Wai Wan
June 10th, 2008 by sparky
Wai Wan will perform at The Big Chill festival 2008 A-Z line up | Ticket info
Wai Wan - Biography
Wai’s musical education began when he learned to play classical and flamenco guitar at a young age. As he progressed on the instrument, he gradually became accustomed to the different forms of music, initially blues, rock and jazz. Later when he began playing in bands, he became allured by the sounds of funk and soul where he could appreciate the music as a whole and not just from a guitarist’s perspective.
Wai began DJing at parties in the early 90’s in between studying at Leeds University. As a regular punter at the Dig! club nights during the acid jazz hey-day, their eclectic blend of jazz, funk, hip-hop and latin was the perfect antidote to the rave scene that dominated the city during that period. This was a main source of inspiration for Wai to delve deeper into the sounds of jazz, funk, latin and eclectic styles forming the foundations of a regular show on Dream FM that he would later host.
After graduating from Leeds, Wai moved to Manchester to attend a sound recording school to pursue his study of sound recording and to broaden his musical outlook. He continued DJing at bars around the city but would eventually land himself the role as resident engineer at Silk studios where he would work alongside local producers and artists. This experience would prove to be invaluable in helping him develop his own music and production skills.
Following the release of his album “Distraction” in ’98, he has since held residencies in Leeds, Manchester, London and his native home town, Hull playing alongside the likes of Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge, Charlie Dark, Andy Smith, Unabombers and guested at the legendary Plastic People in London, Hacienda, Music Box Sankey Soap and Urbis in Manchester, Big Chill festival. Wai has also released a DJ mix compilation entitled “Musical Paths And Rhythms” on X:treme records in 2001 featuring a blend of deep/ broken vibes.
Wai currently plays a broad selection of music with styles ranging from funk, soul, latin, jazz, afrobeat, disco, boogie, reggae, ska, dub step, hip-hop, broken beats & nu-jazz.
He has also remixed a range of artists including Alison Crocket, Kyoto Jazz Massive, Fertile Ground, Rankin’ Joe, Simply Red, Keith Mansfield, Simple Minds, The Specials to name a few…
He is currently working on a number of collaborations including Cecilia Stalin (Koop) and will be releasing music through the Tonkotsu label.
Wai Wan will perform at The Big Chill festival 2008 A-Z line up | Ticket info
