It’s an exciting year for the Steppin’ family. After our hosting at Motel Mozaïque, another festival collaboration is coming up. On the 28th, 29th and 30th of June, we are hosting a stage at Lago Lago! The festival takes place in the middle of nature park Stroombroek and is centered around an idyllic lake surrounded by a beach and a forest, perfect for those warm summer days. At Lago Lago, we will celebrate the summer and bring you the freshest sounds. Amongst the packed line-up, with artists like Antal, CARISTA, KC The Funkaholic, SIEM, Coloray, David Vunk, Elias Mazian, Suze Ijo, Ineffect, Weval and many more, you can find a handful of artists from the Steppin’ family, who we will introduce to you in this three-part series. After our first part of the series; the Friday of Lago Lago with Lucas Benjamin B2B Kay Tee, LEnTO, Marcos Tocae, Sons of Jumira and Razzmic, it is time to introduce our line-up for Saturday!
HEAZ
Hezron, better known as “Heaz”, is a Rotterdam-based DJ, member of upcoming collective/label called “No Friends” and host of his radio show “The Multiverse” on Operator Radio.
Growing up in a religious household with his Moluccan roots, his love for rhythms developed. At a young age, Heaz started as a b-boy in Heerlen and moved in his teenage years to Rotterdam to explore more about his love for music. Currently, he describes his sound as a journey through life that fills the soul with grooves from electronic music, jazz, broken beat, funk, house and more.
Picture by Mark Bolk
In a 2021 interview with Steppin´ (in addition to his Mixed Feelings mix), Heaz said the following about the message of his sets and music: “The message I try to convey to the listeners or audience is simple. Listen to the grooves that are played and may the lyrics give you a feeling to relate. It’s a good way to express myself with how I feel from day to day.”
Ava Lavá
Annebelle Valentina Angelique, also known as Ava Lavá, started to play classical piano at the age of six. Growing up in a musical family with two brothers, Victor (singer, dancer and drummer) and Alexander (beatboxer, beatmaker and guitarist) and a grandfather who played jazz in communist Russia has been a key part in choosing to study jazz. This decision, together with writing music, is a way for Ava to connect with something that had been living in her ancestral family lineage before. During seven years of studying, Ava kept exploring her adoration for music and the expression of emotions. Three years of pop education at the Herman Brood Academy were followed by studying jazz music, where she got in touch with so many inspiring styles; traditional jazz music, Brazilian and Afro-Cuban music, yorùbá and flamenco. “It was such a fusion of many cultures. This is also what I like to do with my own music, to fuse many different cultures and rhythms. I love rhythm, and to move with it!”
Many genres, sounds and artists inspire Ava. “Mostly the genre is not that important to me, but rather how clearly I can see someone's character through the music, and then it is all about perceiving the energy groove and message to me. Sometimes I listen to traditional jazz like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and other instrumentalists. Also, I love Brazilian music; Elis Regina and Milton Nascimento. Lately, I have been listening to a lot of afrobeat (like samba, and bossanova with electronic music) and amapiano.”
Photo by @evaruijg
Currently, Ava and her brothers are working on an EP together. What it exactly will be, and what music we can further expect from Ava is difficult to say. In an interview with Steppin' she says: “I always try to feel what wants to come to expression. Of course, I am working towards a sound where people can immediately hear it is me. I would describe that as the sound of AVA LAVÁ, but it is still a work in progress and I am still in the middle of exploring different genres. But for sure afrobeat, house, future jazz, vocally inspired by Erykah Badu, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson.”
Pelanoir
Music has always been an essential thread in Pelanoir's life; it is an indispensable component for her peace of mind. She finds her outlet in discovering new sounds and experimenting with them.
Pelanoir is interested in a wide range of music, from jazz to hip-hop, broken beats to breakbeats, UK sounds to (soulful/deep/hip/Chicago) house, to Detroit techno, and more; good music is good music. She follows her intuition, playing warm frequencies and creating connections between tracks. Depending on her own mood and the situation, she strives to curate a diverse journey.
Beau Zwart & Sykes
The compositions and performances of multi-talented Beau Zwart are a blend of electronic music and jazz. As a pianist, DJ, composer and producer, Beau knows how to make complex music accessible. His style is a combination of soulful electronics, broken beats, jazz and narrative music. The hybrid way of producing makes his tracks both organic and driven. In his performances, he connects genres with live looping and improvisation.
After having played at festivals such as North Sea Jazz Festival, ADE, Grasnapolsky, ESNS, Pykes (Ibiza) and being a resident at BIRD, BAR, Operator Radio and Weelde in his hometown Rotterdam, Beau will join us at Lago Lago, where he will undoubtedly take us on a multi-genre journey across all those warm and soulful sounds that we as Steppin’ represent.
Sykes is a Rotterdam-based producer/vocalist/DJ. Growing up, he listened to artists like Donny Hathaway and India.Arie. At the age of 6, his dad took him to play the trumpet on stage and that is where his love for playing and being on stage started. When he turned 14, he started taking keyboard lessons at the local music school. A few years later, they started a project to bring students together in bands, which was the trigger to produce and write his own songs and start playing around with music production software.
In his teenage years, he slowly discovered electronic music by listening to artists like James Blake, Bonobo and RJD2. This resulted in producing his own electronic music. The music he creates today is a merge between these different genres completed by his own vocals.
Kofi the Unknown
Kofi the Unknown is a composer, music producer, beatmaker and DJ with a strong passion for rhythm and groove. Rooted in Hip Hop and Funk, Kofi mostly draws inspiration from World grooves. From the heavy syncopated Afro-Cuban Guaguanco to the chants of Aborigine Indigenous from all over the world. Kofi creates a mixture of electronic and percussive music to explore the universality that music holds. As a producer, Kofi creates different grooves from a syncopated and polyrhythmic viewpoint. The goal is to express himself without being restricted to a grid or genre.
Kofi also spins on a regular basis. His sounds are described as uptempo dancefloor tunes with a heavy emphasis on grooves and rhythmic structures. From four on the floor to broken beat riddims, rhythm is the driving force behind every set. Kofi’s passion for sharing the music by artists who inspire him is translated back into his sets and selection.
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