Episode #4: In Conversation with Kizomba DJ - DJ Sabura

SUMMARY

In this episode of Kizomba Conversations, host Victor interviews DJ Sabura about his journey into DJing and Kizomba. Sabura shares his background growing up in Portugal and his early love for music. He talks about how he got into DJing and the challenges he faced as a white DJ in a predominantly black Kizomba scene. 

Sabura discusses his unique DJing style, which focuses on technique, song selection, and reading the dance floor. He also talks about the pressure and responsibility of being in charge of the dance floor and the importance of caring for the attendees. Sabura shares his approach to creating sets, emphasizing the importance of being in the moment and adapting to the energy of the crowd. He also discusses the challenges he has faced with technical issues during performances. 

Sabura mentions his collaborations with singers during live performances and his love for showcasing different styles of music. He concludes by discussing the importance of staying up to date with the latest trends in Kizomba music. He discusses the changing dynamics of DJing and staying up to date with music. He shares his personal experiences and how Kizomba has influenced his life. He also talks about his favourite songs and artists, memorable experiences in the Kizomba community, and his future goals. Sabura gives advice to aspiring DJs and shares his contact information for those who want to reach out to him.

TAKEAWAYS

• DJ Sabura shares his journey into DJing and Kizomba
• He discusses the challenges of being a white DJ in a predominantly black Kizomba scene
• Sabura emphasizes the importance of technique, song selection, and reading the dance floor in DJing
• He talks about the pressure and responsibility of being in charge of the dance floor
• Sabura shares his approach to creating sets and the challenges he has faced with technical issues
• He discusses his collaborations with singers during live performances
• Sabura highlights the importance of staying up to date with the latest trends in Kizomba music The dynamics of DJing have changed, with artists now expected to play the songs that people want to hear rather than introducing new music.
• Kizomba has had a significant impact on Sabura's life, introducing him to new people, environments, and cultures.
• Sabura stays up to date with music by receiving songs from artists and producers, researching on platforms, and buying CDs.
• He has a vast collection of CDs and records, which he revisits to discover new songs and appreciate music that he may not have liked in the past.
• Sabura prefers Kizomba house parties over club nights and describes the feeling of a great Kizomba dance as euphoria and discovery.
• He recommends aspiring DJs to listen to a lot of music, understand the history and culture behind the music, and learn technical skills for mixing.
• Sabura's future goals include traveling less, enjoying life more, and retiring early.
• He can be reached on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

SOUND BITES

"One day you gotta let me play at your bar. And that was it? And that was it."

"I'm never fully convinced that I play great. Any, any of the nights that I played, I don't think that I play great."

"I never prepare my sets. I never do a playlist. I never do that. I'm actually... I only choose the first song like two or three minutes before I start playing."

"Nowadays, every artist, they publish every song on social media."

"Kizomba changed my life. Just because I met completely different people and environments."

CHAPTERS

00:00 The Journey into DJing and Kizomba

08:15 Challenges of Being a White DJ in a Black Kizomba Scene

13:06 Technique, Song Selection, and Reading the Dance Floor

27:04 Creating Sets and Dealing with Technical Issues

32:49 Collaborations with Singers and Live Performances

36:06 Staying Up to Date with the Latest Trends in Kizomba Music

36:35 The Changing Dynamics of DJing and Staying Up to Date with Music

39:32 The Influence of Kizomba on Sabura's Life

41:28 Favourite Songs and Artists in Kizomba

49:42 Memorable Experiences in the Kizomba Community

51:41 Unexpected Invitations and Travel Experiences

55:48 Other Music Preferences and Recommendations

57:47 New Albums and Artists in Kizomba

59:13 Future Goals and Retirement Plans

01:04:02 Advice for Aspiring DJs

TRANSCRIPT

Victor (00:04.782)

Hello Kizomba enthusiasts and welcome back to another episode of Kizomba Conversations. As always, I'm your host Victor and on today's show we have another amazing guest. He's a great DJ, one of the best DJs on the scene. He brings great music, he lights up the dance floor wherever he goes and you're guaranteed to have a great time when you're on the dance floor moving your feet. Let's welcome the amazing Mr. Sabura. How are you doing Sir? I am a very good Victor.

Good to have you here. listen, good to have you here. We're so happy to have you here. We knew you were in London, so we had to reach out and make sure we got you on the show. So thank you for being here today. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure. It's great. And I'm excited because, you know, you're one of the first DJs that we've had on our podcast. And we really, really want to learn from you, find out all about you, you know, your history, how you got into DJing and Kizomba. Yeah, we're really looking forward to the conversation. I'm all yours.

I like it. Okay, great. So what we like to do on our show is we like to get into understanding a bit about who you are. So your background and anything you want to share with us. So you really want to know kind of like where you grew up, all the kinds of things that you might want to share. But before we get into Kizomba, this is just more personal. So it's more about you before we get into Kizomba. So we can just find out a little about who you are.

Is that alright? That's perfect. Alright, so take it away. Let us know. My name is Filipe. Filipe, okay. Okay. I was born in Portugal, in Portugal, in the northern city in the year of 78. So I'm 46 years old. And from a very early age, I was introduced to music from when I was five or six.

Six years old, I started studying music and I always enjoyed listening to and playing music also, not DJing of course. But yeah, that's my story. I grew up in the countryside. I studied in the city. So my personality reflects a bit of those both worlds. Yeah, no, that's great. OK, so how was it growing up in the countryside?

