By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Rider Weekends music festival will return to Rio’s Marina da Glória for its fifth edition on January 7th. Continuing through January 16th, the festival will feature performances by musicians, bands, and DJs including Amine Edge & Dance, Emicida, Seu Jorge, Caetano Veloso, Omulu, Leo Justi, and João Brasil, as well as nights featuring some of the most popular parties and DJs in the city and beyond.
Performing on January 8th as part of this edition of the festival’s lineup, the French pair of producers and DJs, known as Amine Edge & Dance took a moment to speak with The Rio Times via email before their upcoming performance.
“We really love playing in Brazil,” the duo told The Rio Times. “We have played so many times here, but it’s always good to play in Rio. When we have days off between gigs in Rio, we like to relax as much as we can – it’s amazing, a dream city for people from overseas like us.”
Blending their respective loves of house and hip hop, the pair of friends from Marseille, France have steadily built a following around the world.
When asked about their respective early influences, Amine Edge said; “I was about 13 when I decided to be a DJ, mainly influenced by people like Todd Terry and Armand Van Helden. I fell in love with house music very young and to this day, I’ve never wanted to be anything else than a DJ.”
Dance replied; “I’ve always loved music since I was a child, but I decided to start making music when I was 20, which is 11 years ago now. I love rap and R&B, so my influences at the time were artists like A Tribe Called Quest, J.Dilla, Dr Dre, R Kelly, Biggie etc.”
It is the combination of those likes that has lead to their unique and evolving sound which blends the genres of house, breaks, hip hop and more. The duo is also known for their remixes of other’s works and collaborations.
When asked about remixing they said; “It’s always a challenge! For example, when we remixed Tiga – “Bugatti,” we were really excited as we are big fans of the original, but we always bring our touch to it to try and make it sound brand new. We like to take influences and ideas from lots of different musical genres to help remix tracks to our flavor.”
Additionally known for sharing their complete live sets with fans, Amine Edge and Dance have an upcoming mixtape release. “We’ve made so many tracks over the past few years and played them at gigs all around the world without ever actually releasing them,” they explained.
“So we decided to give them to the people for free – that’s where the idea for the free download mixtape came from. We are finalizing it at the moment, arranging the tracks and making them sound as good as they can. We also have our friend Sergio Diaz singing on some of the tracks, so it has taken a little more time, but it sounds incredible!”
Adding, “We have recently signed a deal with PTAF to release our new single ‘Boss Ass Bitch’ on 18th December too,” Amine Edge and Dance added, “with the version that people know plus Dub and Instrumental mixes, as people have requested. We try to make everyone happy as often and as much as we can – that’s why we are the only DJs who record and upload all of our sets.”
Before Amine Edge and Dance take the stage, São Paulo rapper Emicida and guest Seu Jorge will headline the opening night of the 2016 of the Rider Weekends festival on January 7th. Brazilians Omulu, João Brasil and Leo Justi will then follow to close out the first night.
Another notable event in the festival’s lineup is the Cantoria de Verão performance with Pretinho & Band on the 14th, which will include special guests Caetano Veloso, Nando Reis, Mosquito and Teresa Cristina. Parties featured during the festival this year will include Vambora with Dibob and Push! on the 9th; Errejota and Sheeins on the 15th; and Baile do Dennis and the #Hashtage Party on the 16th.
Created by the brand Rider in 2011 and produced by D+3 productions, the previous editions of the Rider Weekends festival included a total of twenty-four shows and fifty-six parties, with over 80,000 combined attendees, according to organizers. This year, attendance is expected to reach 18,000 people.
“The audience in Brazil is very different than anywhere else, they have so much enthusiasm,” said Amine Edge and Dance. “Every time we play a track, people are screaming – it’s almost like when footballers smash a ball into the back of the net, GOALLLL! Their reactions make us more excited and give us more energy to give back to them.”
For more information about the 2016 Rider Weekends festival see the official website.
What: Rider Weekends
When: January 7th – January 16th
Where: Marina da Glória, Avenida Infante Dom Henrique, s / n
Entrance: R$50