SEMMAR - indie band from Kyiv. With love

semmargroup@gmail.com

Advent – A coming, or an arrival, a coming into being or use. 

Quite an appropriate name for Cisco Ferreira, a man who has played a big part in the creation and development of Techno from the very beginning of this genre’s history. Indeed, his Techno CV is the stuff of legend. Cisco was producing Techno and performing live Techno shows years before the rest of the world had even heard of the genre. He released his first track in 1988, was a pioneer of the Live PA (or Live Public Address – performing Techno live in front of an audience using electronic music gear), and, if all that wasn’t enough, he even worked as the sound engineer on some of Derrick May’s, Adonis & Fingers Inc’s recording sessions! 

The list goes on, and so does Cisco. Unlike other Techno pioneers from the early years, Cisco continues to produce with as much passion and frequency as he did back in the day. His releases on Labels Like Tresor, Rotation, Electrix, Kanzleramt, Dj Gigolos, Pure Plastic, Synewave plus many more is just another example of his ongoing pursuit to keep making music and pushing Techno to new boundaries. 

Cisco was born to Portuguese parents on the island of Madeira (Portugal). His family moved to London (1975) when he was five years old, setting the stage for his musical career. While at Paddington College (1986) in West London, he studied sound engineering and secured a job after graduation as an assistant sound engineer at ZOLOU Then later WALL Studios.  

At this period is when he really started to learn about Sound & Production, his 1st main recording sessions as an engineer were rock & “Inde” based bands & the studio owners being in successful rock bands. Matt Dangerfield & John Payne “ASIA” this 1st step was a start in learning about balancing & mixing down the rock way, which had a lot of intense & Raw energy especially on drums & Guitars.. 

Other bands Cisco did sessions for: P.I.L. (John Lydon - sex pistols) – Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) – That petrol emotion. Then Later Pop, Dance, Soul & reggae groups like: Wild Bunch (Nelly hopper & Massive Attack) – Marco Pirroni (Adam & the ants) - Maxi Priest – Sly Dunbar (Sly & Robbie) – Loose Ends – Cheryl Lynn… 

1987 Cisco began going to clubs and learning about this new thing called Acid House, which was spreading like crazy throughout London’s underground scene, culminating in the famous “Summer of Love” in 1988, the genre’s golden period. 

Around this time, a record label called, Jack Trax, “One of the 1st to release Acid House, House & techno in UK” moved in next door and began using the same studio for recording sessions, with Cisco as the engineer working with Fingers Inc, Adonis, Marshall Jefferson & Derrick May. Cisco released his first record in 1988 on Ferrari records (R&S records) Then later “Cisco Ferreira” EP on Fragile. 

His first big break came in 1994, when he and fellow Londonite Colin McBean (a.k.a. Mr. G) were brought on by Internal Records to help co-produce a group called Salt Tank. A record contract with Internal/FFRR soon followed, committing The Advent to 12 EP’s and 3 albums.

Today, The Advent goes on just as Cisco Ferreira. While he has had a long history with tons of accomplishments to hang his hat on, he continues to make history. The Advent is fulfilling Cisco’s vision as much as ever. He is busy touring as both a DJ and a live performer, producing for numerous labels, and running his own Techno imprint, Kombination Research. 

As Cisco moves forward, striving to fulfill the ambitious goals he has set one can look back at his storied past and see how he has come full circle… The Saga continues.

Berlin-based, London born DJ & CONTR4ST Label owner, fka.m4a has become a stalwart of underground music with a heady blend of Italo, HI- NRG and House. With several Boiler Room appearances under his belt - clocking up over half a million streams combined - plus shows everywhere from Berghain / Panormar Bar, Timewarp, Tomorrowland to Awakenings, features in Mixmag and Electronic Beats, plus Peggy Gou in his corner as a mentor, his stock is firmly on the rise. 

Born in London, music was always front and centre in his family home, his mother playing music to him through headphones while he was still in the womb. Citing acts whose USP was female empowerment as the first music he found for himself, the likes of Spice Girls and Lil Kim were early musical influences, eventually leading him to start DJing on the queer scene in London. 

“I was working on the Soho & East London circuit” he says. “I was mainly doing guestlist and hosting but eventually they asked me to DJ and I spent a few years cutting my teeth on that scene.” 

Learning how to work a crowd as a pop DJ, seeing Honey Dijon DJ on his first trip to Berlin in 2016 led him down the rabbit hole of electronic music and led to a shift in his focus. 

“I completely fell in love with the storytelling element of her set,” he says. “I spent the next year immersed in dance music culture and started playing the electronic room at gay nights.” 

Moving to Berlin in 2019, the pandemic quickly put a stop to his burgeoning DJ career before a switch to recording streams from his apartment during covid saw his profile blow up, leading to signing with an agency and bagging his first Panorama Bar set when lockdown lifted. 

With Peggy Gou taking him under her wing and asking him to regularly open for her (“She’s helped me out so much and we have a really strong relationship,” he says. “She calls me her daughter and I call her my mother,” he laughs.), fka.m4a’s schedule got hectic with sets everywhere from Warehouse Project to Sonar and a focus on producing their own music. 

“It’s important for me to make music that works in the club,” he says. ‘But most importantly, it’s about making something that comes straight from the heart. I think I’ve achieved that on my first EP and I can’t wait for people to connect with it.” 

With an event series in the pipeline and a summer stacked with festival shows from Hï Ibiza to Terminal V, fka.m4a has firmly cemented himself as one of the leading artists in the underground space.

EU/Asia/World: 
chris@parachute-booking.com

North & South America: 
ryan@liaisonartists.com

@umay_works
julia@triangleagency.com
debut album links // 
https://linktr.ee/nene_h_ali

Amsterdam based DJs, events company and record label. - support@dekmantel.com for all your webshop and label enquiries.

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