Christian Lalinde, better known as Sephi Hakubi, is a Progressive EDM and Hard Dance DJ and multi-media producer with a big focus in anime and rave. Sephi is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of HakubiVerse, a Hard Dance and Trance music and otaku entertainment label based in San Antonio, Texas, focusing on rave culture with Japanese-fandom influences and pioneering a style he calls AnimEDM.
Beyond HakubiVerse, Sephi has been associated with many dance music collectives all over the world such as Neon Genesis Hardcore/Mid Atlantic Hardcore (Baltimore, Maryland, USA), Anivents Unlimited (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada), JDS: Just Don’t Stop Productions (San Antonio, Texas, USA), and Dream Drop Productions (formerly known as Hard Dance Texas) (San Antonio, Texas, USA), which at HD:TX he has served as Director of Operations and Chairman. Sephi was originally born in Jersey City, New Jersey and grew up in Cliffside Park, eventually moving to and growing up in Coral Springs, Florida where he first recognized dance music, then decided to enlist in the United States Air Force where he found his way to Honolulu, Hawaii and was introduced to his first ever rave at the anime convention Kawaii Kon 2007 where he decided Sephi utilizes his experiences in many of his interactions to become what he’s described as a “multi-media culture masher”, establishing the correlation between anime and electronic music. Sephi strives to make the electronic dance community relevant for fans by formulating his AnimEDM philosophy, a style of unique sounds and sights influenced from Progressive House, Trance, Eurodance, Hard Dance, and Hardcore music with Japanese inspirations. This AnimEDM philosophy encourages a place of friendship, musical freedom, and celebration for anime and rave fandom in hopes for providing a community for fans, known as Nightkids, seeking a realm of hope and happiness. Sephi Hakubi’s style and philosophy amassed significant attention in the anime and rave scene as he performed for the masses at FAN:dom Con, San Japan, SukoshiCon, Realms Con, IKKiCon, and Okashicon; as well as, festivals such as, Unite As One, Tonyc Summer Jam, and Texas Silent Disco. Sephi was also honored to open for internationally recognized DJs like FYER (Bobby Duque & Gabriel Guardian), Kenneth Thomas, Darude, JJ Flores, Donald Glaude, Made Monster, Ferry Corsten, Fracus & Darwin, BT, and Zoe VanWest. These experiences brought Sephi much valued wisdom during his adventures playing with world-renowned industry performers and these interactions and experiences would inspire his music with releases like Oceandrive and Once Upon a Space, released on HakubiVerse and available on many digital music shops and streaming services. Sephi continues to work in his music production while developing his own music label to define his AnimEDM concept for his fans to enjoy.
