Submitted By: moker

Genre: Jungle / Drum and Bass

Date of Set: Dec 1st, 2006

Filesize: 82.18 MB

Total Downloads: 5

A glimpse on the story of my career

It was September 15th of 1976 when Wagner Ribeiro de Souza was born in São Paulo, Brazil. He is popular known as DJ Patife, oldest son of Ms. Alvenita Ribeiro (March 31st, 1957), and Mr. Valdeci de Souza (* May 23rd, 1951 + November 25th, 2002). During his first years of life, he lived at Vila Maria, a county at the north zone of São Paulo. During his five first months, DJ Patife proved he wanted to stay and fight for his life. This period, one of the hardest for him, he had some diseases expected for small babies, but not at once like happened to him. Some relatives even thought he wouldn’t survive, but even with all the illness, he did survive. In short, his first year was already a reflection that a lot of boundaries would come along and he always had the mission to overcome it. When he was one year and tem months, on July 15th 1978, his parents had Ana Paula Ribeiro de Souza, his first sister. The Family income wasn’t enough. His father used to work as a waiter and his mother took care of the house, so it was clear that their life were limited in terms of money. During a certain period of life, they moved from one house to another a lot, what made Patife’s adaptation to schools very hard. Once his father’s income wasn’t enough to maintain all of the family members, grandparents and relatives helped giving food and most important supplies.

When Patife was six years old, their parents got divorced. After that, he spent some time with his grandmother, Ms. Francisca Rosa dos Santos (mother of Mr. Valdeci). When he was a kid, in terms of fun, he remembers that he used to play Tele-jogo and Atari, but what he liked most was record some radio programs on k7 tapes. In 1983, his mother got married again with Luiz Francisco da Silva. Luiz was a very important person in Patife’s life. One of the most important values of life he brought to the DJ was faith in God and spirituality. His stepfather was the one who showed Patife the importance of school and made him dedicate few hours of his afternoon studying. When Patife turned nine years old, the family grew up a little more with his sister Lívia Maria Ribeiro da Silva, at November 7th, 1985. Patife’s Biological father was also always around. He was the one who taught the DJ how to work. When he was ten, he learned his father’s job. His childhood was gone too fast and he had to work in order to help the family. During his short free time, he used to record the k7 tapes and record his own voice, which means since a young kid, he was already connected to music in a certain way.

In 1987, when he was only eleven, he went to a disco club for the first time. Certainly it was a teenage party. When he was twelve, the family got even bigger. Now it was Antônio Francisco da Silva Neto that came on October 14th, 1988. It was also in 1988 that Patife started delivery pizza with his father when they spent some days together. As a teenager, he had too much responsibility. He had to help the family, started working too soon and grew up fast. Even moving a lot, during 1988 and 1989, he used to live in a county called Jardim Cupece, South Zone of São Paulo. Jássica Idalina Ribeiro da Silva, youngest sister, was born on December 14th, 1990.

At the same year, for the first time Patife had his work registration signed. He worked as a messenger during the week and at the weekends he used to play at parties around his county, also did some thematic parties such as wedding. By the time it was a hobby, but whenever he had a free time he would run to play at parties. The hobby became a routine during weekends, once he had to work during the week. All his duties made him grow up very fast and from this period on, every Saturday he had an event to do. Even being young, a lot of different kinds of music gender had influenced him, like Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire and for some reason that by that time didn’t make too much sense, Patife was always interested in instruments like saxophone. He bought his first album this year, it was called “DJ Iraí campos e o som das pistas – Volume 1”. Unfortunately, it was also in 1990 that Patife lost his stepfather Luiz, who died from a heart attack.

