See footage of DJ Beware´s recent trip to Rio. Oh and by the way, he´ll be a new contributor to the Man Recorder. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome….

As you may have noticed, we love series at Man Recordings. We started the Funk Mundial series and the Baile Funk Masters series, to establish platform for musical concepts. While Funk Mundial is the platform for collaborations between Rio based MCs and producers from the Northern hemisphere, the Baile Funk Masters series is exclusively dedicated to Rio producers and DJs. For our blog, we started the “Man Recordings Inspiration Series” which presents videos from artists that inspired the Man Recordings sound and look. So now it´s the time for another series for our blog. In “The Man Recordings Legends Selection ” we´ll present tracks by bands and artists that were inspiration for us as kids, opening our virgin ears.

There´s probably no better track to kick off the series as the following tune by Bavarian funk outfit Relax. The quartet rose to prominence in 1982 with their debut single “Radio Hörn” (Listening to radio), which is a hard boiled funk track – with err, Bavarian German lyrics. “Radio Hörn” shows that the early 1980s “Neue Deutsche Welle” (German New Wave) wasnt all about post punk and electronic instruments. In fact, it had various protagonists that were massively inspired by names such as James Brown, Ohio Players, Kool & The Gang, Earth Wind + Fire, George Duke and other U.S. funk outfits. George Kranz´s “Din Daa Daa”, the first album by Nena or the tracks by the former backing band of Nina Hagen, Spliff, illustrate that U.S. funk had a huge influence in German pop culture way before hip hop landed in Germany.

So check out Relax and their “Radio Hörn” – and you´ll understand that Germans do have the funk too, even in Bavaria!

RELAX “RADIO HÖRN”

It´s Eurodance time again! Original Baile Funk Master DJ EDGAR from Rio De Janeiro sent us one of his new remixes. It demonstrates once again that DJ Edgar can turn anything into gold – even Gigi D´Agostino´s “I´ll Fly With You”, an Italian progressive-house classic from 1999.

Download it from here:

GIGI D´AGOSTINO “I´LL FLY WITH YOU – DJ EDGAR REMIX”

The German New Wave had many effects on the emergence of electro funk in the U.S. and DAF´s “Der Räuber Und Der Prinz” illustrates why. The song hasnt got a real funky beat, but when released in 1981 people considered it perfect for the dancefloor. In opposition to the electronic beats of Kraftwerk, DAF used a heavy, live drum beat that sounded like minimalist rock, combined with a set of spare electronic sounds. When surfacing, “Der Räuber Und Der Prinz” sounded so alien, it was considered music from the 21st century. Besides it´s heavy popularity on post-disco dancefloors across Europe (e.g. Cosmic Disco in Northern Italy) it became big in the NY downtown scene. Thus not only NY electro funk was largely influenced by “Der Räuber Und Der Prinz” (”The robber and the prince”). Also visually the song had a huge impact: The video featuring mechanical toy puppets (in lack of budget and robots) was quite possibly the main inspiration for Herbie Hancock´s legendary clip of “Rockit” from 1983.
Until today DAF are considered Germany´s prime influence for electro pop across the world and the later emergence of techno and late 90s electro – right next to Kraftwerk. P.S. Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft = German American Friendship (a much used Cold War term in West Germany)

See Herbie Hancock´s “Rockit” video here:

DJ Beware just visited Rio for the first time. See him talk about his first impressions.

Big up for the interview to Tee Cardaci, who runs the highly recommendable “Sanfrancarioca” blog. Sanfrancarioca reports from a Gringo´s perspective on music, politics and culture in Rio De Janeiro. Check Sanfrancarioca here: http:/sanfrancarioca.blogspot.com/