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Every disciple has his or her core text, his or her
point of reference from which all knowledge flows. Christians
have the Bible, Muslims have the Koran and nympdmaster
Flash On The Wheels Of Steel.
Deep within the bowels of its sublime and incendiary
mix of Queen, Chic and Blondie, Flash's dizzying array
of cutbacks and the track's funk-assisted forward motion,
a secret was unleashed. A secret which resonates to
this day: how to get the party started, how to keep
the party going and, most crucially, how to take the
party to places no-one dared imagine possible. Its potency
is still recognised today.
So, imagine what it must have sounded like to Mo Becha
and David Fourqaert back then, when the duo, who were
barely into their teens, were taking their first tentative
steps on a long and winding road which they continue
to travel upon this every day. Today Mo and David are
better known as The Glimmers, the most adventurous
DJ partnership around (so says the UK's DJ magazine
anyway). They're also known as Mo and Benoelie (David's
nickname since school. It's meaning? It has no meaning.
Well that's kids for you) and they used to be known
as The Glimmer Twins until they decided not to risk
crossing the path of the Rolling Stones lawyers; The
Glimmer Twins having long been used to describe Mick
and Keef. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. To understand
the present you have to comprehend the past, hence Grandmaster
Flash.
So, let's picture the scene: it's the early '80s and
Mo and Benoelie have been seduced by the motion picture
'Beat Street', in particular its triple pillars of hip
hop, breakdancing and graffiti. From
their vantage point (Ghent, Belgium since you ask) that
nascent and emerging culture is the most exciting movement
imaginable. Block parties, scratching, electro... it
wouldn't have taken a great leap of faith to be converted
by its other-worldly qualities. Bitten by the music
bug - Captain Rock, Afrika Bambaataa, Kraftwerk,
Roxanne Shante, Herbie Hancock and of course
the aforementioned Grandmaster Flash and remembering
what Flash had preached, they began to practise in Mo's
attic: the techniques, the scratches, the beatmixes.
They then moved their equipment
to Benoelie's cave - four square metres - and readied
themselves for the first public performances.
sThese came at a bar in Ghent by the name of Mistral.
Before school, at lunch and once again after school,
the duo would head to the bar and spin all manner of
musical madness. Too young to take advantage of the
bar's tempting wares they'd play the pop tunes of the
day - U2, Madonna, Prince, Tears For Fears, even Nick
Kamen - and they'd rub them up against old disco cuts
by Barry White and Bohannon as well as their
beloved hip hop and electro. Even then they had no truck
with musical fascism, their primary objective being
all about the dancefloor and its perpetual motion.By
the age of 16 they were DJing for Ghent's youth every
Friday night at a bar called 't Vliegend Peerd, adding
the early hypnotic rhythms of electronic body music
to their alluring mix, but most importantly they were
being turned onto the strange and experimental sounds
coming from the city's Boccaccio club. There, the DJ
Olivier Pieters was spinning the most delirious music:
12-inches were purposefully pitched down and extended,
the result being a deep, metronomic, groove-laden experience,
known as Belgian new beat. Always open to new musical
revolutions, Mo and Benoelie adapted these sounds and
took them to their new residency at Fifty Five. Playing
from 10pm till 7am they would play new beat, early acid
house, disco, new wave and classic rock'n'roll.
As the '90s dawned Mo and Benoelie were playing all
over Belgium, their sets consisting of the futuristic
sounds that were emanating from Detroit and Chicago
as well as the experimental electronica of UK acts like
808 State and the funk-driven cuts, which had
always defined them. As the decade progressed the majority
of DJs began to drift down specific roads, but the direction
The Glimmers took was always the road less travelled.
First and foremost lovers of music, they reasoned that
they should never shut themselves off from any styles
of music, that every blend, every genre, every movement
was theirs for the taking.Their appearances at the monthly
Free The Funk parties were legendary (they compiled
the Free The Funk series for R&S) as were their sessions
at the Kozzmozz parties, but it was with the emergence
of the Eskimo nights in 1997 (often held in an
old, disused underwear factory) that The Glimmers fame
really began to spread outside of Belgium.
In 2000 they programmed the first Eskimo compilation.
All over the place to the point of schizophrenia, and
yet startlingly cohesive, their amalgamation of new
beat, funk, dub, house, techno, party hip hop, new wave
and edgy post-punk disco was a revelation to those bored
of linear mix albums. It slayed the UK, as did its three
follow up releases, its ethos summed up magically by
its mission statement: 'Mix and merge, broaden your
musical scope. The future is present in the past.
The past presents the future.'By now the Twins were
playing all over Europe - fashion shows in Milan, magazine
parties in Paris and Bugged Out! in London - and to
honour their roots in Ghent they compiled two new beat
compilations, Serie Noire 1 and 2 for Eskimo (the label),
and paid homage to its coolest club with Culture Club
Volume I and II. Mo and Benoelie also began messing
about with re-edits and remixes for the likes of Crosstown
Rebels, Eskimo, Wally's Groove World, Blue Note and
Relish and under their production nom de plume, Dirty
Minds, they have set about translating their DJ skills
onto tracks of their own.
And that brings us about up to date. In November 2004
The Glimmers released 'The Glimmers Remixed, Re-edited
And Phucked Up', a glittering snapshot of where they've
been and where they are going. In April 2005 K7 will
release The Glimmers DJ Kicks mix. It's been
an interesting journey soundtracking the best parties
around, but you know what the best part is? Armed with
the lessons that they learnt all those years ago soaking
up Grandmaster Flash's exhortation, The Glimmers have
only just begunŠ
Biography Written by Jim Butler
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