DANIEL HAAKSMAN (2025)

19/08/2025

#11 in the 20 Years Of Man Recordings series is my album „African Fabrics“ from 2016.

While travelling to Southern Africa, namely Angola, Moçambique and South Africa, as well as Nigeria for workshops between 2012-2015 I heard incredibly new local sounds on my journeys. When in Luanda in 2012 and 2013 I was witnessing first hand the emergence of post kwaito afro house from South Africa pouring into Angola which led to the emergence of the new hybrid ku house, mixing up kuduro with afro house. When in Lagos, I heard the first afrobeats tracks. And on a trip to Maputo, I went to a pandza dance party which blew my mind. Of course, these new sounds emerging from across Africa had an effect to what I was Djing and inspired me to create „African Fabrics“, my artistic response to what was happening at that time across Africa. During this time, I also became more aware of colonial history and particularly German colonial history, thus creating the track and video „Rename The Streets“, inspired by taking part on a „Postkolonialer Spaziergang“ (postcolonial walk) through the Afrikanische Viertel in Berlin, where streets names were still called after German colonial thugs.

I called the album „African Fabrics“ as I had learned that the African wax prints often thought of being „authentic African“, were in fact a product of globalisation and an invention by Dutch merchants who appropriated the technique of wax printing in Indonesia and then imported their wax prints to the West African coast. The title seemed approriate to me as it embodied the non local, globe spanning, cross pollination music approach I had been cultivating for years as an artist and label head. The artwork for the album and the singles was provided by my old friend , who disguised his trademark „razzle dazzle“ designs as African wax prints.

1. Kim + Emily holding African Fabrics cover in Berlin, August 2025

2. „Sabado“ ft. video excerpt

3. „Rename The Streets“ video excerpt

4. „Akabongi“ ft.
+ video excerpt

5. „Xinguila“ ft. video excerpt

Watch all videos in full length on the Man Recordings Youtube channel!

15/08/2025

Playing tomorrow a rare DJ gig at , catch me on the Mirage stage!

08/08/2025

Hi

01/08/2025

Episode #10 in the 20 Years Of Man Recordings series is MC Tha´s „Bonde Da Pantera“

First released in 2017 on the „Baile Saboroso“ EP by the temporary transatlantic team up of boss producers (BR) and (FR), „Bonde Da Pantera“ ft. soon became a radio and streaming hit as it brought baile funk to the lounge floor. During this period, a new genre named „baile chill“ had emerged on the internet, particuarly on Soundcloud, and „Bonde Da Pantera“ was the most elaborated tune in the chill version of funk with a romantic, yet not cheesy flavour.

„Bonde Da Pantera“´s sweet marimba chords and vocal chops were giving the track a late summery vibe ideal to listen to while enjoying a last agua de coco on the beach or making love on a water bed. The song featured the sensual and sassy lyrics of then upcoming São Paulo vocalist MC Tha, who today is considered one of the major female voices in contemporary Brazilian music. Just last week, Tha released a collaboration with fellow Man Recordings alumni and

1. Bonde Da Pantera in Rio, January 2025

2. Music video for „Bonde Da Pantera“

3. Mulú + King Doudou

25/07/2025

Episode #9 in the 20 Years of Man Recordings series is Banda Westfalica´s „Versions“ release from 2013.

Banda Westfalica was a nine piece student percussion ensemble from a music school in the German city of Bünde, in the federal state of North Rhine Westphalia (hence „Banda Westfalica“). The students, then aged 13 to 18, came together to learn to play percussion instruments such as marimba, bongos, cajón, cowbell and cachichi.

When asked by their teacher for song suggestions, the students started to rehearse the Man Recordings released „Carimbo“ by Schlachthofbronx, suggested by then 15 year old student Sönke Oberschmidt. A cel phone video of a street performance by the group of „Carimbo“ was put on Youtube and then landed in my inbox.

