Nena to appear at Westbam's 60th birthday party

The Dudes checked in with legendary Berlin DJ Westbam to talk about his early discovery of music, his career so far, his thoughts on dance music culture and what to expect at his massive upcoming birthday party - including details of a very special guest. All photos by Ondrej Szollos.

When did you first get turned on to dance music, and what was it about dance music that appealed to you above other genres of music?

I became aware of electronic music really early - as an 'anti-authoritarian' hippie kid in the early 70's. My father - an art professor - and his students were dancing to Krautrock like Can and Kraftwerk, as well as to The Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead. I remember first danced at a punk rock concert in 1979 to a German band called Hans-A-Plast. So my first dance was pogo not disco.  (Laughs)

In terms of the technology that was available to you when you started out, what were some of the first instruments or tools that you used to shape your sound? 

I started creating my first electric dance music demos back in 1983. MIDI had been introduced the year before which meant everybody could synchronize different synths and beatboxes. The early 80's saw this explosion of electronic dance music because Japan provided affordable  synths to the world. My first beatbox was called 'Dr Rhythm' and my first synth was the Korg MS 10 in 1980.

Has the advancement in technology changed the way you perform or your approach to dance music?

Well obviously the DJ game has changed dramatically since the good old analogue 'buy-vinyl-at-record-stores-mix-them-on-TechnicsMK1200- days'. A lot of people insist it was much better back then. I think that is total crap. It's way better now. More speed, more variety, easier access for everybody to everything. I wish it would have been that way, when I started… well now that I think about it: really I love having been a part of that story the way it happened over the decades.

In terms of your development as an artist - how has your creative journey changed from your early days as a DJ and musician to now?

I coined the words 'Disco Riot' for my 'new thing' as a teenager, and the term 'Record Art' for my artistic approach to DJing. And these two words pretty much sum up what I do until today. But I discover new things in it these days still.

The author Alan Moore talks about art being a magical force - inspiration comes from some otherworldly place, and artists take those ideas, make them tangible and put them into the world where they take on a life of their own. What is your approach to art and being an artist?

Interesting. I remember once saying in an interview: a DJ is mediator between the world of the people and the world of music. So I like to think of my work as: Translating the music to the people. But not only that. Also: Translating the people to the music. (Laughs)

The first Love Parade came just a few months before one of the Western world’s most significant cultural and political events: the fall of the Berlin Wall. What stood out to you at that time about the Parade? How did the Parade and dance music culture contribute to those seismic changes?

Yeah we danced the wall down. (laughs) …the 150 people that we were at the first Love Parade (laughs again)… No actually I think techno played a little role in that whole story of the times changing.

I got invited to East Berlin in the summer of 89 and I could not believe it: there were around 9000 people there at our event. It was way bigger than any party in West Berlin or in fact in all West Germany to that date. So I think the longing for that kind of freedom, that house and techno culture projected was indeed something that brought down the wall. In some way.