Spectakulo 2007 is the name of the little festival JH Eenders, home of our parties, organises at the end of the summer. Last years this was mainly an Onda Sonora organisation. Last year we had 2000WAT, Mr. Critical, Mellow P, Kid Sublime, Tom Trago, Aardvarck and Red D as guests. A bit too much of what we like. Mainly because the festival should reflect JH Eenders’ diversity, not only our side of things. And secondly because due to this overload of niceness (2 rooms at the same time) we couldn’t fully enjoy the event ourselves.

This year we take a step back and Onda Sonora will only be organising the party inside, leaving the outside party in the capable hands of the youngsters at JH Eenders. And we’ll do our fare share of activities in the afternoon. There will be a basketball tournament in the afternoon with dj’s, breakdance and some live MC’s. We’ll be coordinating that. There’s the traditional petanque contest. And we’ll work out the experiment with the marching band in the afternoon a little further. Food, cocktails, other fine drinks and plenty of space in the park surrounding the JH Eenders headquartes to enjoy all this will be, like always, on the program too.

At night, outside will be a little more mainstream with a "Batida" party. Expect oldskool party classics, eurodance and the like. Inside we’ll outdo ourselves. Concentrating all our efforts to present you one of the finest line-ups in Onda Sonora history. We’re negotiating a killer headliner and dito support.

Keep Saturday the 1st of September free for us. We won’t disappoint you.

Nice one. Ben Westbeech will be supporting Gilles Peterson and Koop at their gig at Depot in Leuven, Friday May 18^th. Interesting.

Was fun but we’ve learned a lot.

First of all Friday. The Saint Bar, Halle’s new fancy club, is a nice initiative. Well designed, cool place to spin. But they should do something about their door policy. They are way too strict and that wouldn’t be a problem if the club was packed. But it isn’t. Loosen up babies and something beautiful may flourish. The way they are going down now isn’t alright. This deserves better.

Saturday was a day pregnant with high expectations. Dimitri From Paris, a man with near godlike status for us disco maniacs was spinning. Stereosushi a nice club with a solid line of guest dj’s (check Kerri Chandler (17/03), Jazzy Jeff (13/4), dj Spinna (28/4)). The only minus being the local BCBG peeps. And the club had an overdose of that last weekend. Fools being rude and having no respect for the dancers. Dimitri started stellar though. Recognised little of his spot on disco selection (first time I danced to Goldie Alexander without putting it on the decks myself). At the end (for us ‘cause we left earlier than planned due to too much fools on the dancefloor not dancing) he drifted of to a kind of house I like less (but still tres funky). I would have enjoyed this night so much more if there would have been an "No Ralph Lauren" policy at the door. I’m being elitist, I know, but I like a little respect on the dancefloor (and a little room too). And it’s not a coincidence that those being rude could easily be categorised by the clothes they wear.

I like using brackets (is this the correct word?), by the way.

Most of the people living in Brussels will know the “Nuit Blanche” concept. Otherwise check this site: www.nuitblanche2006.be. The coordinators of this project have launched a call for ideas for the edition of 2007 which will take place on Saturday September 29th. Theme this year is ‘The 7 Sins of the Capital’.

Last year there were plans with the Keep On dudes to do something but due to too little time to put something together nothing happened. Anyway I think it’s a good opportunity to join forces between some of the likeminded organisers in Brussels. Look for a public place and organise a little party. Something funky. Bringing people together.

Ideas need to be send to the administration of the city of Brussels before March 30th. They select the 100 most original or relevant ones and provide support in the form of communication, coordination, logistics and in some cases even financial. Anyone interested in trying to put something together for this ?

It’s been a bit quiet around here these last few days. Reason for that is the broken harddisk of my home-computer. And it’s a bit difficult to write decent posts on other people’s computers. So, posting will be on a minimum frequency untill everything’s fixed.

If all goes well on their first party at Biberium on March 17th and they get the go for the rest of this year to organize Strictly Niceness at this place, well, then Saturday April 14th Onda Sonora will be the guests. Joining the Strictly Niceness dj’s in search for the perfect groove. Will be confirmed right after the first Strictly Niceness party. Support the movement. Brussels can use some soul.

