Dan Ofer is the energy force behind Bossaphonik, its chief architect and primary DJ.
Gil Karpas was the Bossaphonik creator and initiator. An experienced music promoter as well as a guitarist/ percussionist/ vocalist and one half of Cambridge legendary radio show, “Beatnik”.
Bossaphonik DJ’s Dan Ofer and Gil Karpas uncover uplifting and innovative tunes for the pleasure of the Bossaphonik dancefloor.
As DJ's they specialise in:
Latin — sambas, bossas, batucada, latin hip hop, descargas, Brazilian drum ‘n’ bass, boogaloo, cumbia.
Afrobeat — Fela Kuti influenced afrobeat, afro-funk, West African highlife, Senegalese mbalax, afro-jazz, contemporary afro productions.
Balkan beats— Primarily modern Balkan productions influenced by folk music from Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary and the whole Balkans.
World breaks and global groove — Dancefloor fusion tunes from accross the whole planet! North-African, Turkish, middle eastern, flamenco, Caribbean, Asian underground.
Nu jazz/dancefloor jazz — Modern dancefloor jazz productions that keep jazz moving forwards and also cater for dancing in clubs. From acoustic jazz dance to the harder broken beats of nu jazz. Productions are worldwide – but particularly from Italy and Scandinavia.
14 of Dan’s classic warm-upers:
Pre-live act music to nourish mind and soul.
Latin
Marcello D2: A Procura da Batida — An uplifting Brazilian hip hop beauty with a gorgeous classical guitar theme and lush chorus.
Sidestepper: Mas Papaya — Harmonium chords lead chunky r ‘n’ b rhythms with Spanish vocal harmonies and rapping.
Baden Powel: Blues a volente — A joyous piece of brazilica. A loose bossa-groove of piercing percussion and snares hold down cheeky scat vocals.
Afrobeat
Red hot and riot: Water no get enemy — High point of the awesome Fela Kuti tribute album. A rare calmer moment from Fela.
Phillip Cohran and the Artistic Heritage Ensemble: The Minstrel — An innovative afro-jazz fusion gem from the late 60’s featuring a “frankiphone” - amplified electric thumb piano created by the artist!
K. Frimpong and his Cubano Fiestas: Kyenkyen bi adi m’awu — A mid 70’s Ghanaian hit. A uniquely deep and soulful cross of highlife and “Frimpong beat.”
Balkan
!Deladap: Biav — From this Austrian “nu-roma/urban gypsy” band comes this brilliantly produced catchy scat, with great fiddle soloing.
Yuriy Gurzhy vs. The Amsterdam klezmer band: Immigrant song — Balkan hip hop with a great klezmer fiddle chorus.
World Breaks
Duoud: Must — The oud duo get funky with breakbeats and brass stabs.
Nu-jazz
Micatone: Still in time — Beautiful female jazz vocals meet uplifting vibraphone runs and a fat double bass from this exciting nu-soul outfit.
Eric Legnini trio: Rock the days — Rockin’ piece of soul-jazz with great feel-good soloing. 2 versions, one played on Fender Rhodes, the other on acoustic piano.
Five corners quintet: Trading eights — Dancefloor jazz action from the thriving Finnish nu-jazz scene.
Omar: Its so — Real funky number that works great at building the atmosphere. Sparkling brass with Omar’s so soulful vocals.
Soil and “pimp” sessions: Walz for goddess — One of the most well known tunes from one of Dan’s favourite bands.
14 of Dan’s classic peak-timer’s:
High energy jazz-dance to nourish body and soul
Latin
Gerardo Frisina: Descarga — Lovely dancefloor latin tune – percussive piano chords and fiery percussion kept minimal for straight dancefloor connection.
Los hermanos latinos: Las calenas remix — Apparently produced by Quantic and Miles Cleret of Soundway records - they are responsible for these near perfect hip hop interpretations of old latin tunes.
Truby trio: Jaleo — Uplifting flamenco guitar-led dancefloor beauty from the well known nu-jazz act.
Suba: Samba do gringo (Zero dB mix) — The mighty Zero dB reconstruct this tune into a broken-samba-techno monster!
Nicola Conte feat. Rosalia de Souza: Maria Moita — An all time fave. The sweetest Brazilian scat-sung melody and song meet the most tasteful subtle drum ‘n’ bass groove courtesy of Mr Conte. Sparkling solos midway. Pure heaven.
Afrobeat
Fela Anikulapo Kuti and the Afrika 70: Roforofo fight — From the black president himself, possibly his most danceable track of all time! A long drum intro courtesy of Tony Allen later explodes into this classic of arpeggio trumpet runs and funky as hell brass.
