by RAF KATIGBAK

When he was 13 years old, DJ Luciano was where a lot of kids were at that age—angry and angst ridden. “I played a guitar in a punk group when I was young, ” he says in a softspoken lilt, “Really aggressive, really anarchy, you know? Then suddenly that all broke down and it was totally the opposite of that.”

At that time Luciano had just arrived in Chile, his mother’s homeland, via Switzerland, where he was born, and befriended the young, transplanted German Adrian Schopf (aka DJ Adrian). At 15, with a desire to share this fresh, new musical style with his rather isolated countryfolk, Luciano traded in his electric guitar for a pair of turntables and became one of the first (and youngest) DJs in Chile. Now, at 24, with several 12-inches and a full-length album getting rave reviews in techno circles worldwide, DJ/producer Luciano (or El Suizo Caliente, as he is also known) is being touted as one of the “great hopes of the European techno scene.”

It wasn’t an easy start, though. “When we arrived in Santiago in 1993 with our electronic music, it was really hard because everyone was completely into this anarchist thing. Santiago de Chile was a really rock-influenced city, it was all rock ’n’ roll and hard with long hair. The clubs really were not into this modern music. They said, no way, this is completely crap! People later realized that it’s not just a fad but more a new technology that’s able to give a new style of music. This was Chile’s first step into electronic.”

Fast forward almost a decade and now there are a dozen-plus electronic music clubs in Santiago alone and Chile boasts a solid foundation of established and up-and-coming DJs and producers. “All the South American music is based on rhythms and nice melodies, with techno there’s more complex rhythms and melodies going on. People in Chile are in a way more able to receive it, and they start to enjoy it sometimes just because of the complexities of rhythms.”

Interestingly enough, what sparked the electronic music boom in Chile was not giant commercial mega-raves featuring international superstar trance DJs. It was the arrival of two German experimental techno producers Uwe Schmidt (aka Atom Heart) and Martin Schopf (his friend Adrian’s older brother, aka Dandy Jack), who began throwing parties in Chile in 1997. Schopf comfortably points out why he chose the South American country as his new home—“People in Chile are fresh and full of energy, they want to dance, they want to be happy. They’re also very open-minded. People in Chile have been closed for a long time and now they have a necessity for information input.” :

Luciano, with Antonelli Electr., Troublemakers,
Eloi Brunelle, Stereomovers and M83, is at
Club Soda for MEG on Saturday, Oct. 26, 9pm, $20

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