I was enthusiastic about the acoustic interpretation of the bass tune by the Munich duo. A few weeks later, together with my brother Felix, we drove to Bünde to record the group´s acoustic interpretation of six classic songs of the Man Recordings label catalogue. The result is the „Versions“ EP which included covers of tracks by , Beware + Motorpitch, , and myself amongst other.

Sönke, today living in Berlin now releases piping hot bass music under the moniker .vital . The EP was also released in vinyl format, in a super limited edition of 100 copies and today is much sought after.

1. Banda Westfalica, 2025, model:

2. Making Of Video

3. So Vital, aged 15, 2013

19/07/2025

Episode #8 in the series is by from Hamburg, featuring Cuba´s .

So Shifty were from Hamburg, Germany and were long time associates of my label . After all, in the 2000s and 2010s there was no other German label specialised in tropical bass music, so the circle of artists and producers from Germany releasing music with a more global approach was very small, and eventually paths for all would cross on Man Recordings. Coming from a Jamaican music background, reggae and dancehall being a strong sound in Hamburg, So Shifty soon moved into other musical territories. First steps included their remixes for Beware+Motorpitch ́s „El Toro“ as well as their remix of El Dusty ́s 3ball rave hit „K Le Pasa“. In 2012, So Shifty teamed up with Cuban outfit Madera Limpia to release the dembow inspired „Rumba“ track on my label, which made waves across the tropical bass scene.

Soon after, So Shifty moved to produce and remix for top-name JA artists such as Busy Signal, I-Octane, Chan Dizzy, Popcaan, Shal Marshall and others. One half of So Shifty was Mecki, (a.k.a. Philip Meckseper). After releasing reggae mashups of famous pop tunes under the moniker Jr. Blender, in 2015 he became involved in co-producing Major Lazer’s mega hit “Lean On” featuring MØ. This was followed by further collaborations like “Light It Up” and “Boom,” among others.Having established himself as a major pop producer he has since been involved in co-producing songs by artists such as Dua Lipa, P!nk, or Stargate.

1.„Rumba“ in Berlin, 2025
2. So Shifty
3. Madera Limpia

14/07/2025

Episode #7 in the series is the „Ayoba“ EP by Munich based

Released in 2010, the „Ayoba“ EP introduced the hyper-energetic bass sound by Schlachthofbronx. Consisting of two young Bavarians called Bene + Jakob, their sound was a hotpotch nurturing from Jamaican dancehall, Angolan kuduro, Trinidad carnival sounds, baile funk, Dirty South Balkan beats and rave music all at once. The „Bronx“ sound from Munich was magic and ripped through global bass dancefloors internationally.

At a time, when South Africa wasn´t yet on the global club map (despite kwaito already making waves), Schlachthofbronx teamed up with the South African glam rap prince from Soweto, , with whom Schlachthofbronx had collaborated on various tracks on their earlier debut album. The icing on the cake was the contribution by Bosnian-Swedish rapper .gnucci.rab aka Gnucci Banana, making „Ayoba“ (South African youth slang meaning „cool“) a staple in global bass music for years. Other tracks on the EP feature the - still up to date baile funk tracks - „Vem Que Tem“ feat. MC Marina, as well as „Sai Safarda“ („Watch Out, you little bastard“) feat. MC Leka. Up until today, their band name refering to Munich city quarter „Schlachthofviertel“ („Slaughterhouse neigbourhood“), has been a a tongue twister for any foreign, non-German speaker.

1.“Ayoba“ in Berlin, 2025

2. Music video for „Ayoba“ ft. Spoek Mathambo + Gnucci Banana

3. Schlachthofbronx live on stage at Popkomm Cologne, DE, 2010

03/07/2025

After their acclaimed debut release „Aguacerito Llové“, with radio airplay by (Worldwide FM), (BBC6) and amongst others, Berlin choir .diaspora returns with a hot remix by yours truly.

Only using the main vocal hook, I spliced the remaining voices and scattered them loosely over the track, adding a flute melody and heavy bass. In a second moment, I knocked out a dembow ryhthm over the call and response part. All combined, “Aguacerito Llové” turned into a tropical banger, reflecting the powerful energy that arises when Canto Diáspora sing live together.