It was June 1991, when Patife started working at Health Medical Assistance as an office boy. This job was very important to him once he had to walk around the city, he got to know every county, each street, every address from São Paulo. Relating to music, Patife got closer to black music, jazz and soul. He was always listening to radio stations like Band FM, Jovem Pan, Nova Record FM (which now is Nova Brasil FM). He would never leave the house without recording some radio programs, and that’s why people call him “Patife” – Instead of going out to play with the others teenagers, he would stay at home recording the programs. Going to 1992, Patife got to know a rap group called “Fatos reais”. He understood the rap movement, learned how to respect and know their intentions as rappers. According to Patife, was with them that the DJ started to feel his own music tendency, his own style. He started to get interested on knowing the jazz roots, reggae, funk, samba and some other Brazilian styles. Administrating his time, he worked and as soon as he had a chance, he would go to places related to a DJs job, like Galeria 24 de Maio, DJ Shopping, Santa Efigênia, trying to learn more about something that was a hobby and each day were getting stronger inside him. He would do his best to get involved at the clubs, but he never gave up the parties at his county, the thematic parties, or just be a member of a sound team. The important thing was the effect music caused on him and on people.

After four years working at Health Medical Assistance, in 1995 he decided to accept the job at a company called Nippon Express, as an exportation assistant. It was also in 1995 that the hobby of being a DJ got serious. He started to play at Arena Music Hall, a night club that opened a lot of possibilities in his career. There was a DJ`s meetings, and now the K7 tapes didn’t bring any radio programs, but his own songs. The meetings were like real communities, where they would talk about the same thing, like friends, sharing the different music and programs each one had. Once, in 1993, Patife went to a DJ`s store he used to go and met Marco, that a few time later became DJ Marky. They became friends and symbols of the jungle music, known today as Drum & Bass. The Arena Music Hall had a special meaning in his life. While Patife was playing at the South Zone of São Paulo, Marky was doing the same at North Zone and some others DJs like Koloral and Andy were also playing around the city. After only a year working at the exportation company, Patife quitted and went to work at the disco store Called “The B Side” with Marky, until 1997. Patife had a British friend who he had met at the disco store. He got in touch with this guy and asked him to stay over his house in London. Marky decided to join Patife to his trip to England to see the jungle roots. DJ Patife didn’t have enough money and his friend Ricardo Coppine bought Patife’s flight ticket on his credit card and divided the price so the DJ could afford it. When they were coming back, Patife was already thinking about going to England again.

In 1998, Patife wasn`t satisfied and decided to go to England again. Ricardo Coppini helped him to buy the ticket once more. He brought with him some tapes from his parties and some of his own music and went after an agency called Bulldozer to talk to the agents. They did like him and his work, but they couldn`t do too much for him, but at least they let Patife use the name of the Movement party in Brazil. So after that, he returned to his country with some news challenges. DJ arrived in Brazil and made the Movement party there, very well organized just like him and his friend Márcio Duarte could have done, with t-shirts and fidelity cards. It was a completely success and the Brum & Bass music was getting stronger all over Brazil. Some months later he saw an old friend called Bruno E., who was working with his own agency called Sambalocco together with Trama Records, the result of meeting his friend again end up on his first CD, called “Sounds of Drum & Bass”, which was a big success, bringing jazz and Brazilian music together. Some music producers helped and still influencing with an unique manner Patife`s career, we could say some names like Mad Zoo, Ramilson Maia and Xerxes de Oliveira as an example. These are the people that helped DJ Patife on his first experiences at studios in 1999. During this year, Patife opened Chemical Brother`s show in São Paulo and started to do a radio program called Bass Line, every Sunday, at 11:00 to 12:00 pm, Brazil time. He stills doing the radio program).