Friday 16.02.07 - Laurent Garnier Live - Styrofoam & Fat Jon - Het Depot - Leuven
Friday 16.02.07 - Music in Mind Festival with 4Hero feat. Marc Mac en Mc MG - Concertgebouw - Brugge
Friday 16.02.07 - Kode 9 & Spaceape - Het Depot - Leuven
Saturday 17.02.07 - Futurama with Carl Craig - Silo - Leuven
Saturday 17.02.07 - Tortoise - Het Depot - Leuven
Saturday 24.02.07 – Dimitri from Paris - Stereosushi - Antwerp
Saturday 24.02.07 - Wonderful with Lefto, Vic’n Lloyd and Brown Moshunz - Le Tavernier - Brussels
Saturday 24.02.07 - Red D feat. Lady Lynn - Café Capital - Antwerp
Saturday 10.03.07 - The Rhythm Heritage Orchestra - Handelsbeurs - Ghent
Saturday 17.03.07 – Kerri Chandler - Stereosushi - Antwerp
Saturday 17.03.07 - Strictly Niceness - Biberium - Brussels
Wednesday 21.03.07 - Jazzbreak with Soul:ID - Le Tavernier - Brussels
Saturday 24.03.07 - Wonderful with Kid Sublime, Lefto, Vic’n Lloyd and Brown Moshunz - Le Tavernier - Brussels
Thursday 29.03.07 - Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - SOJO - Leuven
Friday 30.03.07 - Carl Craig - Petrol  - Antwerp
Saturday 31.03.07 - Henrik Schwarz - Petrol  - Antwerpen
Sunday 08.04.07 - Onda Sonora - JH Eenders - Halle
Saturday 14.04.07 - Strictly Niceness - Biberium - Brussels
Friday 27.04.07 - The Heptones - Het Depot - Leuven
Saturday 28.04.07 - DJ Spinna - Stereosushi - Antwerp
Wednesday 16.05.07 - Keb Darge - Petrol  - Antwerpen
Thursday 17.05.07 - Dela Soul feat. Prince Paul and Dres from Black Sheep - Het Depot - Leuven
Friday 18.05.07 - Koop & Gilles Peterson - Het Depot - Leuven

BBE is ruling as always. The 2 albums which I’m looking very much forward to this moment, are Karizma’s “A Mind Of Its Own” on their subsidiary R2 and certainly Jazzy Jeff’s “The Return Of The Magnificient”. Like Dilla, Jazzy Jeff has always been around in my collection. Producing some of my favorite tracks or being involved in the making of the nicest music I enjoy. Been reading my notes better since he appeared with a feature on both on Nuyorican Soul LP as on Slum Village’s “Fantastic part 2″. From then on he’s been delivering the goods with a constant high quality. From what I heard, the new LP will be on that same height. Check “My Soul Ain’t 4 Sale” and “All I Know” with CL Smooth in very fine form on Jeff’s Myspace.

After my rant on the lack of respect we received from the incrowd last weekend we have to give an example of the contrary. Red D is inviting us so often that we begin to feel guilty we can’t ask him more. Since a couple of weeks he is hosting a weekly after work party on Thursday in the Suite 16 club in Ghent. Thursday the 8th of March we are his guests. Working late indeed.

On top of that we can announce you the date for one of our next events. Saturday May 26th. Onda Sonora will have as a guest the true don of underground soulful parties in Halle and far outside. Rikkie, one of our main inspirations and mentors will join us behind the decks. Expect soulful house mixed with a quality we’ve only heard on very rare occasions. And we’ve been to Southport, The Shelter and other temples of the genre.

The first weekend of May it’s the festivities for the 13th anniversary of JH Eenders. We’ll organize things on Friday. On a more Hiphop tip, with live gigs and stuff. More about that soon.

Had a good time last weekend. Friday Rainer Trüby was on point as ever. Really enjoyed his set. We were a little chaotic ourselves. Took some time to find our groove. But it was a nice party with lots of lovely people. Lots of heads I had never seen before. Thanks for showing up, all of you.

On the other hand more than a bit disappointed by the lack of support from the non Halle crew (apart from the brothers Vanthournout, the New Balance posse and some other close friends). Everybody always complains there’s too little good parties, but showing up at the few good ones would help our cause a lot. Same for all those wanting to dj at our parties. The least you could do is represent yourself. Time we draw some conclusions out of that. It’s a give and take situation.

Saturday we saw our favorite dj from Liverpool back, Phat Phil Cooper. Ripping it back to back style with Rainer in Le Livingroom. Damn fine set, a shame they had to play on a soundsystem inferior to my home stereo.

More weekends like this would be nice. A special thanks to Nick Blow for bringing over so much fine people, to Rainer aka dj Gesloten for the good music and spirit, to Phat Phil always nice to see you, to the other Nick and the long dancing guy, to everybody doing their share of the work, to Soul Rebel and Tom D for the classy warming up and to Yoeri and Lieve for everything.