(02:30.286)

It was perfect actually because all of my family is from the countryside and we can do... growing up in the countryside is a very different experience from growing up in the city and I'm very grateful that that happened to me because my experience is a lot different from people that I know that grew up in the city. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So you're surrounded by the city now, I'm guessing. So obviously you're obviously grown in age. So how is city life, do you miss the countryside now? No, really? No, I like to go to the countryside every other weekend to visit family or just to look around or rest. Yeah, but I'm a city guy now. I'm very comfortable in big cities and I love the place where I live, especially Lisbon, it's my favourite city of the world. Yeah, I'm comfortable. Fantastic, that's great. Just so you know, Lisbon has a special place in my heart too. I love Lisbon as well. We're going to be going over there very soon. I understand you. Absolutely. Thank you for sharing. So, all right, let's move on then into Kizomba. Tell us about how you got into DJing in the first place. How did that all begin? That's not a very long story actually, when I arrived in Lisbon, I was born in Porto, I went to Lisbon in 1998 and immediately I went to live at this universitarian residence or fret house as you call it here I think.

And my neighbours, the one in the front and the one next to me, were Africans. His name was Filipe Zivan and the other one was Paulo Silva, one from Mozambique and one from Angola. The first night that I stayed there, they said to me, no, you're not going to stay tonight. Tonight is Wednesday. It's one of the best nights at this club, so we should go. And I did. I went to this club that was called Mussulo, which is now closed. 

Victor (04:56.622)

from the old people, they know Mussulo. And it was one of the best African clubs in Lisbon. So that was my first night in Lisbon. And from the first moment I got there, I started to fell in love with the music, which was very different from what I was used to. Because in Porto, now you have African clubs, but in the 90s, there were none. There were no African clubs in Porto.

Kizomba back then was kind of the African scene, actually. It was a very underground scene. You could not tell people to people that you were going to Mussulo or that you were going out with African people or dancing African music. You could not say that. It was not out in the open and it is now. So, yeah, for me, it was it was this new kind of music and immediately.

I started buying albums because I had already lots of music. I studied classical music for some years. So I immediately started buying albums. So a few years ahead, I started going out and knowing some friends. And there was some friend of mine, Paolo Lodei.

I'm going to say the names because maybe they will hear this podcast and they will remember those times. And my good friend, Paula Loreto, which we called Paulinha, which is a partner of like one of the great dancers with one of the greatest Kizomba teachers before it was Avelino Chant. They were they were partners and she had a club and there was a DJ that used to play there. And.

One of those nights, one regular Monday, the DJ failed to show. And Paulinha knew because she used to advise me on which albums I should buy. And she knew that I had all the songs, all the music that she knew that I had. So she said to me, go there on the DJ booth and just change the CD because she would put a CD in the player. And when the CD was over,

Victor (07:16.334)

would change the CD but I was there just go there and choose one album just rest play and I went there and I opened that CD case you know if you are a DJ you know that we did like this and I recognized all the all of the albums that she had so I started changing the CD and I started changing putting one song at a time from each CD.

But no, I was not thinking about DJing, of course. But at the end of the night, after three hours of that, I just thought that I wanted to learn a little bit more about changing the songs, you know? So the next day, it was a Tuesday, I went to a DJ store and I bought some equipment and I went home and I practiced for some months. And one day I told to my friend Paulinho.

One day you gotta let me play at your bar. And it was it. That was it? And that was it. Literally the next day after that experience, you're like, OK, I like this. Let me go to the shop and buy some equipment. It was literally like that. OK. Yeah. Yeah. OK. And then so from that point on then, you haven't looked back, basically, to where you are today. That was the starting point. Yeah, that was the starting point.

I was doing it like acceptably not great because I was just starting. But my friend, she let me have that spot every Monday. I would play there for her. We started to gathering some friends every Monday. The bar was kind of small, but it was every Monday it was packed. People were dancing outside in the streets also. And every one...

every teacher from those days that you probably never heard about like Eliu or Huati or Zé Barbosa, Marta Miranda, Pechu, Avlinu Chantre all those guys were the pioneers of teaching they were every Monday they were there. wow yeah okay so I got to know a lot of people from that experience and I started receiving some invitations while I was there.

Victor (09:41.55)

So that was the beginning of it all. That's great. That's great. And that's a great, great story. So let's build on this then. So what I want to find out from you then, just after listening to that, is there's going to be a point where you start knowing what you're doing? Because you said you were just doing it. You didn't necessarily know you were DJing. But then you start building it up on that spot every week. But then there's a point where you know that you're doing this. So my question is really around.

When was the first time that you got on to be a DJ and how was that experience? So in other words, how were your nerves when you know now, okay, right, I'm here, I'm playing to these people and I'm responsible for the night here. Can you talk to us about how that feels? Actually, from a point...

from I don't remember it was 2006 or 2007 maybe literally I was managing the crowd and responsible for those people because me and and one friend we opened a bar Kizomba not a club but a bar and we started having

really a lot of people in our bar. And that was the time that I felt really that I was DJing for people. It was I think it was 2006 actually. The bar was called Regra's and we only opened like two days a week Friday and Saturday. Just small detail but it's very funny.

People go out a lot more back then. So every Friday we had like five to six hundred people. And Saturday the same. So it was kind of a big festival every day. And on Saturday you used to hire this old lady that she will cook for us. And at 2 a we would serve African food every Saturday. So the night would start at 11 and it would go until 7 or 8 a

Victor (12:06.318)

every week. It was one of the best times of my life. Sounds it. Yeah, it was very good. So with the nerves then you kind of just got used to it, overcame it at that stage and then you just kind of got used to it and you're doing what you're doing now. To be honest, I don't think I never completely realized and I'm never completely sure.

on how it's gonna go. Because every time I'm behind the decks, I'm always nervous. Whether it's a thousand people festival, 20 people party or... I still feel the same adrenaline and the same, you know, the little fear inside that I felt back then. I still feel it today. Yeah, and that's great that you're sharing that with us because it's great for us to hear that.