Important moments came along during the year of 2000. Starting from the production of the song “The Vibes” that he did with his friend Mad Zoo and can be found at a CD called “Spiritual Drum & Bass”. Following, he produced his first remix of the song “Pra você lembrar” from Max de Castro. This song was one of the most played songs in Brazil and other countries. It was also during this year that Patife was playing at one “Sesc” (public center of art from Brazil), when he met Fernanda Porto, who gave him a CD. Few days later, he heard the CD, like he listening to all CDs people give him, and got crazy about a song called “Sambassim”. He asked if he could do a remix of the song and some time later, Marky, Fernanda Porto, Dudu Marote and Patife did the song “Só tinha de ser com você”. Getting advantage of the good yaer, Patife took part at the first Skol Beats in São Paulo. Also, for the first time he played at a fashion week at Morumbi mall to the label Cia Marítma. Patife was working non stop and did a lot of remixes with Mad Zoo to a lot of bans and musicians such as Tribalistas, Funk como le Gusta, Wilson Simoninha, Da Lata, Koop, Alph X and Les Gemmas.

Good surprises happened during 2001. Patife got to know a person that he admired since 1996 when he hear a compilation from DJ Fábio called “The promised land”. Clevelad Watkiss sang in one of the songs and Patife always wanted to meet him. In 1997 Cleveland went to Brazil to play at the extinct Free Jazz Festival and by the end of his presentation, he went to say good bye for some people that were there. DJ Patife was one of them but just had a chance to say “see you one day in London”. Unfortunately, Cleveland got away from Drum & Bass for four years. What he wasn`t counting was that the same boy from Free Jazz Festival would bring him back – DJ Patife. Cleveland Watkiss felt in love with the song “Só tinha de ser com você”, when he heard at Dj Fabio`s club (he is the same DJ who did the compilation Patife heard in 1996 – “The promised land”). Cleveland went home decided to find the DJ who did Fernanda Porto`s remix. He went at Bulldozer, the agency that represents Patife in Europe, to ask Oliver, his manager, how he could meet the DJ. Oliver called Patife, who was already in his way to England. They met and Patife told him about the old story of the Free Jazz Festival, what made Cleveland get euphoric once he would never imagine that the same boy did such a good remix. Few days later, Cleveland and Patife were playing together at Rumba, a bar in England, alive through BBC, showing the world some songs like “Sambassim”, “Só tinha de ser com você” and for the first time, Marky`s famous song called “Carolina, Carol Bela was being played to a lot of countries. Between all the emotions from this year, the CD Cool Steps came along, with Cleveland Watkiss singing the first song, called “Torch of freedom”. The Routine of DJ Patife started to count on various tours around the world; Germany, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, United States, Estonia, France, Hungarian, England, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Noriega, New Zealand, Polonium, Porto Rico, Portugal, Serbia, Switzerland, Singapore and Venezuela are some examples. Unfortunately, this year was remarkable because of Patife father`s death. Patife felt the pain of accepting the separation of the presence of Mr. Valdeci and had to go over without his great friend. But every pain makes a big man comes out and it also happened to Patife, who spent a lot of time studying spiritualism, what made him even calmer and understanding person. DJ Patife was always full of ideas, and one day he started writing about a project. But at a certain point, he needed some help. It was when he asked his friend Sirley Silva, known as Neg, to help him to finish that project. When they were finally done, they presented the Project to Edo Van Duyn (Manager in Brazil and friend of Patife since his first time in England). Edo was the first Bulldozer manager to open an office in Brazil and without any doubt he was responsible for the respect and recognized work DJs from Drum & Bass have nowadays. He has a special place in Patife`s life, not only as an agent, but as a friend.