Time to announce you the program of our Easter Sunday party. We’ve been doing mysterious about it for quite a while now but that’s over from today on.

We’re pretty proud of this line-up. It brings together most of the music Onda Sonora stands for. From raw Funk & Soul over Disco, Hiphop to House. And we bring you the quality stuff off course.

First of all we thought it would be nice to start early. With an evening session. We’ve invited the boys from Bugalu, known to organise the funkiest parties and concerts in and far around Leuven. 72Soul may be lesser known to a lot of you but he has done more than his fare share of work to inflict you with the groove. Playing in lots of bands and making mixes for Radio Kifkif and Laid Back. Finally we, the Onda Sonora Soundsystem, will play a set in their original line-up. Exiting for us and all who has been supporting us from the beginning.

To give you the energy to get through the entire party we’ll do a barbecue. We provide the salads and other side-dishes, you’ll have to bring the meat or vegy-stuff to put on the grill. Extra power can be consumed in liquid form. Cocktails, special beers and our homemade Punch will charge up your batteries the Onda Sonora way.

The night session will be something very special. We’ve invited a couple of Ferris Park Records artists to do something out of the usual. Label head honcho and Detroit native Scott Ferguson and his Belgian colleague’s Red D, Core and Lady Linn will bring you a slice of uncut Detroit meets Belgium House in a combined dj and live setup. Synths, decks, percussion and sweet vocals will expand the little experiments we’ve had before (remember the Antal gig with vocals and violin). It was thrilling before, it’s gonna be more than that now.

Onda Sonora Soundsystem will fill up the gaps with their deep and soulful disco meets raw real house vibe.

On top of that we’ll do everything in our power to make it a night to remember. We’ll decorate the venue in a style which will honour one of our main inspirations; David Mancuso’s Loft parties. Entrance will be a 7” record (or the usual low fee but we prefer vinyl). And lots more.

For more info check the Easter Sunday page on the right side of this Blog.

This video gives you an insight in what the web is becoming / could become. And what it could mean to us. To you. Maybe a bit dorky for a lot of you but it is a clear presentation of why you should embrace it instead of being afraid of it. Like a lot of my friends seem to be.

Tom Trago is a busy man these days. Releasing 2 EP’s, one on Nod Navigators and a joined venture EP with San Proper. Both very fine pieces of deep raw music. Proving we were right to praise his talents when announcing he was playing at our little festival last year. State Magazine has done an interview with him. In Dutch.

We’ll hear more of this kid in the near future, for sure.

Found where Freddie Cruger got his inspiration for the cover of his “Bap Your Head” 12″. It’s looks a lot like Johnny Osbourne’s classic “Truth and Rights” LP cover. Or at least one of the covers that LP has. Discovered this digging for Reggae. About time I update my collection in that direction. Still lotsa killer tunes I need to have.

We’ve been teasing you a few times with our Easter Sunday party. Friday we’ll make the program public and we’ll start with the promo. As said before it’s gonna be wild. Also on Friday we’ll have our new t-shirts. Freshly printed. Bring some extra money (15 €) to buy one.

And if you’re wondering what’s on Friday. Well look at the right of this blog and see the Rainer Trüby party flyer. Really looking forward to 2 days of partying with Rainer, the Onda Sonora friends & family and the extended Southport crew.

- Afefe Iku - Bodydrummin’ (Yoruba)
- San Proper and Tom Trago - Catterpillar Blues (Rush Hour)
- Tom Trago - The Fluor Green EP (Nod Navigators)
- Amp Fiddler - Ridin’ - Carl Craig 12″ Mix (Genuine)
- Amy Winehouse - In My Bed - Bugz In The Attic Vocal Mix (Island)
- Peven Everett - Can’t Do Without (Soul Heaven)
- Jovonn - Can’t Hold It Back (Deeply Rooted)
- Black Milk - Sound The Alarm (Fat Beats)
- Blackjoy - Untitled - Kerri Chandler’s Bigga Mix (Freerange)
- Karizma - Tech This Out Part 2 (R2 Records)
- The Piscean Group - The Piscean Group LP (Yoruba / R2 Records)

This is THE list … all dj’s who’ll be playing at Southport Weekender 40. And it’s a monster of a list. Some hard choices will need to be made early May because a lot of them will play at the same moment.