Not great to make you feel bad or anything like that, but it's great. It's not bad. It's just the responsibility. Exactly. Right. And we all feel that. We all feel those nerves. And even though as great as we are, you know, we all get that. And I think that's what keeps us alive. And that's what makes us better anyway. It makes us do that. I agree with you. Yeah. I agree with you. Exactly. So it's good. It's very good. And I watch throughout these years. I've now been DJing for...

regular DJing since 2002, so 22 years now. And I watch a lot of DJs that I've met and that are not DJing right now, others are. But there's not a lot of DJs from my days that are still mixing today. And I feel that they...

stop DJing when they stop caring and when they stop feeling the fear or when they stop feeling the responsibility or when they start being kind of careless about people and people notice that you're not caring for them so they will notice that. Check up on that kind of thing. Yeah. It's important that we keep that in mind. And I think that's so sorry for interview I think that shows in your music also. Yeah.

Victor (14:26.894)

How much you care for people that will show in your music? Definitely. No, listen, this is great to hear and loving the conversation already. Okay, so this is great. So let's again, let's put on this then. So we talked about DJs as well. So you are great at what you do. Okay. And there's many different DJs out there or with their, you know, unique styles and differences. Okay. Yeah. So I want to find out what makes your style unique.

So what would you say is your unique style of DJing? You know, I teach DJing, right? I don't know if you do, but I do like big courses and private classes. And I always say there are three items that you should really care to be a good DJ.

the technique, the selection of the song, how do you choose the next song and how do you read the dance floor. So how do I put myself within these three items? I'm very attached to technique. I love the perfect transition. I love the seamless. I love that people hear the next song and they are not even...

imagine what the next song will be. That's point one. Point two about selection. I try to give people every time something new. Every time. I keep myself up to date. Even with styles that I don't usually play that much, but I'm up to date. Mainly with the styles that I really love, which is Kizomba, Semba, Kompa, azu...

Those styles I'm up to date. So that's second point. Keep yourself up to date. Keep your playlists modern and vibrant and fresh. Not play every time the same thing. And always give something new to people. Even if they don't know, if you mix it the right way, they will hear it, they will not stop dancing. And the third item is the most difficult and most subjective and the most...

Victor (16:49.902)

personal, I think, and the one that's most difficult to learn, which is reading the dance floor. And as I said to you like five minutes ago, I care about people. And I imagine myself in their shoes. I love to dance. So I only play in a way that I would be dancing at that moment. So I think that defines me as a DJ. Those three.

Items. that's great. I love that. I love the last point, you know, I DJ in the way that I'd love to like to dance. What can I say to that? Yeah. That's that's great. OK. And you picked up on this and I want to just talk to you about this. So the question is really around you being in charge of the dance floor. OK. So what I mean by that is as a DJ, you know, you're responsible for the mood and energy.

And is there a pressure that comes with that? Talk to us about that pressure. That's the biggest pressure that you have while DJing. I'll tell you right away. Is having an empty dance floor. The worst thing that can happen. Even kind of not full dance floor, you start wondering what am I doing wrong? But you shouldn't stress too much about that.

But I lost the origin of the question. No, it's just more about the responsibility and the pressure that comes with, you know. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. The being responsible for because people are there, they pay their tickets to have fun. And yeah, in a way, I feel responsible for their night, their their energy, their party. I want them to have fun.

I feel that responsibility. I feel that. Not in a heavy way. Not like this stresses me too much. But I want to make sure that people will have their good time if they're listening to my sets. And I think the three elements you just talked about, as long as you're incorporating that, then they're going to be having that good time. Is that correct? I hope. Yeah.

Victor (19:18.606)

We know that they do. We know that they do. Sometimes, sometimes I get lucky. Okay. All right. So how do you go about then creating your selections and your sets for your sets? Your songs for the music? You don't have to give away trade secrets or anything like that. I don't have secrets that I cannot share. Okay, cool. No, I don't. Actually, many people made me...

Lots of people ask me that question. Sorry. Okay. How do you choose? How do you make your sets? Do you have a playlist? How do you do all the... And it's the most basic answer to everyone. I never prepare my sets. I never do a playlist. I never do that. I'm actually... I only choose the first song like two or three minutes before I start playing. Really?

Yeah. First one? First one. After the first one, everything is easy. Yeah. You just have to choose the first one. Not easy, but that's easier. But you cannot, if you prepare your playlist like the day before. OK, let's let's let's assume that you want to start with like a slow keys on my Gerazu core. But when is the time to play the

Last DJ just started playing some cymbals, some Etro -Zuco or whatever. What are you going to do? You're just going to cut the flow of the dance floor and just start your own flow like you're the only one in the Indian universe? Yeah. No. So I just think that's useless to prepare unless I'm not trying to...

Give hints to anyone, of course. I'm just talking about myself. Unless you're playing like you're the most important thing in the night, if you consider yourself the most important thing in the night, then you will arrive there and you just play a set. But I consider the most important thing in the party are the attendees, the people.

Victor (21:42.766)

And about the DJ booth, it's not me, it's the team. So all I want is that the team makes a good one five -hour set as one DJ. So if you have that in mind, you will not play your set. You can play your songs within the set that you're going to like just reconnect from the previous set.

and then to deliver your set to the next DJ. So you're just a vehicle. So I arrived there five minutes before I look at the dance floor, I see the energy of the people, I start to see if they're arriving to dance or they're leaving, if they're tired or smiling or not smiling, if they're having fun or if they're... I don't know, I try to feel the energy of the room. And I just choose my first song and from that moment on, it's one -on -one.

That's amazing. And I like what you said about being a collective as well. So when you have DJs together and being a unit and passing it on. So yeah, I never know. Obviously some of us, we don't think of these things. So it's just good to hear from them. I know, I know, I know, I know. So really, really interesting. Okay. Great. So, all right. Have there been any challenges then? I mean, I'm sure that you've been doing this for a long time. So obviously as a DJ that's been doing it for a long time, you know,

anything you can tell us about some of the challenges that you faced being a DJ that you've had to overcome? So early on in your career or now? Yeah, early on my biggest challenge was being a white DJ in a black people world. Okay. That was a big challenge. Okay, talk to us about that then.

