Rowan Thorpe won with 82 out of 673 votes

Dj Name: Rowan Thorpe

City: Athens

Country: Greece

Year you started Djing: 2000

Title of your mix: Rowan's April 2005 Freestyle House
Description of mix: Freestyle Deep House, Nu Jazz, Big Beat mix
Email: dj@rowanthorpe.com
Website: www.rowanthorpe.com/dj

Rowan Thorpe is based in Athens, Greece and has been DJing officially since 2000 (and bought his first decks in 2003... yes, you read that right), but was consuming music with a high degree of focus & intent (and snatching sneaky spins on his mates’ vinyls whenever he got the chance) since the early ‘90s - while courageously ignoring the “poor cousin” and “get your own decks you cheap git” jibes.  He has always been a stubborn freestylista, but regularly saunters across to the jazzier/funkier/housier end of the spectrum. He is also very keen on (real) hip-hop (but recently plays it less often since the scene got hijacked by plastic-gun-toting “R&B” poseurs and their marketing gurus - which has forced the signal-to-noise ratio down to tediously low levels). His first “gigs” were decadently informal/impromptu/small parties for various friends in London, Lisbon and Athens. During this time he came to truly appreciate the need for striking a balance between atmospheric continuity and daring freestylism when fostering a party vibe rather than an “I’m too cool to even smile, let alone dance” vibe.
He started DJing more formally from 2004, and has played in Athens,Greece semi-regularly since (at Hell’s Kitchen Bar-Restaurant and Deluxe Bar, and at various private parties). Even when playing a “Deep House” or [insert-style-here] set, he tries to keep his music as freestyle and refreshing as constraints allow, and tries to remain as ignorant as possible of hyper-specific genre-definitions and
music-industry-catchphrases. Also being a prolifically busy dancer/choreographer/director/etc, he has a virtually instinctive understanding of what music makes bodies move and minds wander, and
in what order. Although he is adaptable and sensitive to the expectations of a crowd, he likes to answer the question “what style
do you mix" with the answer "anything that's good".