This Friday Kenny Dixon Jr. aka Moodymann will step to the stage at Trouw. Moodymann has become an icon in dance for a variety of reasons. First and foremost his music. His catalog is based on a unique way of sampling where he blends decades of African-American musical heritage, and adding to that heritage as he goes along. He’s an outspoken adversary of the powers of the music industry, sharing his inability to make creative concession wherever he goes. And when he thinks people are starting to get a grasp of what he’s about, he will gladly change their mind with his subsequent release or phreaky interview.
So what can we expect from Kenny’s gig in the soon to be closed venue that has so many Amsterdam clubbers in tears over? Who knows. Anticipating a Moodymann set is as pointless as introducing sniffer-dogs to a nightclub. Be sure though, that what you will hear are extracts from the foundation of dance music woven into his set: funk, soul, jazz and hopefully a couple of those ingeniously sampled gems that will beg for the dancefloor to explode.
As a small introduction to his gig, here’s a video of the man himself from back in 2010, when he was a guest lecturer at Red Bull Music Academy. It’s as close as you could come to actually get an idea of the man behind the music. From the moment he appears, the tone is set for the rest of the broadcast: his harem/female posse sitting beside him as he speaks – creating some funny and, at times, awkward scenes in the process – giving the audience a disclaimer on the street talk they’re about to witness. Moodymann’s appearance is as much a lecture as it is a one and a half hour life lesson for any aspiring artist who is truly in it for the love of music, whatever genre that may be. Not wanting to make records, but wanting to make music for the sake of making music, he explains, is everything.
“I am not into this to press up mass amounts of records. I’m not into this to be travelling around the motherfucking world. I am not into this to impress anybody, I am into this for my own heart and soul. A lot of people, after work, you go home you take a bath. A lot of people you go home you fuck your wife, a lot of people go home, you cut your grass. I go home and I fuck that motherfucking MPC all fucking night”.
Pre-sale tickets for Trouw’s Last Christmas are sold out, but there will be plenty of tickets at the door.
