'Magic' Juan
09-12-2003, 07:48 AM
Just found this neat little interview with Hillegonda Rietveld of Quando Quango. Very nice read. Peep it at:
Quando Quango Interview (http://www.pitchadjust.com/article.php?article_id=1115)
http://pitchadjust.com/bild_arkiv/71/00000000571.gif
Hillegonda Rietveld
I don't get it. I'm standing with a few friends at the venue in Liverpool waiting for the guest DJ to arrive, a DJ who I know has been at the forefront of dance music for over twenty years when in walks a fresh faced young woman loaded down with record bags. Now is it me or do you agree that you just don't get away that lightly when you've spent 20 years in smoky, loud nightclubs, probably managing to dodge the odd nights sleep here and there?
Hillegonda started her musical career in 1980 when she became part of the electronic combo Quando Quango after a jam with Vice Versa. Around the same time, the QQ team to be was involved in promotion at a music venue, Hall 4.
"Hall 4 was basically a warehouse space around a water tower, just a big
warehouse space. We didn't play as a band at that time but we had started to think differently about the music. New Order did their first gig there in 1980, just after Joy Division had abruptly finished. The group Vice Versa came over from Sheffield with electronic instruments - synthesizers. We just had accoustic guitars. When they left they had decided guitars were more fun and we were like "No synthesizers are more fun!". Vice Versa went onto become ABC!"
So armed with her first synthesizer Quando Quango was formed with Hillegonda writing basslines, drum patterns and supporting chords and structures and Mike Pickering picking up the sax and the vocals, along with her brother Reinier Rietveld on drums (he is now a successful sound engineer for bands like Kane as well as EndeMol TV studios). Taking musical inspiration from such diverse sources as Kraftwerk, Fela Kuti and "Latin rhythms preprogrammed on my granddad's Hammond organ", Quando Quango began making electronic music and after moving over from Rotterdam to Manchester in 1982 as a result of Mike being offered the position of Creative Director for the Hacienda, began releasing records for the legendary Factory Records (Go Exciting in 1982 then Love Tempo in 1983).
"Love Tempo just got into the UK charts on its own strength. It charted at, like, 60 or something but that was with no marketing. Factory didn't do marketing. Other indie labels did but Tony Wilson didn't think it was important. He preferred indie music, I think, so we were a bit of an oddity on Factory records, along with 52nd Street, who were a black funk band".
But being an oddity on the label certainly paid off when they headed off to tour the East coast of the US in 1983 to support New Order playing in New York, Philadelphia and Washington with Simon Topping (previous singer for A Certain Ratio, later part of T-Coy with Mike Pickering) joining Quando Quango on percussion.
"We played the Danceteria at the time that Mark Kamins, Madonnas first producer, DJ'd there. He remixed Love Tempo for us and it took off on the US Underground scene. Then we played at the Paradise Garage, twice, I think. The first time as support for New Order and the second time as the headline act in 1983. New York was crazy! I remember one time we arrived the day we were playing and we got taken to four clubs before we did the gig so it's all a bit of a blur but I know that we went to see Jellybean playing at Funhouse (It looked like a Boxing Ring) then the Roxy, which was an icerink with electro dancers creating human towers and then two other places. Then we went to play at the Garage. Larry Levan was playing and the soundsystem was just beautiful. It had THE best soundsystem. I can't remember a single tune, but it sounded great" Around the same time, Hillegonda began working at the Hacienda whilst still recording with Quango Quando, starting on ticket sales and later moving to the role of Backstage Manager. The Hacienda had just begun enjoying its heyday for live bands, opening every night with live acts three to four times a week, featuring legendary acts such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, The Smiths, The Eurythmics, Divine and Houdini and Run DMC aswell as a "gothy punky New York group called the Cramps".
"I had to make sure they had their asprins, sandwiches and drinks and generally make sure everything ran ok backstage. I had the cleanest dressing rooms - always polished with fresh flowers and fruit. Noone ever dared graffiti my dressing rooms because I made them feel like home. I guess I was like Supermom!"
Hillegondas memorable dressing rooms were based on her experiences at The Loft, David Mancusos loft apartment legend, and the Paradise Garage where they had laid on fresh fruit, flowers and fruit juices for their guests.
