from house to techno. His first sets were full of atmospheres and sounds of progressive house and tribal progressive, but as time goes by, he focused on Techno his favorite kind of music.
Now His sets go from deep dark industrial minimal at 120-122 bpm to his favorite main dish up to 140bpm, making him one and maybe the only dj who has has presented sets with this intensity in four different residencies, in which he has played sets around 5 and 6 hours, closing the night with the best he plays: Techno.Since 2005 he started to walk around fields full of loops and samples bringin’ to life his first track called Dirty Transmition. But it was 2008, the year when he released his first tracks to the scene through the most important web dj music stores.
His style as producer blends the weird broken atmospheres of doubting moods of minimal and the sequenced beat and loopy groove of tech-house. By the other hand his tracks are seasoned with voices, glitches and noises kind of a subtle meta-language daring to the crowd to feel into a movie atmosphere while their bones are shaked by the beats.Dj Crew: former member of D.U.B (short for deep underground beats), a non-commercial oriented group of minds that express their feelings through djing and producing. The group is completed by Dj Lippa (CR), Dj Nochi (CR), Dj Monik(Turkey) and Dj Ares (UEA)