Victor (23:37.986)

There were no white DJs playing in the Kizomba scene. There was no Kizomba scene. There was African scene or clubs. There was no like these festivals, Kizomba parties. No, there was no nothing like this. And there were no white DJs. And when I started playing, it was so frustrating that...

a lot of guys, especially guys. Actually, I look back now and I laugh because it was really funny. And I saw that especially half of the black guys in the room, they would wait like 30 to 40 minutes and they just stood there hanging against the wall, just watched me. And I knew that the music was very good. I knew people were dancing.

But they would just wait and only after 30 or 40 minutes they start dancing. With this, with this, with this look. I see what you do. Okay. Okay. And these were long like from, I don't know, maybe two years. Yeah. And eventually they will start dancing and most of them are my friends now. I was going to ask you. Yeah. Most of them are. that was a, that was the biggest challenge for me.

Not a challenge, but I don't know if it was a challenge, but it was a... You're trying to be accepted, right? I have trouble, I think that I don't feel like I try to be accepted. I always try to do my best because I always love the music, always love the culture. I never tried to be...

One, I don't try to impersonate no one. I'm Portuguese. My parents and grandparents are Portuguese and I'm very proud of it. So I don't try to be another person. So I didn't try to impose myself or try to be accepted. I always try to do my best for those who wanted to hear and to dance.

Victor (26:05.198)

I don't know if that was the best way of doing it, but... I think it was, because look at where you are now. And we love the work that you do. And I think sometimes in life that we have to go through... Well, life is about challenges, isn't it? Yeah, of course. To get to the best and to be the best at what we do, those things are golden because they make you even better. Yeah, I agree with you. I agree with you. So even though it was your challenge, thank you.

for the challenge. Thank you for taking it. You're welcome. You're welcome. Excellent. That challenge repeats sometimes, even now. Yeah. If I play for the first time in a different country or, yeah, that challenge. Yeah, yeah, no. And yeah, it's always going to be there. But now it doesn't worry me that much. So I'm very cool with that. Yeah. And I think you're at a level now where it doesn't need to worry you. That's good. OK. That's cool. All right. Talk to us then about some bad nights you've had.

Are there any bad nights that you've had? Of course there were, but I have a very strange mind. My mind immediately erases most of the bad moments of my life. It is true. There are people that I don't like, that I know that I don't like, but I don't remember why I don't like them. I don't remember what they do to me.

I don't remember why, but I just know that I shouldn't talk to that people, to that person, you know? That said, Bad Nights, I know I had a few mainly related to DJ gear, laptop stalls.

I had one, I had troubles in two years ago in a festival, in a very big festival where my laptop kept crashing. So things like that. About musical selection, about the part itself, I had nights with less people and more people. I'm sure I played badly a lot of times. Of course, I'm sure of that.

Victor (28:27.278)

But I don't think that defines me. Actually, if I know that, I will try to make it better the next day or the next week. I will always try to do that. But I also, knowing that I play poorly a lot of times, I never, I'm never fully convinced that I play great. Any, any of the nights that I played, I don't think that I play great. So I don't see myself here and I don't see myself here.

So I'm just trying. Just trying. OK. OK. No, and I think that's a great answer. I want to touch on it a little bit more, though. Please. So it was going to be a later question, but I will ask it to you now. So you know, because you mentioned you had some issues with tech sometimes. So I want to find out because a lot of times this happens to DJs. You know, you guys have such a responsibility, right? And then, you know, sometimes things happen.

that are completely out of your control. So you've had it where I've been in the club sometimes and literally the music just stops. And everybody goes, And they look at you. Straight to you. Everybody's looking at you. So it's like, okay, that is out of your control, but nobody's thinking that that's the case. They think that what have you done here? Do you know what I mean? So the question is around...

is around, you know, how, what can you tell to people or what can you say to people around trying to get them to understand that, you know, sometimes it's not in your, things aren't in your control and these things do happen. If that makes sense as a question, you know, what can you tell to people around? The last people that will want the music to stop is the DJ. Exactly. So,

If the music stops, the people that bother people the most in the room is the DJ. And most of the time, it's not his fault. It's someone that disconnects a plug or presses a button that doesn't mean the light goes out, the power goes out. Most of the times, it's like that. If it's not like that, if it's just for DJing...

Victor (30:52.238)

then you will see the difference. The music just won't stop, it will feel bad. But people should really know that the last people that will want the music to stop is the DJ, believe me. So remember that people, when that happens, just give them some grace. Sometimes we just do like this. Yeah, exactly. They don't want it to happen. Not we, but yeah, they don't want it to happen more so. Okay, cool.

Thank you. Have you collaborated with any artists at all? Any, you know, music artists, Kizomba artists? No, no, no, not in production of a music or a song or no, to be honest, I don't have a lot of time to produce, although I would I would like to do it because I also

understand and study music. I did a conservatory and stuff. So I really would like to do that, but I don't have time. What I do in all festivals, almost all festivals, I have live performances. I'm the one who deals with the singer and prepares the songs and plays the songs for them. And sometimes me and him and that singer we do live.

mashups like I will play like eight songs in four minutes and it will sing them along. So yeah, that's the closest that I get to the artists is that festivals and in clubs in Lisbon, of course, I know them. Yeah. But working, working wise, yeah, I assist them while they're singing. Okay. Usually I do the check sound, I control the volume of the micro and equalization and stuff. I help them when they need.

And that's my job. Okay, all right. So sometimes but more in a help capacity. Yeah, yeah. And then what about some of your, you know, favourite, because you mentioned festivals there, but what about some of your favourite, you know, festivals that you like to, can you, can you think of any memorable nights that you've had at? That's very politically incorrect. Okay. Yeah.