"The Hac was an experiment and we took a lot of creative risks but because of that it wasn't always commercially viable. But back then we just wanted to have fun not just make money. We wanted to see how far we could go with the club thing"
Quando Quango were still going strong, balancing working at the Hacienda and dedicating time to their recordings, and their experimental eclectic album, "Pigs & Battleships" which was mixed by Mark Kamins in 1985 at Arthur Baker's New York studio), which yielded the classic "Genius" (see, for example, Andrew Weatherall's "Nine O'Clock Drop" compilation album). However, the band ceased recording together the following year due to increasing commitments to other projects.
In 1986 the world as we know it was about to be turned upside down with the arrival of the musical phenomena we now know as "House". The Hacienda was at the forefront of the UK house explosion with former band member, Mike Pickering headlining as DJ at the nights which were instrumental in breaking
house music into the UK.
"I remember sitting up in the DJ booth on a stool when Mike (Pickering) played "Love can't turn around" by Farley Jackmaster Funk for the first time. I fell off the stool and Bernard (Sumner) from New Order was like, "Gonnie, are you ok? Did you take some funny drugs?" That was my first awareness of house but there was already something bubbling. Mike had been aware of it since '85, he'd been sent records marked "house" from America. It was very exciting at that time".
But living the lifestyle that the Hacienda dictated eventually took its toll with Hillegonda swapping the madness of the scene for a very sensible job in a Manchester book store in 1986. There she developed a love for cultural/critical theories and followed on with a phD combining her two loves - music and academia. Whilst lecturing, a student invited Hillegonda to work at her radio show on Sunset 102FM - "Funky Female Radio", a late Friday night post-club experience and the UKs first community radio.
"Our bioryhtms were complementary, that's what made it a success. Early on the others were awake and I was really tired but later on I was wide awake and they were tired. It was great! People played our radio show at parties, in their cars, everywhere! We had people ringing up saying "We were supposed to be picked up by our mates an hour ago but were still here - but you've got us dancing". Then they'd call back an hour later giving us updates on what they were up to. I think it was like we were offering support to them through the music!"
From the start of her DJing career, Hillegondas music was etched in the deep underground sounds of New York and Chicago - Ten City, Blaze, Roger Sanchez and Kerri Chandler - and was influenced by Djs at the Hacienda, such as Graeme Park " ..how he managed to link everything and build the set", Frankie Knuckles and David Morales "..the way they manipulated the records and the crowd and how he built the mood", Hillegonda picked up more than a few tricks. But research trips to Chicago, New York, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and London really inspired Hillegonda to DJ and continue making music, in particular a research trip to Chicago, which was destined to put Hillegondas musical career back in the spotlight.
"Although I'd been practicing on my own, as a result of my trips to Chicago in 1992, I learned a few important technical touches in the art of DJing. My friend Kevin Elliott (Family of Few) taught me some crucial tricks in beat mixing, while Spencer Kincy (Gemini) provided me with important insights into blending, mixing and programming."
Whilst researching the roots of house in the Windy City for a book which she was writing (This is our house - house music, cultural spaces and technologies -published by Ashgate) she discovered, during an interview with early house producer Vince Lawrence, who ten years earlier had produced the first commercially viable house record, Jesse Saunders' 'On & On', that she had infact had more of an influence than she had thought in those roots. Whilst questioning him about the old days he happened to uncover that Hillegonda had been in Quando Quango.
Vince Lawerence quote: "Oh man!!! God!!! Freak out!!! Well, see you inspired, like you're part of the inspiration for this shit, man! Oh man, that was my cut (Love Tempo) Bogus! We should just go make a tune or something. Skip the bullshit!"
They got to work on it straight away and that week a house anthem was born in a basement in the puerto-rican district of Chicago - "Holding Out" under the guise of Search (Robs Records), which went on to become a Hacienda classic.
So with another influential track under her belt, she continued to work at her flourishing DJ career across Europe.
"My first proper DJing gig was at Heaven. I thought that i would be on in the lounge upstairs but I was doing the warm up in the main room! It was a nightmare as only one of the decks was working and it was a case of putting on one record and taking it off when it was finished and quickly putting the next one on. The technician eventually sorted it out but if I been playing out truly for the first time I would have died!"
