Mariano Somoza
“Way back when we were almost invisible, in Ibiza’s first clubs, DJs played with their back to the audience, and now we’re on a stage. I’ve lived through almost the entire evolution of the profession, first in Argentina and then in Ibiza, because I started when I was almost a teenager. My father listened to a lot of music: jazz, blues, Argentine folklore, tango… He had a Winko record player with a built-in loudspeaker. There were few imports in the record shops, and the radio hardly ever played music from abroad, but I had an American friend who always had the latest releases. We played songs in his garage, such as Pink Floyd, The Smiths and The Cure, and we were already working in a club when we were 15. I was an assistant for a DJ for a while: I learnt a lot by taking the records to the booth. That’s when I got the bug and started the path to becoming a professional DJ. I came to the island at the end of the nineties and have been a resident DJ at Nassau for ten years. Passion, curiosity and contact with younger people keep me current.”