Victor (33:12.91)

No, you know that there are always some festivals that, you didn't mention mine. OK, we can skip that question. No problem. Yeah, but there are some three or four, maybe five festivals that me personally, I want to be invited. OK. So I really want to play there because I feel they are very good festivals. Yeah. But if you, I hope you understand that I'm not going to mention any names. Totally cool. That's fine.

Alright, so then obviously we know Kizomba is from Angola, alright, and we know it's got cultural richness to it. So how do you then ensure that, you know, the culture or richness can come through in some of your sets? Do you kind of think about that sometimes? And when you're playing, you know, how can I get the vibe from, you know what I mean, from Angola or anything like that into the sets that you're playing?

It's about the song that you choose. If you like good music, you will show good music. Actually, I love Kizomba, but I also love Afro-Zouk from every other country. I love music from Guinea Bissau. I love music from Guinea Bissau. I think my favourite artist ever is from Guinea Bissau.

So, Justino Delgado, I try to do it... As I said to you before, I try to show people what I love. And try to show people different kinds of music, different kinds of beauty in the songs. Sometimes letting the song play a little bit more so they can hear that...

specific part of the song that really defines the song that usually DJs they just play one minute a half to two minutes and usually people don't hear the whole song but there are some songs that you should really they should be played for four minutes and a half or five minutes because that that part that people should listen to into the song so Sometimes I try to do that. I try to show people

Victor (35:37.23)

different variations of the same song that they know for years. But it can be a different song if you listen just one or two minutes more. Yeah. OK, so it just depends. Yeah, it depends. Depends. Yeah. And then with the music, then, how do you stay up to date with the latest trends? We have we have nowadays is very different.

15 years ago, we play, I used to play with CDs. So a singer will release a song, will release a single. And then in order to play that song, you have to go to the record store and you have to buy the old CD and you put it in your car or in your home. And you will listen to...

the other tracks of the CD and the way you would surprise people is that you play that song that has been released and one or two more of the same album that people didn't know. So that was our way of surprising people. We have to buy the CDs, listen to the whole album. Nowadays, every artist, they publish every song on social media.

So you already know what song people will want to hear because the dynamics today is different. Before people were counting on you to show them new music. Today you have to... People are expecting you to play the song that they want to hear. So it's the opposite. The opposite.

So how do I stay up to date? A lot of artists send me songs. A lot of producers send me songs also. And I just research. I research a lot. On platforms or I still buy CDs. Old CDs they are not on Apple Music or Spotify. And I just search. Even in old CDs that I have, I have some 400 CDs in my home.

Victor (38:05.454)

I don't have them all in my laptop. So sometimes I revisit some CDs and I will listen again. There's some song that I missed to like and because your ears also changed throughout the years. So now 10 years after I might like a music that I didn't 10 years ago. So it's a mix of several things. Yeah. Lots of different ways. But the point is you're keeping up to date. I try. I try.

You know, I would love to come and see your stash of CDs and records. I bet it's just massive, right? So it's less cases. Yeah. Yeah. They are not exposed. They'll take too many too much room. Okay. All right. Okay. Cool. There's lots there. Okay. Well, listen, thank you for sharing, you know, some of that stuff around, you know, Kizomba there, DJing in particular. Really, really interesting for me. So what I want to...

talk about now then is your personal musical experiences. How has Kizomba influenced or shaped your own life and personal experiences? How has Kizomba influenced your life? Completely. Actually, it changed my life. Just because I met completely different people and environments and...

clubs and restaurants and families, whole families that I've met that I wouldn't know if I didn't went that first Wednesday that my friends took me to Mussulo. If my friends hadn't taken me to that first night, I'm sure my life would be really different. I don't know, better or worse. I don't know. But I'm sure it would be completely different. Thank them for it.

Yeah. Now, most of my friends are African or related to festivals or parties or my old friends that I used to go out with. I still have my best childhood friends. I still have them today. But my college friends, I still have some. But most of my friends, my crew is...

Victor (40:31.406)

from the days that I started going out in African clubs and parties. It affected you in a massive way. Massive, yeah. All right. What's on your playlist right now? My playlist right now? Yeah, let's say top two or three songs. What you listen to? A new song from unedited, new song from Kind of One Drive. It's very nice.

If you just say the name again so people can hear. No, the singer is Cano André. My top three. The other song is Sereia, Portuguese. And the third song is Currucutu. It just recently was released by Beto Max. I'm not sure if it's available, but that's the song I'm listening to right now. And...

People will listen to those three songs today for sure. why? What is happening today? Today we want to have Suave Nights. Suave Nights. So we're going out tonight. Yeah, we're going out tonight. For sure. Just because you're in town, right? Yeah. You're just passing. Okay. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Cool. All right. So I want to talk to you about this another time. And that's my way of getting you back on the show for another time.

but I'm just gonna touch on it because we could talk about this for a long time. But I just want you to tell us what you prefer out of Kizomba, Semba and Zouk. I cannot choose. You can't choose, okay. I can tell you about all those three styles. We haven't got time for that, Nizbog. We'll do that another one. Which is not gonna be today. By the way, I...

I will accept your invitation to be here again. thank you. So we heard that everyone is coming back. Yeah, back is done. All right. I cannot choose. Okay. We'll leave it at that. It's impossible. It's impossible. Okay. All right. So, all right. This question is going back actually to something we touched on earlier on, but it's around, you know, when we were talking about things coming out, being out of your control, but this kind of links into it. Cause I want to find out.

Victor (42:53.198)

Do you mind people coming up to you when you're DJing and requesting songs? You know, so if somebody comes up, you know, you're in the middle of your... and they say, can you... Well, first of all, does that happen to you? Has that happened to you? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So how do you feel about that? Talk to us. Fortunately, less and less. Okay. People used to be very vocal about their requests and their desires to listen to...