Out now on and available on all platforms, buy it on our Bandcamp page, link in bio!

01/07/2025

Big up Jamz Supernova for playing Canto Diáspora´s "Aguacerito Llové" in your show on BBC Radio 6 Music!

27/06/2025

Episode #6 in the series is my debut EP „Who’s Afraid Of Rio?“, released in 2008.

After releasing various compilations and producing a couple of remixes, in 2008 I felt that it was time to release some music myself. I had been to Rio numerous times recording funk MCs for the Funk Mundial series, when I realised, I could give it a try myself. After all, producing music wasn´t so hard and while I was visiting Rio twice a year, I was at the source. Through mutual friend in Berlin, DJ and producer Jesse Rose, I met the then unknown young producer Oliver Dollar, with whom I worked on a first set of beats. The results were really exciting, as Oliver came from a house background and we fused funk tracks with house beats, as can be heard in „Senta Senta“ on the „Who´s Afraid Of Rio?“ EP.

Techno and house were still ruling the clubs in Berlin in pre-Berghain days, in particular in spring 2008 when a track by Claude Von Stroke, „Who´s Afraid Of Detroit?“ was all the rage. I thought: Why not shift the focus from the ever present Detroit and counter with the question „Who´s Afraid Of Rio?“, meaning: Why the hell was no one getting what kind of revolutionary music was happening in Rio and why were Berlin DJs afraid of playing music that would not relate to the ever enduring legacy of Detroit? So when in Rio, I went to the studio with MC Jennifer and asked her to MC over some beats that I had made in Berlin. I asked her how she perceived the Rio x Berlin connection, coming from the favela Jacarepaguá. Her answer is to be found in „Who´s Afraid Of Rio?“: „Você vai sacudir, pega o avião e vem vem pra cá, curtir Rio de Janeiro só pra você sacudir.“ (You’re going to shake it up, get on a plane and come here, enjoy Rio de Janeiro just so you can shake it up).

The cover artwork of the single, shot by then unknown French photographer - now considered the world’s major baile funk photographer - shows a funk party at the Bocqueirão, a gymnasium next to Rio´s Santos Dumont airport.

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23/06/2025

Episode #5 in the series is „Funk Do Iphone“ by ft. aka Marina Gasolina.

In the mid to late 2000s, baile funk had gone mainstream in Brasil. From around 2003-2005, Rio de Janeiro’s white middle class began to celebrate baile funk as a cultural phenomenon - initially ironically, then increasingly seriously. With artists like Tati Quebra Barraco, Bonde do Tigrão and later MCs Leozinho and Marcinho, funk became a bit more “pop-friendly” and started to be played on radios and at university parties. The international praise of foreign productions featuring baile funk, i.e. my compilation, „Rio Baile Funk Favela B***y Beats“ (2004) and Diplo´s „Favela On Blast“ mixtapes were noticed in Brasil and former funk critics changed their minds, when realisting gringos were lovingfunk music, which, by and large, was still considered “noise” and socially unacceptable by the majority of Brasilians. But funk became more accepted, when white, middle-class artists such as De Falla (already in the early 2000s), Bonde Do Rôle from the mid 2000s onwards, as well as the carioca artist João Brasil, who pioneered funk as a serious form of international compatible Brasilian pop music, became internationally representants of funk, touring around the globe.

João Brasil´s „Funk Do Iphone“ from 2011 was one of those baile funk pop-tunes that were adressing a different, international audience than original funk tracks from the favelas. His song about the technological miracles that the first generation of Iphones created upon the mobile phone´s release, with its trademark marimba ringtone, were sung by former Bonde Do Rôle singer Marina Gasolina. „Funk Do Iphone“ became a small international underground hit, even receiveing a tecno brega remix by legendary (and omnious) DJ Cremoso.

Model :

17/04/2025

Brasilian vinyl forever!

DANIEL HAAKSMAN