When I say ANNA was born into dance music, I absolutely mean it. Raised in the Brazilian nightclub scene, her father was a nightclub owner and a DJ in his own right, and so while spending time with her father behind the decks, she was drawn to the lights of the turntable. You could not write a more excellent cinematic beginning, and the rest of her story feels like destiny.
Today, Anna is releasing on the best labels in techno (Turbo, Tronic, etc.) and major acts the world over are singing her praises. She has a flair for the amazing on her original compositions and her mixing ability is something else. She has a very specific brand of techno and tech house that is beautifully engaging and poignant in contemporary times. Her music definitely knows how to groove, it keeps the party a priority, but artistically, it is moving forward.
She is a Brazilian star burning bright and if you want to know what is really going on in techno, you would be well advised to listen to what ANNA has to say.
Anna! How are things in Brazil 2015?
Things are crazy, I am moving to Europe in a few months so I’m running around trying to get everything organized!
I read that you grew up in a nightclub dynasty. It sounds majestic! Are you really nightclub royalty? Or were you just an avid club kid growing up?
My father was a club owner until 4 years ago, he owned the best club in my town and region for about 20 years. He was the first to bring underground electronic music there; he booked DJ Marky before he was even famous. My father was also a DJ and I remember staying with him in the DJ booth when I was a child, looking at the lights of the turntable cause I loved them – this was the atmosphere I grew up in. Now my brother has a party called Blue Lounge, and it is getting better and better, my cousin Monique has a DJ agency in Brazil and takes care of Boiler Room Brazil, our entire family is into music one way or another.
What is the Anna dance music philosophy summed up in ten words or less?
Driving groovy techno that makes you wanna dance!
You are regarded as a veritable techno and tech house titan. How do you think things are going in the technoverse today?
Techno is reigning supreme once again! There is a huge amount of quality music being released right now and every day I discover some new amazing stuff, I’ve being booked to play Techno all over the world and that makes me very happy.
What are a few career goals or objectives of yours? Your star seems to be on an amazing rise right to the top!
I just wanna keep being able to travel the world with my music, to play at the best parties out there, and to be able to live only off music for as long as I live. Oh and I really wanna play at Awakenings – that would be a dream come true!
Turbo, Tronic, Kraftek, and releases on other well regarded labels. What is so special, in your opinion, about your tunes that you have all the major techno labels going crazy for an Anna release?
I really don’t know, and I just got the labels attention when I stopped making music to please others, thinking what certain labels wanted, when I started making what I really like, things started to happen.
What are the top definitive Anna songs? The songs that you are most proud of and you really feel define you as an artist.
Slow Mind on Tronic, my EP on Turbo Recordings (that was so ME!), Six Figures on Kraftek and my next EP on Kraftek which I like a lot if I may say so myself.
Who are a few of your favourite dance music idols or heroes?
There are so many of them, Caribou, Carl Cox, Kraftwerk, Carl Craig, John Digweed, Richie Hawtin, just to name a few.
What is the Brazilian dance music scene like?
The scene is really growing a lot, even if electronic music isn’t the main thing going on right now. Events are getting bigger and better, the Brazilian producers are starting to break out of the local scene, even if commercial music is predominant, we are working on changing that.
What releases are you working on that we should be excited about listening to soon?
My next release on Kraftek called “Life Of Benefits” including remixes from Christian Nielsen and Mladen Tomic, Richie Hawtin played one of the tracks on it ‘Whip’ a lot during the summer in parties like Sonar, Glastonbury, Enter. Also my next single on Tronic, called “Abre Los Ojos” I’ve had the honour of having Christian Smith remix it and it’s a killer!
Any parting words of wisdom for aspiring artist s?
Work and study a lot, learn to take criticism and keep your head up, go to venues where you’d like to play and go check the DJs you look up to playing live, meet people, having a good network can take you a long way, research new technologies and new music. If you’re great at what you do, don’t worry, there will be a place for you. It’s just being at the right place at the right time.