It depends on the request and depends on the person. And it depends also on my current state of mind. If I'm stressed, if I'm like playing this high energetic set that requires more energy for me. I'm not in the mood to listen to you or do a strange request or asking me when he's going to play Kizomba. So, yeah, but I'm not, I would say that I'm not.

particularly open. Okay. But I will listen. Yeah. And if I agree, I will think about that. Okay. All right. You heard it here. You heard that one. I hope that people don't think I'm kind of bad. No, no, no, no, no. It's just the way it is. Every DJ understands what I'm saying. We have this. If we have one hour or an hour and a half to play or six hours, like...

before we used to play like the whole night alone. But in our head, we have a line. We have imagined a place where we're going to go. We don't know if we're going to go there. It depends on the audience also. But in our head, we already know where we're going to go. So if that request fits in that line, OK, I may play that song. But if it's completely out of the way,

not gonna happen, but it's my birthday. Yeah, maybe I should play the birthday song at the end of the party. Well, you had it here, guys and girls. Okay, so then my other question kind of links into that as well because I'm trying to, I want to find out from you and other DJs as well, you know, what can maybe get in the way of you and you working? So, you know, what would you advise people not to do?

Victor (45:23.278)

to do when you are. So obviously people come up and they want to request songs. But in order for you to be in your zone and do what you have to do, obviously that's what we want. Can you tell us, you know, or just educate us on something that would get in the way or was not kind of something that you would like people to do? Yes, I can. I will tell you gladly. First thing, don't come in the DJ booth and try to give hugs or...

or shake hands too violently because we have our headphones, we have cables, we have a narrow space. If we move a lot, we might hit a button that we don't want by accident. First thing. Second thing, don't try to speak too long. Just say hi and we'll talk later. Yeah, that's perfect. They just go there, say hi, shake hands, five or whatever, or even do this because...

Soon, in 30 or 40 minutes or 60 minutes, we're going to be out of the DJ booth and then we can talk. But while working, it's a little bit stressful to have people trying to make long conversations or to ask questions. Even because in each song, there's a sweet spot. The DJs. There's a sweet spot in each song where the perfect spot...

that we can make the transition. And if you arrive talking to me and that sweet spot is arriving and I miss that sweet spot, I will be angry to you. I will be. So just make it quick. That's cool. This is great and it's educating and people are learning this stuff. So we need to hear. So I think you notice I'm very honest. I don't I say wherever you ask me, I will speak.

So I hope people don't get to bother. That's the way I feel. This is the conversation. That's why we're here. Okay. Okay. Okay. Are there any particular artists or songs that you always like to include or is it just a... I mean, like you said before, you don't play, you know, you choose the first song a few minutes before you start. So is that just random in terms of artists that you...

Victor (47:45.486)

It's random, but I always like to play some artists because I think they're classics and I love their voices and I always love to play them. Like Justino Delgado, which I mentioned before, a Guinea Bissau singer. Yola Semedo, Paulo Flores, Matias Damásio, Carlos Buriti.

There are some singers, I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but there are some singers that I always when in doubt, when I don't know if what I'm going to play next, but it's not all inspiration being, you know, there's a lot of sweat also. But I always going to revisit their folders and those like really close selections of those artists that I mentioned and some others.

I always revisit and try to find some song that I can include in that set. Yeah. Yeah. All right. No, and that's... I think there are voices that like fill the room and or fill your... I don't know. And there are singers that when they sing, at least for me... You just feel it. Yeah. I just stop playing. Sometimes I just stop playing and just listen to the song until the end because I really had to feel the vibe. And it's really good when we see DJs enjoying it and you know, you might put that song on and DJ is like...

in their own world, and they're like, yeah, okay, he's enjoying himself, or she's enjoying herself. You know? Okay, cool, cool. All right, so let's talk about the dance community then, okay? So obviously, Kizomba has a massive international community, you know that. Are there any memorable experiences that you can recall with DJs or just people that you've had, anything that's come out that's like, yeah, you know what, that was...

a really good night or that was a really memorable concert or whatever, anything that comes to mind. It is the same question over what are the best festivals that I went to. No, it's slightly different actually. It's slightly different. For me it seems the same. I kind of went underground. It seems the same. No, I think I went under. So, I remember the first time I played in the US. Okay. I remember. Actually, I can't say the name of the festival because that festival is over.

Victor (50:12.206)

There we go. It was called FemJam. FemJam. It was a really special festival. Actually, the first time was not FemJam, but with the same people of FemJam. The first festival actually was called Tabanka. But the following festival with the same organizers and basically the same people, it's called FemJam. And I really remember the feeling of...

not knowing what I was going to play, what would people dance. If they knew how to dance, of course they knew, but how would they dance? I don't know. What would they like? It was completely strange. I've been to the US before, but never in the festival, never DJing. And I remember the great satisfaction that I had when I saw people dancing there. And the dance community is great. Shout out to the US.

you're watching me because I really love that dance community. They are very close and they travel a lot and they really enjoy good music and it's a very, very good dance community. You're welcome. I tried. Okay. All right. So what's the most unexpected place then that you've... Beijing. Beijing. Okay. It's a story about Beijing. Okay.

So yeah, it was the most unexpected invitation that I had. Like it was two weeks before the festival, some guy called me and just said, I want you to come to Beijing and play.

Okay. Why, when, I didn't know. He immediately give me a condition. I send him my conditions and immediately send me the flight. Boom. Wow. Wow. Wow. Okay. And I couldn't say no. At that point I knew I didn't say no. So I had no time. It's like a 16 hour flight each way. And I went there to play for three nights.

Victor (52:23.79)

And I stayed there three nights, four days. I flew in. First day I went to the Great Wall of China, which is the best experience of my life in terms of visiting places and it was my best experience ever. First day I went to the Great Wall. Then I played three nights and then I came back. Jetlag as I don't remember being this jetlag before. And...

People didn't know, it was 2016, people didn't know what was Kizomba, real Kizomba, because the people that traveled there some years before to teach Kizomba were urban teachers, urban keys teachers. So people were learning from a different kind of music other than Kizomba. It was different, it was electronic, it was whatever.