In no particular order ;
Louie Vega
Kenny Dope
Kerri Chandler
Gilles Peterson
Trevor Nelson
DJ Jazzy Jeff
DJ Spen
Quentin Harris
Jazzanova
Frankie Feliciano
Ron Trent
Danny Krivit
Jazzie B (Soul 2 Soul)
Moodymann
Steve Sutherland
Dixon
Mark Mac (4 Hero)
IG Culture
Bobby & Steve
Terry Hunter
Norman Jay
Ronnie Herel
Snowboy
Kev Beadle
Shortee Blitz
Bob Jones
Benji B
Simon “School Boy” Phillips
DJ Swerve
Diggz
Andy Davies
Steve Butler
Bigger
Richard Searling
Colin Patterson
Max Rees
Billy Davidson
Terry Jones
Mike Stephens
Steve Wren
Gary Dennis
Bob Jeffries
Simon Mansel
Jonathan
Scott Bradford

That it’s so easy to fuck up one’s Myspace. All those bloody fools posting comments with lousy designed and plain ugly pictures in ‘em. Makes loading a Myspace near impossible and for what? Usually for stupid info nobody cares about. Got nothing against comments with promo but they have to be informative to me and who’s visiting the space. I like to support peple but they should be respectful with my good will. Spam makes me and the visitors of Myspace pissed. And that’s not what I need.

We haven’t mentioned it here yet and that’s a big mistake of us. De Hop, Belgium’s finest radioshow, is expanding year after year. Since begin 2007 it is 3 hours long. Lefto still spinning the finest tunes in Hiphop and beyond for the first 2 hours. The extra hour is filled with mixes by up and coming talent like Dyno, sOne and others next to less interesting mixes by bigger names mainly playing that mainstream crap we try to avoid as much as possible. But all in all it’s a bloody good show and you all should give it a listen. Even if Gus and Kirsten are babbling in Dutch or that it’s on a Friday night. Through the Stubru website you can listen a whole week to the last show.

Spotted on the Rush Hour Records Blog that Antal and our own Red D are working on a new Chicago Boogie compilation to be released on our favourite Dutch label. Looking forward to that.

… is coming closer. Slowly but surely. And they might even make the full list of dj’s public one of these days. Check this message on their website.

SOUTHPORT WEEKENDER 40th BIRTHDAY, MAY 11,12,13 2007

“THE FULL LINE UP OF DJ’S FOR OUR 40th BIRTHDAY WEEKENDER WILL BE ANNOUNCED BY E MAIL TO MEMBER’S OF OUR MAILING LIST, LATER THIS WEEK, MAKE SURE YOU’RE THE FIRST TO KNOW, BY REGISTERING HERE FOR WHAT IS GOING TO BE A HUGE EVENT “

WE ARE CURRENTLY IN NEGOTIATIONS FOR SOME FANTASTIC LIVE ARTISTS, WHO WILL AGAIN BE ANNOUNCED VIA E MAIL AT A LATER DATE.

THE FULL LINE-UP WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON THIS PAGE SHORTLY ONCE OUR MEMBERS HAVE BEEN INFORMED.

You should all have marked the 17th of February in your agendas for the next edition of Keep On. The one after that is confirmed too. It will be the 21th of April. Same place, Dali’s Bar Brussels. More info on both events very soon.

Thru Thoughts, NRK, Straight No Chaser, Florian Keller, Blood and Fire, Defected, Mr. Scruff and Treva Whateva, Domu, Third Ear, Greg Wilson, Ghostly International, Compost, Jay Scarlett, Best Kept Secret and much more. They all have a radioprogram on Samurai.fm. Particulary love Greg Wilson’s concept. Playing a selection of records, month by month, of the last 30 years. We need that guy to play in Belgium. I’ll make it my mission in life to get that fixed.

It might take a while before we add some more podcast sites or online mixes. We’ve got quite a cue of podcasts in our iTunes and it’s gonna take a while before we fine-combed Samurai.fm. But you never know. Collectors like we are we’re always on the lookout for more, better and more obscure.

Some nice things to do this weekend. Friday it’s New Year Reception at JH Eenders in Halle. Also in Halle there’s the “Elements of Life” party at the Saint Bar with resident dj Rikkie and Jonathan from Boebar. If you’re in Antwerp, K’Bonus and Kwak are playing at Café Capital.

Saturday you can check out “Le Bateau Ivre”, a party organised bij dj Reedoo from United recordshop with him and Strictly Niceness’ Kwak behind the decks. The party is in the basement of the “Les Nouveaux Russes” restaurant, Rue Haute 4, 1000 Brussels. Onda Sonora’s BLA will join Phil Harvengt behind the decks of the Jesus Paradise hosted cocktailbar at the Bulex party.

Sunday, it’s Red D’s Sunday Matinee at Charlatan in Ghent with as main guest Detroit legend Kenny Larkin. Hope to see y’all there. Gonna be massive, no doubt.