#MusicInTheAir Podcast hosts this week :
COPAL

Today Villahangar welcomes another new artist for its weekly MusicInTheAir Podcast. Today the protagonist is Samy Ayachi aka Copal, born and raised in Belgium and still living in Brussels. He says: “Somehow I like to be here, around me many people complain about the little sun. For me it’s more than fine, I prefer the seasons that do not vary much. Autumn and winter when it’s darker are great months for studio productivity. The year-round sun offers too many opportunities for distractions and I could break my discipline to stay composing…” And it is still the journey that influences him. “Escapes are nests of inspiration,” he says.

An evocative name, his: the copal is a sacred smoke used by the Maya to raise souls. Samy Ayachi in fact uses his music – an energetic form of organic house that has its roots in the desert to a more tribal Afro style always infused of cinematic and ethereal atmospheres – such as smoke to convey sound waves and create paths for Reverie.

“I would call my musical style today ‘fragmental’. I borrow fragments of different genres and as main the cinematic atmosphere and everything related to it: contrast, emotion, raising of the threads, darkness … I love unpredictable songs, that when you listen to them you evolve on a blurry path. Without possible anticipations but still very consistent”.

His first encounter with music – as actively making music – was in the first year of college in which he took that compulsory music course with the flute. He says: “For the first time I had the opportunity to get in touch with an instrument. When I came home from school, I trained my ears I could play with the flute quite quickly any kind of melody heard on TV.”

Among the musical genres that influence him the most, mostly movie soundtracks, listening to a bit of everything when he takes off his DJ headphones. He explains: “I like to draw inspiration from other genres than the ones I’m currently producing – to oxygenate the brain – Visual things are also very stimulating, like a work of art, nature, plants… They simply open the view to other angles. In my EP Renaissance I literally used plants to generate midi notes that ended up becoming some lead melodies on some tracks.”

Among his reference artists, Clint Mansel, Hans Zimmer, Craig Armstrong, Harry Gregson Williams Jamie xx “I really like Satori’s work more connected to the musical style I produce today”.

He has released on labels such as Wired, The Purr, Nugget and coming this year a long-awaited afro house EP on Madoraisindahouse. His most famous track “IYO” was in the TOP 10 of the Afro House Beatport charts. Also, in Organic house his collaboration with Touzani has sent the Santolia EP in more Beatport Charts with the support of artists such as Cercle, Rawmain, Bodaishin, Kora.

He has played in Festivals and parties such as Voodoo Village, Hangar, Mind, Mirano (BE), Saikuk (Tulum) and shared the desk with &ME, Rampue, Satori, Gheist, Agoria, Deer Jade, Carlita, Paji, Vander, Denis Horvat.

For this summer he is waiting for a gig with a magical Bedouin trio, Stavroz and Serge Devant in June “And then there is this very refined festival called Voodoo Village that comes with an incredible line up, very happy to be part of it”.

And among the musical projects for the present and the future, “Continuing to do what I like most on earth! Producing as a necessary “metabolic” activity 😉 – he says – I don’t have a real plan to say… I guess it’s more the music produced that will open plans for me maybe one day.”

For Villahangar he created a very fluid Podcast. He explains: “Basically it has the elements that I like in organic house & afro, I wanted a bit of contrast and something hypnotic to get into the journey to dance.”

Speaking of releases, what about your past, present and future projects?

In the past I produced goa trance like 20 years ago on software that looked like Excels sheets 😉 FastTracker was the beast at that time. It’s funny because there was already a need to blend ethnic ingredients into my sound. When I look at it today I laugh, I really produced the track at 130 bpm ??? To talk about now and the near future, I think the year 2022 – 2023 will be very prolific in terms of realizing that many tracks that were sleeping will also see the light of day a lot of collaborations are along the way… So, stay tuned 😉

What can you tell us specifically about your release with Wired, Enzo Siffredi’s label? And your experience with this label?

Very good and fluid experience… Wired was on my list of the best Afro house labels to propose to and for “IYO”. I wanted to sign the two tracks as an EP because I felt they would coexist well. Fun fact, another label answered directly yes for the IYO title but not much interest in Muuma. Enzo grasped the entire link between the tracks. Surprisingly today Muuma made it higher than IYO maybe because I used it a lot to close my concerts and here is the power of social media when people saw the joy and crowd synchronized… They wanted to own some of that memory and what remains is the piece of music, fun to see a reverse trend because you played that song at a specific time. Conclusion, trust your own work and do not listen to the labels that want to frame you in their “square”. Also, an important point I wanted to have full control over the image, and Enzo was really willing to allow me to create something different.

What do you think of the Belgian music scene? What do you think are the differences between Europe and the rest of the world?

Belgium is a farcical country and there is an interesting scene in every genre I suppose, if you dig. Curiosity, they are always people from abroad who made me discover some gems of Belgian artists: at that time I discovered Stavroz thanks to some friends in Mexico or some people introduced me to Lost Desert, which is also Belgian and I did not know it at all… You need to go abroad to learn more about your local artists.

What evolution do you think electronic music is experiencing on the international scene?

I see especially when I dig in Organic / afro house I see that the style grows and grows everywhere, is a great return to the roots with more real instruments, tribal beats infused with synths… It is also much more subtle in terms of melodies… I like it to be an expanding trend.