Whirl-Y-Gig
Encyclopedia
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. It was set up by Ros Madden as an experiment of the Association of Humanistic Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
in 1981, who passed it on to the capable hands of DJ Monkey Pilot four years later. Ros Madden died on 20th October 2011 in Luton. Monkey Pilot plays a wide range of music in the club, primarily world/dance fusions, but also many other genres. Whirl-y-Gig is hailed as one of the central venues for people from London's alternative community. As the official site says:
- "From heavy dub and funky tribal beats to tropical house and uplifting global trance, from African and European to Arabic and Asian, from blues and jazz to folk and classical, and from rock and pop to roots and radical, the Whirl-y-Gig soundtrack has influences from around the world yet is rooted firmly in the here and now of today's London."
Whirl-Y-Gig also appears at festivals, showing both live bands, who are mixed on the spot by DJ Monkey Pilot, or DJ sessions. They appear at such festivals as Beautiful Days, the Whitby Musicport Festival and the Sunrise Celebration. They have also appeared at the short-lived Canterbury Fayre and also at Womad Reading.
The Whirl-Y-Gig is known for promoting artists such as Banco De Gaia
Banco de Gaia
Banco de Gaia is an electronic music band from England, formed in 1989 by Toby Marks .The music of Banco de Gaia is best categorized as ambient dub, but Marks works to cross genres, often using Arabic and Middle Eastern samples against a bass heavy reggae, rock, or trance rhythm to produce deeply...
, System 7
System 7
System 7 is the name of a Macintosh operating system introduced in 1991.System 7 may also refer to:* System 7 , a British dance/ambient band* System 7 , 1991 album* IBM System/7, a 1970s computer system...
, Dreadzone
Dreadzone
Dreadzone are a British band whose music is an eclectic fusion of dub, reggae, techno, folk and rock. They have so far produced six studio albums and two live albums.-Career:...
, Astralasia, Eat Static
Eat Static
Eat Static is an electronic music project from Frome, Somerset, England formed in 1989 by Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton. Hinton left the group in February 2008 after 18 years to spend more time with his family.-History:...
, Loop Guru
Loop Guru
Loop Guru is a worldbeat group consisting of bassist/guitarist Salman Gita and programmer Jamuud . They first met around 1980 and initially played together in The Transmitters and released their debut single as Loop Guru, Shrine, in 1992...
, Baka Beyond
Baka Beyond
Baka Beyond is a world music group formed in 1992 with members from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures, fusing Celtic and other western music styles with traditional Baka music from Cameroon.-Biography:...
, Transglobal Underground
Transglobal underground
Transglobal Underground is a London-based music collective who specialise in a fusion of western, oriental and African music styles...
and Kamel Nitrate
Kamel Nitrate
Kamel Nitrate are a British band that creates musical fusion. The members fuse together many genres, most notably world, trip hop, jazz and drum and bass. They are backed by the Whirl-Y-Gig....
.
Every so often, they compile CDs
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, featuring various artists who have performed at 'Whirl-Y-Gig', or just artists who Monkey Pilot likes, these CDs are released on their own record label 'Whirl-Y-Music'.
The motto of the club is a Japanese symbol meaning 'wind on water'.
Whirl-Y-gig is also legendary for the parachute that comes down at the end of the night, wafting the exhausted dancers with cool breeze. Beautiful lights shine down, accompanied by mood music to bring the night to a beautiful conclusion.
In the words of DJ Monkey Pilot himself, "Whirl-Y-Gig is an event difficult to describe, a moment difficult to miss."
Discography
- Whirl-Y-Waves
- Whirl-Y-Waves Vol. 2 Global Grooves
- Whirl-Y-Waves Vol. 3 Sounds Imported
External links
- Whirl-y-Radio - Continuous stream of Monkey Pilot's latest set
- Official Whirl-Y-Gig Site
- Official Whirl-Y-Music Site and Shop
- Live Video of the 3-4 Feb 2007 event