Interview: Viva La Vinny Da Vinci The Legend Lives On…

I must be the biggest closet groupie there is and you know what; when it comes to Vinny Da Vinci I can confidently and with impunity wear my badge of admiration for the man. Let’s be honest; not taking anything away from other stalwart South African DJ’s, Vinny Da Vinci is one of the few sonic manipulators who cares about delivering refined, gilded and sifted-to-perfection beats that will take you to cloud nine and back.

For almost a decade he’s been hailed as the country’s most knowledgeable Deep House groove expert and undoubtedly is still at the helm; charting the deepest currents in the global ocean of dance music, rounding up the most vital rhythms that continue to reverberate on the urban dance floors of South Africa.

Ever since the late 1980’s, early 1990’s when the House music bug first reared its head into the South African musical climate and eventually into the psyche of urban audiences, when the old skool artists threw the whole phenomenon into the lion’s den refusing to accept it and the new cats nabbed it by the scruff, raring to stretch it as thoroughly as they could – Vinny was at the forefront representing, contributing to a trend that would later create a formidable industry.

“Most definitely man, I can actually attest to that”, he says as I engage in a conversation with him about how the scene has evolved, its new characteristics, his new idea of ‘concept parties’ and breaking new sounds. “When we were doing our underground parties, there were only a handful of us and we had no mainstream media supporting the music. We pretty much didn’t have a well rounded and informed understanding of what we had in our hands – the potency that the whole House genre possessed. Now it’s absolutely gratifying to see how it has evolved. On almost every weekend there are international DJ’s and Dance music artists in the country, international labels are signing up young producers almost on a daily basis and also the number of DJ’s in the country has alarmingly increased,” he says, smiling across the phone line.

With a moniker befitting a mastermind with a fine truth; Vinny has carved an inimitable grandeur that has left an embellished footprint in the young careers of the new South African House music breed. “You know when I’m out playing, I’m continually amazed at the increasing number of young DJ’s and producers alike. Without fail they’ll present me with some of their works to give advice on and make suggestions. What I particularly enjoy seeing is the way they experiment with an array of sounds and music textures, and that to me is progression. It’s fully satisfying to hear and see the reaction of the international guys when I tell them that a particular tune has been produced by a sixteen year old from the township for instance – quality international standard stuff”.

Speaking of sounds and music textures my mind immediately shifts to what I heard Greg Maloka, current Managing Director of Kaya FM, say a few years back as he admired Vinny Da Vinci’s personal music collection which he described as ‘putting most radio stations music libraries to shame’ – spanning from Brazillian’s Bossa Nova, Lounge, Nu Jazz to Bugalú – a  music style with a fusion of popular African American R&B, Soul fused with Mambo.

“Really (chuckles), I’m glad you have actually brought that up. You’ve sort of touched on an idea I’ve had kept on the backburner for a while. I’ve recently started my personal ‘concept parties’ where I would actually play this type of music. I think the time is now right and I can actually do that because I feel the urban South African House audiences have matured enough to be receptive to the ‘world music’  sounds and textures with a tinge of a 4/4 house beat, some harmonious melodies and a seasoned deep bass line. In the previous times when I attempted this it never worked because people would always get angry as they would only want to hear my deeper soulful side of house music that they’ve come to know me by”.

“I’d actually get a DJ whom I’ll ask a set of Nu Jazz for example as an opening set in the party. In that way it’ll allow me to kind of exercise the influence and the trust people have placed on my abilities to musically conceptualise a journey for them and when they do ask me about what they’ve heard I get the opportunity to explain to them and thus broadening their musical palettes” he continues with an air of excitement in his voice as if he’s been superimposed onto that situation.

And yes, knowing the depths to which Vinny takes his art, I have no doubt that by doing so he’ll turn lots of dance floors into mini music ‘foundation’ classes so you can’t dare leave the same way you arrived. “Don’t get me wrong,’ he continues, “I’m not here referring to a production seminar or anything like that,” (there’s Black Coffee for that, as we both laugh and digress slightly as he relates to me how Black Coffee and Culoe De Song are both products and have become good case studies of the South African Music conference and what it represents) “I’ll only be broadening the scope and allowing the young guys to carry on and experiment even more” he adds thoughtfully.

Aside from having made major advances in introducing different interpretations of House music, especially Deep house music to South African urban audiences and with House at an unprecedented apex in the country there’s no better time for pioneering another instalment of his Deep House Sound compilation series.