Local DJ extraordinaire, Shammui was in Holland for a couple of weeks recently and had a brush with fame in the city of Leiden. Tell us about it Mr Shammui.
I was on holiday and did two gigs. The Leiden Independence Day and its pre-party. At one of the gigs I met a long time influence of mine, Armin van Buuren. He lives there with his wife and kids and during the off season or not touring he comes back there to spend time with his family.
Did you run into him or you knew him from before?
I ran into him at the day party. A good friend of mine is a close friend of his. Well, in Leiden everybody seems to know everybody.
I heard you playing some very cool trance sounds at Ibiza in Bali last Saturday night. Was that influenced from meeting the trance meister?
Hahaha yes, for sure, 20 years ago I started it all with trance. But the other night was more progressive and melodic techno of my choice, my actual sound. It was also progressive infuenced by John Digweed, Sasha, Nick Warren back then, but until now too.
Ohh it seemed to have the trance chug.
Progressive trance perhaps. It’s a trancy sound but not like the old stuff. It’s all about the sound nowadays and it’s difficult to differentiate genres. But it is awesome we can mix different genres in a set. That’s what I’m doing now in my sets. So much more fun.
So how was the Amsterdam nightlife? Did you check out the Amsterdam scene and all?
It was an amazing experience. I didn’t really go to lots of clubs in Amsterdam, only a few places. It was cool. The music I heard was either very housy or full on techno.
Did you make some good connections?
Not much actually. Only with the DJs from the festival and Colle, the producer of Owami, is a food friend. He’s an up and rising artist.
And more on Van Buuren, how much of an influence was he on you as a DJ?
He was back in the day, when he was doing proper trance without that EDM sound.
Did you tell him that? I think everybody would agree with you.
Haha, no I didn’t, I don’t want to offend him. I reckon he’s business minded and to catch the biggest crowd he’s gotta do what he’s doing. It all changes as time goes by.
Did you hang out or just do the pose and shoot?
We hung out a little bit. There were too many people around also and everybody wants to speak to him.
And what were you talking about?
Not much, hahaha, just an honour to meet him in person. And how he inspired me with his trance back in the day. Nice guy, though.
