Famous in Front (FIF) is a DJ duo from Sofia, they are about to play their music at We Art – Modalità Demodé Party on sat. 8th March, their names are Stan and Miki and I met them for the first time in April 2013.
Here is how they arrived to Milan. I was on a business trip in Bulgaria and my colleagues wanted me to have a taste of famous Sofia’s nightilife. We went to a bar in front of their office and after some (how many?) drinks we moved to an underground club in front of the bar. When I say underground I say it in its very meaning: at night, in the centre of Sofia, life goes on in the underpass below the main square. There you can find food, you can play pool, and find bars and clubs.
Mood is one of them and I must say that inside there was just the perfect mood. Mood is famous for its light-design, service was excellent, drinks were cheap and very well prepared, after a few (how many?) Gin&tonics I was attracted by music in front of the DJ desk. There I saw Stan and Miki taking turns in choosing tracks, the DJset was a trip into electronic music going deeper and deeper.
This is why, when Stan went outside to smoke a cigarette, I decided to follow him to ask some questions:
J: Hey, I love your music, is it long time you are playing together?
S: Hey, thanks, yes, it is more than 3 years now.
J: …and, are you also a couple, or just a DJ couple…?
S: Hahaha, we are also a couple, we met each other 10 years ago on the dancefloor and we are still dancing the same dance, hopefully for much longer.
J: Which dance?
S: Salsa, we are Salsa teachers, even if it is a long time we do not teach…
J: Ohh, how cool! Is there anything else you do toghether?
S: Not anything, everything!
J: Haahha, ok well, I need to go now, (my colleagues/friends were desperately trying to convince me to go away) when and where are you playing again? I’ll be here for a few days more.
S: Great, if you want to come back we play again here tomorrow! I also have to go back in, Miki needs me back.
Then my friends decided to start a Club crawl and the rest of the night it is blurred, I only remember we went at least to other two clubs, and that at the end of the night I had drank something like 15 Gin&Tonics for not more than 50 euros. In total.
The next day after work my colleagues left me alone, I was wandering around when I saw people grabbing beers in their hands going to a park. I decided to follow local habits: I bought two beers and went to the same park. Right choice! After not more than 10 minutes I made friends with a boy and a girl from Sofia.
After the beers we went for dinner and he decided to go with me to Mood. The mood was different, it was like a private party with selection at the door, but the magic words: “I am friends with the DJs” always work. I joined Stan and Miki at the desk as they were just about to start playing their discs. Between one track and the other, between one cigarette and the other I kept making my questions:
J: What is the meaning of “Famous in Front” your DJ name?
M: There is no meaning behind the nick name, we called ourselves like that with irony, cause we are always behind the decks and we are not famous.
J: How did you begin DJing?
M: We didn’t plan it, it was a coincidence. At one point we understood we had been doing it every week for several months and now it has been three years already!
J: I wish things came just as easy to me! I am impressed because it seems that you really know electronic music!
M: We know it because we like it, and we only play what we like!
J: Fair enough! What do you do when not together?
M: Do you really want me to answer to this?
J: Hahaha well, no, don’t worry, let’s go back in I think it is your turn now!
Again, the DJ set was amazing (my new friend couldn’t believe it), and this time I stayed until the end. We exchanged contacts and I told them I would do my best to have them invited to a party in Italy. In the meanwhile months passed by, and before my party-organizers friends needed a DJ, it was time for me to go back to Sofia for work again.
I must say I was thrilled, did I mention that food is great (and cheap just like alcohol), and people are awesome? Anyway, I immediately told Stan and Miki the dates of my trip. And I was lucky again, just in those days they were organizing a big party, the first of its kind in Sofia, in the Caveau of a Bank which had been abandoned after a burglary. The name of the party is V_Bank (Not bad, huh?) Do I really have to say how much fun I had? You can imagine.
This is why when We Art – Modalità Demodé Party was announced and my friends from Modalità Demodé told me they needed a DJ, I had absolutely no doubts in proposing the Famous in Front. This way I could keep a promise, and at the same time be sure that everybody would enjoy the music. By then Stan and Miki moved to Berlin, “why?” you will ask if Sofia is so good?
FIF: Nothing stay still, we also can’t!
And this leads to my last questions which I asked them to share their opinion on:
One place not to miss in Sofia by day/ one place not to miss in sofia by night:
FIF: Oh by day – Jenskiat pazar (the so called female market ). It’s a collision of smells and different cultures.
By night – the garden infront the national theatre (the one where people go to drink beers and hang out), and a V_Bank party of course!
Your favourite song/track
FIF: We don’t have a favourite track, there are so many tracks that we love , but a favourite of all of them…no.
In this moment I ( Miki ) would like to hear: Matthew Herbert’s Café de Flore And I (Stani ) : Romanthony ‘s The Wanderer (Dixon edit). See you at We Art!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWcBkgg-oRE&list=UUOLCynYyl0ZYLwLwf9DD56Q[/youtube]
F.I.F. SoundCloud
Thanks JM!