It was different than my music. So when I started playing, people really didn't know music. Kizomba music, real Kizomba or Semba or anything similar to this. And I remember I traveled with Pechu, which is also from the old days. So for him, it was a shock also. So it was a very strange festival.

I don't even remember the name. I remember that I really loved the Great Wall. I didn't like the festival because it was not for me. I don't even know why that guy invited me, but he really wanted me, so okay. And I remember Chinese people being very different from us. Yeah. Many different ways.

Do you know what that community is like now? I never came back to Beijing and play, but I know there's still very strong in urban kids. I know that. Actually, the whole part of that part of the globe, China, Japan, even Australia, or they are more focused on urban kids that I know. And I know they travel a lot.

Victor (54:48.878)

Here to Europe listen to other things So I think that's the current state that they're trying to learn different things but not there maybe here There's a big festival here in Europe. It's KZL Luxembourg every end of April beginning of May and they have a lot of like there's a whole group of Chinese people that come to the festival every year. Yeah

just to search for new things and I'm very happy for them. Okay so Beijing was the most unexpected place. It was, it was. Okay cool. So just briefly, going out of Kizomba for a second, so obviously you're a DJ, big international DJ, but apart from Kizomba, you know, what else do you like to...

Play? Play, yeah. Or, you know, do you... Listen to? No, no. So if somebody was calling you up to, you know, DJ, is it always going to be a Kizomba request or a Samba request that they... Usually, yeah. Sometimes people do other requests. Yeah, that's what I mean. I love Afrobeat. Okay. I love Densol. You like Densol? Yeah. Okay. I know. Okay.

The best invitation that I had was from, I played at this festival, Kizomba Kante in New York. And it's organized by this group of, by this Asian guy, Steve Raphael. And he proposed me something. he said to me, I own a restaurant and we're going to do this party, midnight, midday, midnight at the restaurant. So I have my old Asian friends, they're eating there. So I need you to play if you're up to it for hours.

from four, yeah, four hours. No, it was from four to the end. 16 to midnight. So it's six hours, six hours. So you want to play? Yeah, of course I will. I will play. I just have one rule. You cannot play one key, one key, nothing. And I was delighted. And it was one of my best afternoons lately. OK, OK. So something, something different. Yeah. To like.

Victor (57:15.598)

get your mind off. Sometimes you need to get your mind off. And that's real. So, okay, cool. All right, so you have mentioned some of your, I asked you your top three songs that you're listening to. So, I mean, you know, in Kizomba specifically, who would you say is hot right now to, or, you know, quite new on the scene at the moment? In Kizomba? Yeah.

Right now, right now, the for me the best new album that is kind of slow Kizomba is a mix between Kizomba and Ghetto-Zouk, Edmaz and Mayembe. One of the best albums out now. Before that one, Ana Joy's album is amazing. The new album of Puto Português, it's amazing also.

So these are the three last albums. I'm talking like this last year or the beginning of this year. I would say those three. Those three. Ana Joyce, Edmazia and Puto Português. So people go and check them out. Go and check them out. Yeah, absolutely. You will not regret. Yeah. All right. Edmazia has a beautiful voice and this album, she really exceeded herself. So I think I love every song of the album. wow. It's very...

In my life, I've yet to do that for any genre. Yeah, I know what you mean. You have an album that you say every single song was good. Not close, but not that. Not every song is great, but it's there. It's good. Yeah, okay. So lots for people to check out. All right. So let's talk about then Kizomba Future, as in mainly relating to yourself. So are there any future projects or goals?

you know that you have in Kizomba that you'd like to share with us. Yes, play less, travel less. That's my goal. I wish I could like travel half and have the same people paying me double, you know. That would be really good but I know that's not possible. But actually my goal is to maybe to visit some of the

Victor (59:43.47)

some countries that I've never been to like Ghana, which was one of the countries that I would like, really would like to visit. Another one is Kenya, the other side. But. East and West. Yeah. I had like the old, I really wish that I could play in Russia. I'm a political person. So actually.

February, Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2021, no? No, I think two years, three, I don't remember. I just know that that year in May, after all these years DJing, I'd never been invited to Russia. In May, after three months after Russia invaded Ukraine, I got an invitation to play in Russia and...

I am very sorry. I really wanted to go to the city that I really wanted to visit. I really wanted to visit St. Petersburg. Yes. Because of a museum that's there, the Hermitage. I love museums. So and I said, I'm sorry. Sadly, I had to say no. Yeah. Because, yeah, I'm a political person and I don't agree with the way your country is dealing with this. So. So that that was my goals that I'm not sure.

when or if I'm going to do. Yeah, but my main goal, I think, is to travel a little less, enjoy a little bit more, and retire early. Let's follow my goals. Retiring early, yeah. So obviously you've been doing this for a long time. So is the traveling just getting a little bit too... Yeah, it is hard.

Mainly because DJing is not my main occupation. You didn't ask me, but I will tell you anyway. Please do. DJ is my hobby. It's like a professional hobby and it's a very... It takes a lot of time of my life as a hobby, but I'm an osteopath. wow. Yeah. And I work three days a week. I work long hours. I work 12 to 14 hours every day at the clinic.

Victor (01:02:09.166)

So DJing is only a hobby. As a hobby, travel 45 to 47 weekends a year. It's heavy. Yeah, it's hard. So... But even doing all those travelings, I feel good. I don't feel too tired. Sometimes after one or two months of traveling, I just have to stop and sleep for two days. But then I'm good again.

So I don't feel the tiredness yet, but I know that eventually I will be invited a little bit less. Some new guys are coming in. I hope that new guys take place as long as they are good. So I know that eventually I will want to reduce the rhythm a little bit and just enjoy life a little bit. My nephews, my family.

