DJ Vibe

by Ricardo RaínhoThe closest Portugal has ever had to a superstar DJ, DJ Vibe is the undisputed figurehead of the Portuguese electronic dance music scene. His dip into the worlds of music and DJing started in his early teens while he helped his father in his record store, which was a focal point for DJs in the Lisbon scene. At 15, he was already DJing. Early on, his dexterity on the boards and penchant for long sets (sometimes close to seven straight hours) attracted a devoted following, which only intensified when, in the late '80s, he became one of the first DJs in Portugal to adopt the then-emergent sounds of house and techno.
His DJ fame soon led to production and remix work. It was as a remixer that he first scored a milestone, by remixing then-popular band Ban's "Mundo de Aventuras" in a house music style, turning in the first modern dance music remix ever made in the Portuguese music scene. A year later, he joins short-lived Madchester-inspired act LX90, lending his production skills. Following a couple more remixes, Vibe then linked up with sound engineer and producer Rui Da Silva (at the time known as Doctor J) to form the Underground Sound of Lisbon. Their debut 12", Chapter I, caused an uproar on Portuguese dancefloors in late 1993. But that was just the beginning, as the B-side of the record, "So Get Up," started to attract attention from influential DJs such as Junior Vasquez and Danny Tenaglia. Soon that interest transformed into an international licensing deal through Tribal Records, sending what was at first a B-side track to main song status and acclaim on the world's dancefloors, culminating with a respectful number 42 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales charts and giving birth to a dance music classic in the process.
DJ Vibe seized the international acclaim to further his status in Portugal. In 1995, he scored yet another milestone, as he manned the boards for Kaos Totally Mixed, the first commercially available DJ-mixed compilation coming from both a Portuguese label and DJ. A relentless DJing schedule (both national and international), further production and remix work (by himself and in conjunction with others), and a good number of DJ-mixed releases only further increased his rank as Portugal's leading figure in the electronic dance music scene well into the new millennium.