Technical hitches aside, people liked what they heard and Hillegonda continues to grace the decks throughout the UK and Europe - her legendary Diva Jockey sets alighting the more discerning dancefloors. A Big Chill favourite, Hillegonda has recently played at Naxos and the Enchanted Garden, aswell as being a regular for the respected DJ/VJ organisation, RAYA.
So after such a strong presence in the history of house what does she think is the future?
"Club music will remain as long as there is electricity. House music is four to the floor but there are a miriad of variations - like breakbeat, it evolves. At the moment my record collection is more brazillian, broken beats, Masters at Work and Body and Soul vibes. I love blending accoustic with electronica. I'd love to produce accoustic house music. That's the beauty of house - it's flexibility. That's why whatever influence comes into the house becomes part of the that musical organism"
Dr.Hillegonda Rietveld currently works as a Senior Lecturer in Arts & Media at South Bank University, London. Currently she is researching globalised mediations of dance cultural capital, as well as issues around career paths of underground dance DJs in London. As part ofher research she will be attending Sydney Mardi Gras this year and will ang out in Thailand, Singapore, Byron Bay and Tokyo. From May you'll be able to catch one of her Diva Jockey sets in the UK.
By Nicola Proctor
Current Top 5
4 Hero feat. Lady Alma - Hold It Down - Talkin Loud
Ann Nesby - Lovin' is Really My Game - Silk Entertainment
Mondo Grosso - Star Suite (Blaze Remix) - King Street
Swell Session feat. Yukimi Nagano - I See Through You - Hollow Recordings
MAW feat. Roy Ayers - Our Time is Coming - MAW
All Time Top 10
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
Fela Ransome Kuti and the Africa 70 - Sakara Oloje
War - Young Blood
The Normal - Warm Leatherette
Farley Jackmaster Funk feat Daryl Pandy - Love Can't Turn Around
Fingers Inc. feat Chuck Roberts - Can You Feel It?
Joe Smooth - Promised Land
Kerri Chandler - Summer Love
Norma Jean Bell - I'm the Baddest Bitch
Quando Quango Interview (http://www.pitchadjust.com/article.php?article_id=1115)
http://pitchadjust.com/bild_arkiv/71/00000000571.gif
Hillegonda Rietveld
I don't get it. I'm standing with a few friends at the venue in Liverpool waiting for the guest DJ to arrive, a DJ who I know has been at the forefront of dance music for over twenty years when in walks a fresh faced young woman loaded down with record bags. Now is it me or do you agree that you just don't get away that lightly when you've spent 20 years in smoky, loud nightclubs, probably managing to dodge the odd nights sleep here and there?
Hillegonda started her musical career in 1980 when she became part of the electronic combo Quando Quango after a jam with Vice Versa. Around the same time, the QQ team to be was involved in promotion at a music venue, Hall 4.
"Hall 4 was basically a warehouse space around a water tower, just a big
warehouse space. We didn't play as a band at that time but we had started to think differently about the music. New Order did their first gig there in 1980, just after Joy Division had abruptly finished. The group Vice Versa came over from Sheffield with electronic instruments - synthesizers. We just had accoustic guitars. When they left they had decided guitars were more fun and we were like "No synthesizers are more fun!". Vice Versa went onto become ABC!"
So armed with her first synthesizer Quando Quango was formed with Hillegonda writing basslines, drum patterns and supporting chords and structures and Mike Pickering picking up the sax and the vocals, along with her brother Reinier Rietveld on drums (he is now a successful sound engineer for bands like Kane as well as EndeMol TV studios). Taking musical inspiration from such diverse sources as Kraftwerk, Fela Kuti and "Latin rhythms preprogrammed on my granddad's Hammond organ", Quando Quango began making electronic music and after moving over from Rotterdam to Manchester in 1982 as a result of Mike being offered the position of Creative Director for the Hacienda, began releasing records for the legendary Factory Records (Go Exciting in 1982 then Love Tempo in 1983).