My parents are 70 right now, so I want to be a little bit closer to them. And yeah, just reduce. We find out a bit about you at the beginning and at the end. Yeah, which is good. We wanted to find out. So that's cool. Yeah. All right. OK. And just the point there that you were finishing on actually leads into one of my one of my questions or one of my final questions is so you were talking about the new guys, new guys, new girls. So.

people that are watching this now, some people will be listening to you and they would have heard of you as well. And they'll be thinking, okay, you know what? I actually want to get into DJing. It's something that I want to do, Sue it. Most of us, we have playlists and we think that, okay, yeah, this is my attempt at being a DJ, okay, whatever it might be, the list of songs that we like. But what advice would you give people who are thinking about...

entering your world and you know being you know Kizomba djs what would you say? You're more than welcome everyone is more than welcome to being a DJ it's not easy but nowadays is not really hard actually you just need a controller a good playlist and you can start practicing this is the

Victor (01:04:32.302)

the superficial part. If you take it more in depth, I think you should always try to listen to a lot of music, a lot of music. Mainly old singers try to understand the history of the style, the history of the even the history of the countries that...

produced the music, why that music was produced in this way or in that way, where the music was produced, where is the singer from. Try to respect the geography of the music, the history of the singer. I don't know, try to respect the culture as much as you can. Because if you do that, you will play for sure a lot better. And second part.

Learn technique. Learn how to properly mix. You can learn that on YouTube, taking courses with other DJs. Yeah, but just try to be technical. Being technical is... Sometimes if you don't have the best selection of all, or if you don't... Maybe you don't have the best selection of you, don't have like the...

enormous playlist, but if you are very technical, if you are really perfect mixing and doing transitions, you can have a very good night if you are technical. Culture, country. Yes. Everyone, you heard some pearls of wisdom here from a master, so please take that on board if you're trying to pursue a career in DJing. Yeah, or call me. I can give you some insights. wow. Okay.

Give him a call. Amazing. Amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Where can people find out about you, reach you, you know, talk to us? Social media is the best way. I have an Instagram page, DJ .Sabura. He has my yellow logo. It's an S. And on Facebook also, DJ .Sabura. Easy.

Victor (01:06:54.062)

And on there you can find out about all your events coming up with that kind of stuff. Yeah, I post all my events, all my work stuffs. I don't have a lot of personal stuff on social media. So it's mainly my events and where to reach me, where to hear me. There are my contacts there, my professional contacts. So I answer to people if not tomorrow, whenever I can, but it's shortly.

So I'm available. I'm not this guy that doesn't care about people that reach me. So yeah, feel welcome to write me. Fantastic. That is fantastic. That's fantastic. Thank you so much. Before we release you though, before we let you go and finish the podcast and go out to Suave Nights, before we go party, we just got some little fun cards that we have here for you, for our guests. Should I just go?

No, never be scared. Remember, this is just all fun conversations. We want to bring the joy of Kizomba to as many people as we can. So the way this goes is there are four cards here. We're going to get you to pick three at random and then you read the card to us and then just answer it. And whichever card is left, I will answer that. So the one that you avoid. So for me, yes. Three. Well, pick one at a time. So which one? Yeah. Okay.

So if you read that one out to us, yeah, read it out to us and then tell us the answer to that. What would you be more drawn to? A good Kizomba house party or a good Kizomba night in a club? Definitely a good Kizomba house party. That's with what I grew up. Kizomba, afternoons, food, drinks, young people and old people all in the same space.

what it's all about right? That's literally what it's about. That was so easy. Alright, cool. Next one. Second one. I know. Which word below would you choose to describe the feeling of a great Kizomba dance with someone floating heaven? I think it's euphoria. Euphoria. Like same sort of thing as heaven. If you don't want to choose any of those words, you can choose your own word. Yeah.

Victor (01:09:19.022)

I'm gonna read the question again. Which word below would you choose to describe the feeling of a great Kizomba dance with someone? I would choose another word. Yeah, please. Discovery. Discovery. Okay. Yeah. So talk to us about that then. I love when I'm surprised by a good dancer. great. I love when I dance with someone for the first time. And sometimes I just stop in the middle of the dance. Really good dancer.

and I just go on so I love being surprised. lovely. Yeah. Great. Cool. Alright then. Are you sure? Last one. If your music device was stuck on one Kizomba song continuously, what song would that be? Balumuka Palops. Please say that again so people can hear. Balumuka Palops. Why? Many reasons.

That song has many different songs within the same song because he has ups and downs. He has more energetic and I don't know why I immediately remember this song. That was good. Yeah, perfect song. And then this song has like, I think it's 11 minutes. So people wouldn't get tired too much because they wouldn't listen too many times. So maybe three or four times. So I would reboot my laptop. Okay. So that would be good.

So Balumukha Padops. So people can hear that. The one that you avoided. So it says, where do you listen to Kizomba the most? House, car, public transport, etc. And I probably would have to say I listen to Kizomba in all those places, but I guess it's probably going to be in the house the most where I have Kizomba playing.

all the time. Well, most of the time anyway. But yeah, yeah. I believe you. You believe me, yeah? Yeah. But you know, we love the dance. We love the music. And it just takes over. It just takes over. It just takes over. Sabura, I want to say thank you so much, sir. Thank you so much for joining us. You're welcome. It's been an absolute pleasure learning from you. I'm so happy that you're coming back because in that conversation, I think it's going to be more around music.

Victor (01:11:48.05)

more, you know, how to identify music, the history of music, like you were speaking before, just a real education on that. And I think that would be a great conversation to have with you. I appreciate the invitation. It was my pleasure being here. I want to say hi to everyone that's seeing us. And of course, we'll be here again and talk about those subjects, the subjects I love that part of the scene also. Fantastic, fantastic. Thank you for being a great guest. Thank you. All right.

Everybody, as always, thank you for tuning in. Please tell us what you thought about the episode. And as we always say, keep dancing. We'll see you on the dance floor. Peace.