Top EDM DJs headed for SA
These three Dutch dance-music legends will touch down on SA shores for the Ultra Music Festival in February. Here are a few things you might not know about them
ARMIN VAN BUUREN (41) After more than two decades in the industry his name is synonymous with trance and EDM. Armin remains one of the hardest-working artists around. Family man “It’s a lot of work to balance family and music but it’s worth the effort 20 times over,” reveals the devoted family man.
He has a daughter, Fenna (6), and a son, Remy (4), with his wife of eight years, Erika van Thiel. His Plan B Before his music career took off Armin thought it would be smart to have a backup plan, so he got a master’s degree in law. Royal admirers In 2011 Armin was appointed Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau for his services to music. This civil and military honour was founded in 1892 by Queen Emma of the Netherlands.
Armin says one of the highlights of his career was performing for the newly crowned Dutch king and queen, Willem-Alexander and Máxima, in 2013. Fantasy fan The legendary DJ is such a huge fan of the hit series Game of Thrones he released the official trance remix of the HBO show’s theme song in 2015. HARDWELL (30) Named DJ Mag’s top DJ in the world in 2013 and 2014, he’s since dropped to fourth place, but the electro-house master is still blowing up festivals and charts all over the world. Cool moniker Born Robbert van de Corput, Hardwell derived his stage name from his surname. Corput – “Cor” is“heart” in Latin, while “put” means “well” in Dutch. He swapped the “t” for a “d”, and voila! Child prodigy Hardwell was just four years old when he began playing the piano and used those skills to start making music at the age of eight.
By 14 he was signed to a Dutch record label and for the first four years of his career the underage DJ needed a parent to accompany him to gigs. Part-time ninja He’s skilled at judo and other martial arts. When he isn’t producing music or playing clubs and festivals he’s polishing his fighting skills. Breda born and bred Zero 76 – his collaboration with mentor DJ Tiësto – is named after the area code of the town of Breda where they were both born.
Hardwell says the best advice Tiësto gave him was to “stay true to yourself and enjoy what you’re doing. It’s not going to last forever”. AFROJACK (30) Although the Grammy-winning DJ has a string of EDM hits to his name his musical genius can also be heard in pop hits such as Beyoncé’s Run the World and Pitbull’s Give Me Everything. Jack of all trades “A lot of people are narrow-minded and think you can only do one thing,” the musician says of his decision to work with other genres.
“If you love chicken it doesn’t mean you’re going to eat it every day for the rest of your life - you might like pizza.” Hair-raising name “My stage name comes from my hairdo back in the ’90s, when I used to have a pretty impressive Afro,” reveals the musician, who was born Nick van de Wall. “Jack comes from a term [ for a freestyle dance move] used in house music back in the day.” Pop fan Although he’s considered EDM royalty he counts pop greats like Michael Jackson and U2 among his biggest musical inspirations. Boys and their toys The DJ – who’s worth an estimated $22 million (R275 million) – is an avid car collector with a Rolls-Royce Ghost and an Audi Q7 in his garage among many other high-class road toys.