"Love Tempo just got into the UK charts on its own strength. It charted at, like, 60 or something but that was with no marketing. Factory didn't do marketing. Other indie labels did but Tony Wilson didn't think it was important. He preferred indie music, I think, so we were a bit of an oddity on Factory records, along with 52nd Street, who were a black funk band".
But being an oddity on the label certainly paid off when they headed off to tour the East coast of the US in 1983 to support New Order playing in New York, Philadelphia and Washington with Simon Topping (previous singer for A Certain Ratio, later part of T-Coy with Mike Pickering) joining Quando Quango on percussion.
"We played the Danceteria at the time that Mark Kamins, Madonnas first producer, DJ'd there. He remixed Love Tempo for us and it took off on the US Underground scene. Then we played at the Paradise Garage, twice, I think. The first time as support for New Order and the second time as the headline act in 1983. New York was crazy! I remember one time we arrived the day we were playing and we got taken to four clubs before we did the gig so it's all a bit of a blur but I know that we went to see Jellybean playing at Funhouse (It looked like a Boxing Ring) then the Roxy, which was an icerink with electro dancers creating human towers and then two other places. Then we went to play at the Garage. Larry Levan was playing and the soundsystem was just beautiful. It had THE best soundsystem. I can't remember a single tune, but it sounded great" Around the same time, Hillegonda began working at the Hacienda whilst still recording with Quango Quando, starting on ticket sales and later moving to the role of Backstage Manager. The Hacienda had just begun enjoying its heyday for live bands, opening every night with live acts three to four times a week, featuring legendary acts such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, The Smiths, The Eurythmics, Divine and Houdini and Run DMC aswell as a "gothy punky New York group called the Cramps".
"I had to make sure they had their asprins, sandwiches and drinks and generally make sure everything ran ok backstage. I had the cleanest dressing rooms - always polished with fresh flowers and fruit. Noone ever dared graffiti my dressing rooms because I made them feel like home. I guess I was like Supermom!"
Hillegondas memorable dressing rooms were based on her experiences at The Loft, David Mancusos loft apartment legend, and the Paradise Garage where they had laid on fresh fruit, flowers and fruit juices for their guests.
"The Hac was an experiment and we took a lot of creative risks but because of that it wasn't always commercially viable. But back then we just wanted to have fun not just make money. We wanted to see how far we could go with the club thing"
Quando Quango were still going strong, balancing working at the Hacienda and dedicating time to their recordings, and their experimental eclectic album, "Pigs & Battleships" which was mixed by Mark Kamins in 1985 at Arthur Baker's New York studio), which yielded the classic "Genius" (see, for example, Andrew Weatherall's "Nine O'Clock Drop" compilation album). However, the band ceased recording together the following year due to increasing commitments to other projects.
In 1986 the world as we know it was about to be turned upside down with the arrival of the musical phenomena we now know as "House". The Hacienda was at the forefront of the UK house explosion with former band member, Mike Pickering headlining as DJ at the nights which were instrumental in breaking
house music into the UK.
"I remember sitting up in the DJ booth on a stool when Mike (Pickering) played "Love can't turn around" by Farley Jackmaster Funk for the first time. I fell off the stool and Bernard (Sumner) from New Order was like, "Gonnie, are you ok? Did you take some funny drugs?" That was my first awareness of house but there was already something bubbling. Mike had been aware of it since '85, he'd been sent records marked "house" from America. It was very exciting at that time".
But living the lifestyle that the Hacienda dictated eventually took its toll with Hillegonda swapping the madness of the scene for a very sensible job in a Manchester book store in 1986. There she developed a love for cultural/critical theories and followed on with a phD combining her two loves - music and academia. Whilst lecturing, a student invited Hillegonda to work at her radio show on Sunset 102FM - "Funky Female Radio", a late Friday night post-club experience and the UKs first community radio.
"Our bioryhtms were complementary, that's what made it a success. Early on the others were awake and I was really tired but later on I was wide awake and they were tired. It was great! People played our radio show at parties, in their cars, everywhere! We had people ringing up saying "We were supposed to be picked up by our mates an hour ago but were still here - but you've got us dancing". Then they'd call back an hour later giving us updates on what they were up to. I think it was like we were offering support to them through the music!"
