Groove armada
When it comes to the club scene, Pinoy praise pales in comparison to a sweat-soaked audience from dusk ‘til dawn. Well, when clubbers unite, they are dealing with infectious bouts of groove armadas thanks to the slew of talent pouring out of
No wonder Marlboro brought in the dynamic duo of house music Chus & Ceballos for the ultra-exclusive, by-invite-only M Party at Ascend. It was a one-night journey of soul-shaking house music of the highest order.
“Marlboro’s goal is to offer adult smokers the best of all worlds, in the nightlife scene. Be it a rock concert, a reggae session, or a night of club music, we try to elevate the standards to our consumers,” says Roy Manalili, PMPMI marketing director. “Our loyal adult smokers deserve the very best, and that’s what Marlboro stands for.”
Dig this, super-fly Spanish guys Chus Esteban & Pablo Ceballos hail from
Perhaps when worlds collide, great music is born. Chus’ ears are inspired by funky, soulful sounds of disco and early house. Thanks to his father’s passion to music, he grew up loving Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, The Style Council and Chaka Khan. His style is influenced by house masters like David Morales and Frankie Knuckles but more of underground music masters like Tenaglia and Vibe.
“House music is always changing,” says Chus. “This is why we always say that you don’t choose music in a moment of your life because music chooses you the moment you are born, it’s a way of life.”
On the other hand, Ceballos was locked on to electronic techno-oriented sounds of the ’90s like Massive Attack, Bjork, Underworld and Faithless. Slowly, he got introduced to dance music and discovered his favorite deejays like John Digweed, Deep Dish, DJ Vibe and so on.
“Our musical chemistry comes from finding a good balance between our tastes,” says Ceballos. “Chus and I love music and we love different styles. When you are open to any kind of music, you can find that balance more easily and the results are richer.”
The great thing about this Chus & Ceballos is that they bring different musical influences to their Iberican soundscapes. Like a yin and yang of sorts. And as much as they enjoy traveling the world and playing in different venues, they also enjoy collaborating with different artists with dream bands like Depeche Mode and U2 in the future.
A popular track the duo remixed was Madonna’s Hung Up from her majesty’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album. This 10-minute most danceable remix starts heavily with drums and progresses to electronica beats with Abba’s synthesized flute hooks from Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After
Ceballos explains, “The essence of Madonna’s Hung Up was of course the vocals and the Abba sampling so we respected that and we added our sound, our energy with the rest of the elements, good beats, a driving bass line, nice synths and a dynamic structure; that is the Iberican touch.”
So, what makes a great duo work? Well, they need charisma and the power to transmit the feeling of their music to the crowd. Ceballos concludes, “We also need good psychology to know what to play in every moment and a big music culture to bring to his crowd a good discourse and a variety of music to make a magic trip that is a long set.”
A good electronica and house set isn’t only about the music. A lot of things are also important, like DJs who know their stuff, programming, lights, crowd, sound system and even venue. Chus & Ceballos perfectly worked with these factors to bring people the vision of what a Marlboro M Party is really about.
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For more information about Chus and Ceballos, log on to www.myspace.com/chusceballos.