After sometime, Patife started to take part in big festivals such as Skol Beats and it`s 6 editions (2000 to 2006), Glastonbury, Big Chill, Exit, Homelands, The Montreoux Jazz Festival, Rock in Rio Lisboa, Festival de verão, Ceará Music Festival, Brasília Music Festival Electronic, Womad, Lovebox, Metamorphose, and some others. Between tours, Festivals and shows, Patife opened the Multishow Awards of Brazilian Music, in Rio de Janeiro, and also did the album “The Drum & Bass Fiesta” together with DJ Suv, in 2003. This year was also important to Patife. He felt the necessity of getting to know his own roots, where his parents came from, and where was the rest of the family that he had never met. His fathers dream was ride with him in a plane to his grandphather`s city, called Marabá. So he took his mom and went to rescue his past. This trip last 7 days and passed by cities like Bom Jesus da Lapa, Morpaá, Mocambo, Marabá and Barbacena. He also brought his friend Ronaldo, who filmed everything from that moment. DJ Patife will transform those tapes into a DVD, that will show his Biography, but for an instance all tapes are waiting for a better moment to become true, once it costs a lot to make it. He always lived far away from his family, once his brother and sisters, his mother and niece (Bianca, daughter of his oldest sister, born in March 18th, 2000), his grandmother (Ornelina Pereira Ribeiro) and the nurse that use to take care of her used to live in a small apartment called “mutirao do CDHU”, in Taipas, São Paulo`s county. Patife didn`t get use to live there and one day he would sleep over a friends house or somewhere else until he could afford to rent an apartment with his old friend Marcio, in Sao Caetano, a city close to Sao Paulo. Still, he was feeling sad with that situation and on March 2003, he bought a house at the neighborhood he lived when he was a kid, Jardim Cupecê, but didn`t say a word to anyone about the house because he had to reform it before.

It was also in 2003 that his CD “on the road” started to be built. Patife started to chose the songs, musicians and all details. He started to study music at IAV – Instituto de audio e video. Even traveling a lot, he learned a lot and met incredible people that made part on his CD, some of them are Marcelo Claret and Maurício Gargel, the owners of the music institute he was studying at. He had an amazing chance of going to record the song “Made in Bahia” at Carlinhos Brown`s studio. Finaly in 2004, he put all his family in the house he bought a year before. Unfortunately, his grandmother died before. But his mother, sisters, brother and niece went to the house. Patife still taking care of his father`s mother, who still living back at the North Zone of São Paulo.

Calmer about the family, Patife made some songs to a CD called “Trama sessions”, because he had a lot of songs together with Mad Zoo. Between tours and trips, he found out that the old project Neg had helped him had already a sponsor, money available and was going out of papers to become reality. He got a big bus from the mobile company called CLARO and went out around the main capitals in Brazil, such as Recife, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Shangri-la, Florianópolis, Guaratuba, Brasília e Goiânia, playing at opened places, for free. This tour was one of the most important tours in his life and it was recorded. One of his dreams is transform theses tapes into DVD, and he won’t give it up. But he learned to respect time, so he will wait for the right moment to do it. This tour ended by the end of January 2005 and the rest of this year was full of gigs, tours, recording “Na Estrada CD”, music lessons, studio sessions, international tours to play wherever people wanted him. DJ Patife also played at corporative parties such as Nike, Trip, MTV, Globo and NBA. Besides, every year he also has been playing at cruises.

In 2006, the CD “Na Estrada” got ready, including a japonese version, which made him go on tour in Japan. To Patife, one more dream is concluded. Over the CD are his favourite songs, with friend musicians like Camila Andrade, Max Vianna, Cleveland Watkiss, Simoninha e Janaína Holland, besides the contribution of the sound production guys, like Claret and Mad Zoo. They were very important to this job. Nowadays he still dream about doing the two DVDs and is also more related to health programs. He is a DJ that doesn`t drink or use drugs, eating a proper diet, he would like to work on a project that he could show that electronic music can not be related to get drunk and the use of drugs. He would like to play during the day, open air, during the Brazilian summer, associating his music to sports and healthy habits. He already gave the first step: DJ Patife played at the gym he works out, Reebok club, at Vila Olímpia, in São Paulo. The response was very positive; he also had to play at the Reebok anniversary party after this first presentation. Some other projects are also being developed in places related to good style of life. Patife still teaching about electronic music at the different Sesc around Brazil and places where have projects to poor kids. As never before, he has been studying music, having lessons every week and looking forward to get better. This is Wagner Ribeiro de Soza, 30 years old, and a long way to go. Always with a deep faith that always sustain him to be this simple person, thinking about the others and helpful to people whom needs him.

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