Artist Profile for

S.A.L.V.A.
to be...

S.A.L.V.A is originally from Greece but with French blood going through his veins. Being also related to Constantinople, that gave him a background that helped him become a very open-minded person considering himself as a citizen of the world.

Since childhood, S.A.L.V.A. has firmly shown an understanding of music in a very particular manner. In fact, he always did have a sense of rhythm that had been noticed by his environment. He also attended piano and guitar lessons that went well but the teachers’ classic ways, eventually moved him to other musical directions. During adolescence, he showed a particular interest for band-made sounds using guitars, bass, drums, and synthesizers and eventually opted for darker music. His love for the music could be noticed by the way he took care of his vinyl collection. After a few years when the rock/metal era seemed to be at a stalemate, he was driven to changes, listening to all kinds of music he had been leaving aside all these years. He found a particular interest for the psy/trance sound that was dark and bottom heavy but quite a change from the guitar-led sounds he was used to…

Having thought of being a dj at a young age, he didn’t expect these thoughts to haunt him once more and with a good reason too: his love for electronica was growing everyday and after witnessing the immense possibilities found in more intricate electronically made sounds, he started to leave psy/trance behind going, at first, for progressive trance and then eventually for plain progressive/ prog house. He started to listen to mix tapes made by the likes of Seaman, Cox, Digweed, Kevin Yost, Satoshie Tommie, Deep Dish and less well-known djs. What he had been noticing in all those mix tapes was that he didn’t like all the tracks they were picking for their sets but a few of them. After getting in touch with a couple of djs he met during his studies as an electrical engineer, he felt the need to express his own musical concerns by starting his own musical research…

He remembered his old, undying love for vinyl and found a couple of record stores in Athens where he started getting involved in a new world for him: the vast world of electronic music. It wasn’t easy to get acquainted with all these new sounds and it took him a lot of time to obtain an impeccable musical taste. He was spending long hours searching through the net for the best record-shops with samples, starting his own lists after a few months, and aiming for those tracks that made a difference to his ear. Of course, the local record shops didn’t cover his needs anymore therefore he begun ordering stuff so as to enrich his musical library. After a while, he started distinguishing the tracks worthy of his attention and became very eclectic regarding vinyl purchases.

He got his first real gig at a beach in Santorini, a very famous Greek island. It was at Columbos beach and it was an underground event(you know how that is!). He played a set ranging from electrotech to progtech/progressive/techno and during the early morning hours he even played some dreamy progressive trance. The people’s reaction was magical and then he just knew he should go for it no matter what. He had to finish his studies though and continue to earn money as a teacher of French, English and Spanish. He continued to enrich his eclecticism and bought his own turntables and mixer in order to polish his sound. Furthermore he has played at real “house” parties where on each occasion the crowd was going mad for his sets making him feel a fulfillment of some sort.

His next step is to get his breaks/prog/electro/rock?/techno/deep/acid mash up of electronic and analogue sounds out there and continue his musical quests. He is starting to create musical complexes of his own. It is something he will pursue in a more persisting manner starting from this year with his friend NAPZ(Jalapeno rec., Fingerlickin rec., FR)

S.A.L.V.A is also collaborator of www.progressivehouse.com in matters of reviews, interviews and radio related issues showing his broad interest and knowledge of the scene with many future projects ahead of him.
He is about to start (from late October 2006) a new weekly two hours radio show through www.danceradio.gr, a new internet radio station from Greece. He will collaborate with the owners in matters of promotion, as a liaison between the station and established djs from PH and other issues of musical interest always.

For promotion and event organising related issues contact:
valasalva@yahoo.fr or
k_valas@hotmail.com