Johan Gielen
There you are at a party like so
many you’ve been before. You’re having a good time, but it’s not
like you are completely thrilled with enthusiasm.
The atmosphere is a bit dull. And when you look around, it isn’t hard
to notice that you aren’t the only one who needs a positive twist on
the evening.
The DJ behind the decks is really giving it his best shot, his mixing
skills are ok, but that’s all there is to say about him.
Just when you think about leaving Johan Gielen appears at the DJ-booth
and he is warmly welcomed... Something is about to happen! That thought
seems to have come into the minds of the other visitors as well as they
are looking at Gielen with great expectation. Could this be the DJ
they’ve all been waiting for? Is he going to save the night and make
their visit to this party worthwhile? It doesn’t take very long to get
an answer. With his flawless ability to read the crowd the first record
Gielen puts on the decks is an instant floorfiller. Suddenly the
partyvibe is all over the place! People start to cheer and whistle as
the DJ wins the harts of the crowd by directing them from behind the
decks, just like a modern music conductor. Johan Gielen is playing, the
party has begun…
In every biography one can read how excellent the DJ of producer is and
you learn about everything he already has accomplished. Not to mention
all the records he has produced and where he started spinning.
Fact after fact after fact, but do they really matter? I
s it important to know that Johan Gielen was born in 1968 in the Belgium
town of Mol and that he put his first record on the turntable at the age
of 17?
Or that he established himself as a producer under the disguise of
Airscape? Mentioning the remixes he did for names like Boy George,
Delirium, Tiësto, Chicane and Safri Duo, is that interesting? And what
about his first and beloved album ‘Beauty of Silence which he
constructed together with his friend and co-producer Sven Maes, do we
need to talk about that? And to conclude, what about the fact that he
saw his name entering the highly acclaimed DJ Magazine top 100 at number
50 in 2002? This year he made a massive jump to number 24!
Shouldn’t we just tell you about the things that really make sense?
For instance that Johan Gielen is a DJ who delivers the goods wherever
he is invited to play, due to his enthusiasm and his expertise. Whether
he performs in a fully packed Amsterdam ArenA Stadium in front of 35
thousand people, a sold out Thialf Icestadium, the whirling hills of
Dance Valley or the numerous clubs and discos all around the world in
places like Las Vegas, Auckland, Ibiza or Mallorca, Gielen gives the
people what they want with his outstanding sound. A mixture of deep
melodic trance with progressive and techhouse twists that is always
accessible and never to complicated.
During his career, Johan Gielen appeared in front of hundreds of
thousands of partypeople. He is a crowd pleaser as no other. A DJ with
the fine hand in selecting the right records at the right time. His
mixing skills are excellent and they are only exceeded by his
presentation behind the decks, for Gielen knows how to lift the spirits
of those in front of him. He feels what they feel and he experiences the
same things as they do. He enjoys every single second of his
performance. Just look at him playing, see the expression on his face
and you know he’s for real.
So, wouldn’t it be better to tell something about his personality in
this biography? About the friendly straight up guy who’s searching for
the deeper things in life when he’s not at work? About the balance
he’s always looking for in his life and the inspiration he gets by
swimming with dolphins? And about the spirituality he obtains from
swimming with those magnificent creatures which helps him to build
further on his huge success? Just like the Japanese Koi-carps in the
pond in his backyard give him the so much needed rest in the hectic way
of live the big DJ’s of this world lead.
It isn’t easy to write a biography about Johan Gielen. There is so
much going on in his busy life that one could rewrite this getting to
know material almost every month, for instance this new compilation, a
new milestone in his extremely successful career. A career that is
nowhere near its end and that without a doubt will lead to many more
stories for the years to come.
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