SHAHADA

DJs Jaux Ion and Agoes Mulyadi are on their way to spin in Melbourne. Two of Bali’s best loved psy trance DJs will be spinning their wares at Melbourne’s Earthcore Festival later this year. They go under the name of Shahada but we/you know them better as DJ Jaux Ion & DJ/Producer Agoes Mulyadi. Shahada is the stage name for when they write, produce and perform their own original tracks as well as remixes in the Psy Trance scene. We spoke with their manager and Agoes’ wife, Mel Mulyadi about the Earthcore Festival, Psy Trance and the boys last week.
Tell me a bit about the psy trance music scene.
The psy trance family is one big happy family and the sharing and collaboration is amazing. It is such a misunderstood genre of music. I love that these days when Raja Ram plays at festivals he is there with his wife, daughter and granddaughter. His son-in-law is also a psy trance DJ.
So why is it a misunderstood genre of music?
Well many people think you can only enjoy the music if you are off your face on something or other, but it’s a lot more than that. EDM is starting to slow down in clubs and psy trance is gaining traction.
Some people consider psy trance pretty hard. What do you think?
Mainstream music lovers might and the Goa style of psy trance is, but the popular producers these days tend to lean towards the progressive side of the genre. The creative side is amazing. The way the producers create the sound and the bassline is just awesome.
They used to play a lot of psy at 66 before right?
Yes correct, but more Goa style. The Shahada style is more melodic and harmonic but also can consist of a harder bassline and also psychedelic traditional sounds. A bit like classic trance with a harder beat.
So how long have Agoes and Ion been spinning tracks?
Agoes since 1988 – Spotlight, Topaz, BB and Ion since 1991 Janger, Scandal, 66 and Deejay Club. Agoes took a long break to pursue some other business interests and was a stay at home dad. Ion has been DJing mostly the whole time with a few short breaks. Agoes came back to the scene about four years ago.
Shahada have been producing a lot of tracks lately. What are the standouts?
One of the early ones, Purnama for sure. Agoes loves that track and it had a great reaction on the dance floor just last week. Other older standouts are Shahada and Faith and the new ones Tell Me Your Name, Take Me To The Edge.
What’s the story behind the Brianna vocal track, Tell Me Your Name? Awesome track, by the way.
Agoes didn’t have a name for the track and Brianna came over to listen to it so that she could write some lyrics. She had the idea of two people on the dance floor dancing away and the girl wanting to know his name and thus, Tell Me Your Name came to life. Brianna is our god daughter and her mum and dad have been our friends for 25 years. (For those out of the loop, Brianna is seen on Indonesian TV singing a lot and has a new single out soon. Ed).
How did Shahada come about?
Agoes started producing tracks early last year but felt he needed it to be a two person project. So he invited Ion to join. Both have solid music backgrounds. Both play instruments. And the name? The reason we went with the spelling of SHAHADA, which generally means having faith, was that it sounded cool and ran off the tongue easily.
Tell me a bit about the Earthcore Festival in Melbourne later this year.
It’s a huge three day event that has been going for 24 years. It’s outdoor and features techno thru to psy trance. The boys are very happy to be part of it.
Until then you can listening to some of their tracks on Soundcloud or catch them spinning at Deejay Club, Kuta.
https://soundcloud.com/agoesmulyadi 

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