Soul jazz orchestra: Mista President — One of the finest modern afrobeat tracks, the intro has 4 awsome pure brass breaks before the call and response chorus kicks in.
Balkan
Shantel: Bucovina (Haaksman & Haaksman soca bogle mix) — A great crossover Balkan tune, the original brass melody remains but with a fat soca beat and reggae chords overlaid.
LaBrassBanda: Marienkafer — This German brass band deliver an explosion of a tune, hard uptempo beats matched by fiery brass runs.
World Breaks
Brooklyn funk essentials: Zerna preserve — Fantastic fusion of Turkish scales and rhythms played on oud and darabuka and a nice fat funk feel. A highly unusual sound.
Daphna Sadeh and The Voyagers: Debka — From this highly unusual middle-east fusion band that have featured at Bossaphonik comes this hybrid of accordions, saz, Arabic melodies and funky beats.
Nu Jazz
The jazzinvaders: Up and out — A storming dancefloor jazz tune with an exhilarating brass theme, simple piano riffs and wonderful soloing. A pleasure to watch weave its magic onto the dancefloor.
Outside: To forgive but not forget — The violin tune! Maestro freeform classic/folk/jazz fiddle playing laid on reggae chords and old skool jungle riddims!
Povo: Shihabs Habit — A richly musical dancefloor jazz stormer in a 60’s soul jazz style. Incredible piano and drum soloing with huge energy combined with the hard club beats.
Dan Ofer's Mix
Listen to a mix by Dan Ofer on the Spacebeats Website.
Labels
Labels that gain favour with us at Bossaphonik...
Clearly not everything on these labels is necessarily to our taste, but broadly, these are the labels with the attitude to music that we like at Bossaphonik:
Brighton-based Soundway records is dedicated to re-releasing lost and forgotten Recordings from the world’s most vibrant musical cultures. Largely releasing veriety of tropical dance music from the 60’s and 70’s, the most notable being the “Ghana Soundz” series which is a collection of afrobeat, funk and fusion from 70’s Ghana.
An eclectic label and a cult clubnight of 13 years in Stockholme, Sweden. Raw Fusion represents black music of the underground club scene. Genres such as soulful house, cutting edge hip hop, raw street-soul, electro-funk, dancefloor jazz, rough latin and deep Detroit techno boogie! They are home to some fantastic Scandinavian artists such as Povo, A Bossa Eletrica, Red Astaire and Damn.
Italian label Schema focuses primarily on modern soul-jazz and bossanova. Launched in 1997 with the collaboration of DJ, remixer and band leader Nicola Conte, the label is responsible for a huge number of beautiful jazz and latin releases which have always gained favour on the Bossaphonik dancefloor. Notable releases of critical acclaim are the “Break ‘n’ Bossa” and “Freedom Jazz Dance” compilations. The label is also home to one of Dan’s favourite artists, Gerado Frisina – who’s sound is a balance between jazz, afro-latin and contemporary beats.
Another eclectic label that releases great alternative dance music and a home to great acts such as Quantic, Alice Russell, Nostalgia 77 and Belleruche amongst many others. The label releases music with originality, soul and creativity and tries to push music forwards at the same time. Such a forward thinking attitude has earned them winners of “label of the year” award at Gilles Peterson’s worldwide awards.
Ricky Tick represents the thriving scene in Helsinki, Finland. “New jazz” rather than “Nu Jazz,” the label focuses on updating the 60’s soul jazz sounds sometimes for the dancefloor and sometimes not. Ricky Tick artists include 5 Corners Quintet, Timo Lassy, Jukka Eskola and Dalindeo amongst others.
Freestyle by name, freestyle by nature. Set up in 2003 by Adrian Gibson- programmer and DJ at The Jazz Café, the label’s releases cover all areas of jazz-dance, as long as its melodic and groovey. From deep junk, deancefloor jazz, hip hop, soul, afrobeat, breaks, latin, disco and house. Extremely proficient, with a huge following from DJ’s all around the world.
Another Swedish label releasing all things eclectic and funky. Bossaphonik faves from the label include Dancing Djedi’s drum ‘n’ bass rework of Ernest Ranglin’s “Surfin” and Tropical Treats’s edit of Oneness of Juju’s “African Rhythms.”
One of the leading labels of East European music with a large roster of artists. The sounds range from original folk from the region to Balkan-reggae and rock mash-ups to fusions of Balkan folk with contemporary dance music that has fairly recently become the “Balkan clubbing experience.” Most well known are the fantastic “Balkan Beats” compilations.