From the start of her DJing career, Hillegondas music was etched in the deep underground sounds of New York and Chicago - Ten City, Blaze, Roger Sanchez and Kerri Chandler - and was influenced by Djs at the Hacienda, such as Graeme Park " ..how he managed to link everything and build the set", Frankie Knuckles and David Morales "..the way they manipulated the records and the crowd and how he built the mood", Hillegonda picked up more than a few tricks. But research trips to Chicago, New York, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and London really inspired Hillegonda to DJ and continue making music, in particular a research trip to Chicago, which was destined to put Hillegondas musical career back in the spotlight.
"Although I'd been practicing on my own, as a result of my trips to Chicago in 1992, I learned a few important technical touches in the art of DJing. My friend Kevin Elliott (Family of Few) taught me some crucial tricks in beat mixing, while Spencer Kincy (Gemini) provided me with important insights into blending, mixing and programming."
Whilst researching the roots of house in the Windy City for a book which she was writing (This is our house - house music, cultural spaces and technologies -published by Ashgate) she discovered, during an interview with early house producer Vince Lawrence, who ten years earlier had produced the first commercially viable house record, Jesse Saunders' 'On & On', that she had infact had more of an influence than she had thought in those roots. Whilst questioning him about the old days he happened to uncover that Hillegonda had been in Quando Quango.
Vince Lawerence quote: "Oh man!!! God!!! Freak out!!! Well, see you inspired, like you're part of the inspiration for this shit, man! Oh man, that was my cut (Love Tempo) Bogus! We should just go make a tune or something. Skip the bullshit!"
They got to work on it straight away and that week a house anthem was born in a basement in the puerto-rican district of Chicago - "Holding Out" under the guise of Search (Robs Records), which went on to become a Hacienda classic.
So with another influential track under her belt, she continued to work at her flourishing DJ career across Europe.
"My first proper DJing gig was at Heaven. I thought that i would be on in the lounge upstairs but I was doing the warm up in the main room! It was a nightmare as only one of the decks was working and it was a case of putting on one record and taking it off when it was finished and quickly putting the next one on. The technician eventually sorted it out but if I been playing out truly for the first time I would have died!"
Technical hitches aside, people liked what they heard and Hillegonda continues to grace the decks throughout the UK and Europe - her legendary Diva Jockey sets alighting the more discerning dancefloors. A Big Chill favourite, Hillegonda has recently played at Naxos and the Enchanted Garden, aswell as being a regular for the respected DJ/VJ organisation, RAYA.
So after such a strong presence in the history of house what does she think is the future?
"Club music will remain as long as there is electricity. House music is four to the floor but there are a miriad of variations - like breakbeat, it evolves. At the moment my record collection is more brazillian, broken beats, Masters at Work and Body and Soul vibes. I love blending accoustic with electronica. I'd love to produce accoustic house music. That's the beauty of house - it's flexibility. That's why whatever influence comes into the house becomes part of the that musical organism"
Dr.Hillegonda Rietveld currently works as a Senior Lecturer in Arts & Media at South Bank University, London. Currently she is researching globalised mediations of dance cultural capital, as well as issues around career paths of underground dance DJs in London. As part ofher research she will be attending Sydney Mardi Gras this year and will ang out in Thailand, Singapore, Byron Bay and Tokyo. From May you'll be able to catch one of her Diva Jockey sets in the UK.
By Nicola Proctor
Current Top 5
4 Hero feat. Lady Alma - Hold It Down - Talkin Loud
Ann Nesby - Lovin' is Really My Game - Silk Entertainment
Mondo Grosso - Star Suite (Blaze Remix) - King Street
Swell Session feat. Yukimi Nagano - I See Through You - Hollow Recordings
MAW feat. Roy Ayers - Our Time is Coming - MAW
All Time Top 10
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
Fela Ransome Kuti and the Africa 70 - Sakara Oloje
War - Young Blood
The Normal - Warm Leatherette
Farley Jackmaster Funk feat Daryl Pandy - Love Can't Turn Around
Fingers Inc. feat Chuck Roberts - Can You Feel It?
Joe Smooth - Promised Land
Kerri Chandler - Summer Love
Norma Jean Bell - I'm the Baddest Bitch