Uniting Nations
SE:SA talk about their Spicy Oriental Ragga Deee-Lite's
What's the story behind SE:SA?
Producing-wise it’s me, Serhat Sakin; as DJs I team up with my partner and second half of Syke’n’Sugarstarr – Matthias Weber. My partner Matthias and I met first in 1998 when we started our project Syke’n’Sugarstarr. In 2003 we had so many releases that I decided to set up a new project, which I named SE:SA. There were several releases under this moniker with huge response across the board but the current release topped it all.
How would you describe your sound?
We’d say it's funky-ass shaking-electro with spicy oriental influences.
What was the inspiration behind the new single, 'Like This Like That'?
Together with my cousin, we passionately collected Oriental vinyl records from the 1960s and 1970s. While listening to one of these we heard this short sequence which sounded like the intro to 'Groove Is In the Heart' by Deee-Lite. We were extremely inspired to use this idea for one of our productions and combining it with a cool funky groove we finished the track in a very short time. Our friend Mousse T felt that the tune had loads of potential and he subsequently asked the vocalist Sharon Phillips to come and work on a song for the track. We recorded the vocals together and wrote the lyrics with her. We tried to achieve something unique, which stays in your head for a long time. An anthem.
What was it about Sharon's vocals that caught your attention?
We weren't looking for typical cheesy female vocals; we had something in our minds with plenty of energy and this Missy Elliott style 'cause we thought it could perfectly fit to that playback. Mousse T and Erroll [Rennalls] from Peppermint Jam [Records] came up with Sharon and we were impressed by her from the first minute. We never had someone like her in the studio, it's unbelievable how fast she understood what we were looking for. Her ability to perform Ragga gives the record the ultimate touch and we think the result speaks for itself.
Tell us about the other remixes
The range is pretty wide and they’re all very different, as most of them don’t contain the parts from the original mix. Alex Gaudino delivered a bigroom mix, while the guys from Sinden and The Count of Montecristal provided an uplifting electro mix, which is based on very dirty loops. There's a funky R&B version from Dudabeats in the pipeline too.
Explain the concept behind the video
As you can hear in the lyrics it’s about bringing the world together with our music so the video pictures different dancers from different countries. Asian people, European people, Bellydancers. One thing we have to mention though – not every German is wearing the typical Bavarian pants!
What do you plan next?
We will definitely continue releasing under the SE:SA moniker and a follow-up single is in progress already. And – for sure – we’ll tour the world as a DJ-Team: SE:SA aka Syke’n’Sugarstarr!
Words: Naomi Misquita-Rice
No comments:
Post a Comment