DJ Champion – NXNE
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To the left is Betty Bonifassi from DJ champion. Their performance at The Boat for the North by North East (NXNE) festival in Toronto was amazing. The entire floor from the stage to the back end at the bar was bouncing with everyone jumping along to the music. Sadly, as hype as the crowd was, I’m not sure Betty enjoyed it as much as she could have being sick. She had an awful flu that night that made her speaking voice sound very painful. She seemed beat to the bone, completely drained, but she showed no sign of it during the performance. To my amazement, when she sang you couldn’t even pick up on the illness, she somehow masked it and delivered as she always does, i.e. as good live if not better than on the album. The same is true of all the other members. Maxime Morin, aka DJ Champion is their leader. He mixes his own beats using Ableton Live amongst other digital goodies as seen in the picture below. He is the back bone of the group playing the role of an orchestrator by cueing each musician into their parts. He directs the energy of their delivery with the use of his hands, the same way a baseball coach communicates to his players on the field but DJ Champion has his own unique style with only one hand, while the other mans his console of beat machines… a true multi-tasker and a pioneer in the realm of electronic orchestration. |
| Aside from Max and Betty, the rest of the group is referred to as the G-Strings, composed of four guitarists and one bass player; Barry, Fets, J-L, Seb, and Manon (bass). To the right is a photograph that shows just how intent they are to the signals given by their leader DJ Champion.In closing, this intimate venue was an experience of a lifetime. It was the first time I had seen electronica beats mixed with rockin guitars that virtually made the floor cave in from enthused audience members giving their all to jump to their rhythm. This band from Montreal is a must see and I encourage you to check out their myspace;www.myspace.com/djchampion |
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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 21st, 2007 at 6:13 pm. It is filed under Uncategorized and tagged with nxne, the boat.
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